Filleting flat fish might seem trickier than round fish but with our simple technique you can easily fillet your fish at home. To make your life easier, we have a range of filleted fish, already prepared so you can whip up a fantastic dinner in no time!
If you want to fillet a whole flat fish, here’s what you need to do:
- To remove the head, use a knife to score through the skin along the gills. Cut through using scissors.
- Cut down the central line of the fish until you come in contact with bone, then at a right angle from this line, cut a small incision across the tail.
- Use a flexible knife and rest it on the backbone, drawing it down along the fish. You should hear the knife along the bone. Slowly repeat this until you begin to get underneath the fillet.
- Use long sweeping strokes to cut the fillet and finish by pulling it away from the fish.
- Repeat this until you get 4 fillets in total (2 on each side of the fish).
- To skin a fillet, place it so that the narrowest side is towards you, skin side down. Hold the fillet with one hand and then and position the knife so it’s nearly flat with the board, but slightly angled so you’re cutting down towards the skin. Use a sawing motion, trying not to cut into the flesh as you go.
BBC Good Food has a good video that will show you the different steps to follow. And if you’re looking to save time, head over to our shop where we have a good selection of filleted fish such as lemon Sole, halibut and round fish such as cod, haddock, salmon and much more!
You can also check out our guide on how to fillet a whole round fish!
