Buzz
Whether you've purchased a whole snapper or reeled it in yourself, mastering the art of slicing is invaluable if you prefer to handle the filleting process rather than relying on a fishmonger. Filleting entails scaling, gutting, and segmenting the snapper into fillets. You also need to remove small bones from the center of the meat.
Method
Scaling Your Snapper
Position the fish on a counter with its head facing your non-dominant hand. You'll use your dominant hand to scale the fish, so hold it by its head with your other hand.
Grasp the fish by its head and use a knife or scaling tool to scrape off the scales. Work against the grain of the scales, starting from the tail and moving towards the head. Scale both sides of the fish, including its belly. Alternatively, a butter knife can also be used for scaling.
- Consider wearing gloves when handling fish to minimize the risk of scale cuts.
- Avoid applying excessive force with the knife to prevent accidental cuts to the fish.
Give the fish a rinse under the faucet to remove any loose scales. Use gentle water pressure to avoid damaging the delicate flesh of the fish. Apply just enough pressure to dislodge the loose scales.
Place the snapper on a cutting board and inspect its skin for any remaining scales. Glide your palm along the sides to check for stubble, which should feel slightly rough but not sharp. The absence of stubble indicates that the scales have been removed, resulting in a smoother appearance.
Gutting Your Snapper
Make a vertical incision from the fish's anus to its jawline. Insert a sharp fillet knife into the anus and guide it towards the base of the lower jaw. Exercise caution to avoid penetrating too deeply, as this may puncture the intestines and release an unpleasant odor.
- Ensure the incision is deep enough to allow easy access for pulling back the meat with your fingers.
- Use a sufficiently sharp knife to facilitate clean cuts through the fish without excessive force.
- Keep the knife handle dry to prevent slippage while handling.
Use your hands and a spoon to remove the entrails from the incision. Expand the cavity and extract its organs. Employ a knife to detach the gill filaments from the head's base. Scrape out the kidneys, liver, and any remaining organs with a spoon.
Dispose of the entrails by sealing them in a double zip-lock bag. This method contains odors and prevents wildlife from being attracted to your area. Place the zip-lock bag in the garbage or use any bear-proof container.
- If suitable containers are unavailable, consider burying fish guts in a hole approximately 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) deep. When camping, ensure the hole is 200 feet (61 m) away from your campsite.
- While some states prohibit fish guts disposal in the water, certain areas allow it with guidelines, such as placing them in water at least 10 feet (3.0 m) deep or in large rivers. Contact a local land manager for disposal guidelines in your area.
Extract the liver, kidneys, and other organs using a spoon.
Also, remove the black lining from the cavity, as it can affect the fish's flavor if left intact. One method to remove the black lining is by massaging rock salt into the cavity.
Rinse the gut cavity with water to remove any remaining blood. If outdoors, use a hose; otherwise, rinse it under the tap of your kitchen sink. Ensure the water pressure is low enough to avoid damaging the meat but high enough to thoroughly cleanse the cavity.
Snapper Filleting
Rinse the snapper under flowing water to eliminate dirt, slime, and bacteria. Hold it beneath the faucet and rinse both sides of the fish thoroughly. Use paper towels to pat it dry after rinsing.
- You can opt to rinse it with salted ice water since snapper is a saltwater fish.
- Alternatively, if dealing with an exceptionally slimy fish, washing it in a bucket of water outdoors is also an option.
Make an incision along the backbone from head to tail. Using a sharp, non-serrated knife, cut along the fish's back, stopping at the backbone. Guide the knife through the top of the head.
- Ensure a firm grip on the snapper to maintain stability during cutting.
Create a 90-degree angled incision from head to tail. While keeping the knife inserted into the fish, rotate it 90 degrees at the end of the initial incision and slice the meat from head to tail. This cutting technique also removes the belly flap along with the fillet.
- When cutting along the back, the spine serves as a guide for stopping the knife.
Cut along the backbone to extract the fillet. Utilize short, flat strokes with the knife to cleanly separate the meat from the bone. Ensure cutting as close to the bone as possible to avoid leaving any meat behind.
Repeat the process by flipping the snapper over. Position the fish with its back facing you and insert the knife behind the gills and side fin. Slice along the backbone halfway through the fish. Rotate the knife 90 degrees and slice along the spine from head to tail.
Eliminate the ribs and belly flap. Slice from the top of the ribs to the underside of the fillet at a 45-degree angle using the knife. While you can manually remove the ribcage, you might need to loosen it with the knife.
- Since there's not much meat on a snapper's belly flap, you can opt not to use it.
Extract the pin bones from the center of the fillet using pliers. Fish often have small bones that can become embedded in the fillet if not removed. Run your hand across the fillet to locate the bones. Apply pressure to the flesh to expose the bones and then use pliers to extract them. Remove the bones from the meat in the same direction they protrude.
- Alternatively, you can use a fillet knife to cut down the center line of the fillet and remove the bones. This method will result in a thin triangular cutout from the fillet, leaving one side larger than the other.
- If you encounter resistance while pulling out the bones, exercise gentle but firm pressure. Since the bones angle toward the head, pull them sideways and upward.
Peel the skin off the fillet using a large boning knife. Grip the fillet by the tail end and make a shallow cut to separate the meat from the tail skin while still keeping them connected. Grasp the separated skin with your hand or a towel and use a gentle sawing motion to move the knife between the skin and the meat. Wiggle the tail skin to guide the knife and detach the meat from the skin.
Guidelines
- If you're not fond of the fish's appearance, you can remove its head.
- Utilize the fish carcass to prepare fish soup or stock instead of discarding it.
Essential Items
Preparing the Snapper
- 1 snapper fish
- A scaling tool or a butter knife
- A sink with running water
- Gloves
Gutting the Snapper
- Sharp fillet knife
- 1 snapper fish
- Zip-lock bags or bear-proof containers
- 1 spoon
- Running water
- Rock salt
Preparing to Fillet Snapper
- 1 snapper fish
- Sharp fillet knife
- Large boning knife
- Needle-nose pliers
- A clean towel
