FILLETING

For the first cut, place the fish with the belly facing you and the head to the left (or the right if you are left-handed).

1/ Pull the pectoral fin outwards and make a cut behind these fins to separate them from the fillet, then cut around behind the head until you hit bone. By doing this you are effectively separating the fish collars from the fillet.

2/ Turn the fish so the belly is facing away from you, (head on the right, tail left) then, starting from the cut at the top of the head, cut along the backbone from the head to the tail, cutting smoothly along the length of the fillet.

3/ Angling your knife towards the bones, keep running your knife along where the flesh meets the bones to open out the fillet until you feel your knife reach the raised spine in the middle. Using your knife, stay as close to the spine as possible and go over the bone.

4/ Place the knife flat against the backbone and push the point through to the other side of the fillet. With the knife protruding out the other side and pressing against the spine, cut all the way to the tail to separate the tail section.

5/ Turn the fish so the belly faces you and lift the tail section to expose the ribs. 6/ Snip through the ribs with kitchen scissors up to the first cut.

7/ You can now remove the first fillet.

8/ Flip the fish so the belly faces away from you and the head points left. Hang the head off the edge of the board so the fish lies flat (this way you’ll be able to cut evenly and preserve more flesh). Repeat the first cut, then cut along the back through the rib bones and, guiding the knife by pressing it against the ribs, cut towards the pin bones.

9/ Turn the knife the other way and, using the bones as a guide, cut up and against the ribs, gently peeling away and slicing as you go.

10 / Cut the second fillet away from the frame using scisssors and wipe clean with paper towel.

NOTE: The fish used here to demonstrate the filleting process is an aged Murray cod (aged 7 days). Our entire way of thinking about how we process fish needs to be overhauled, with far more consideration given to the elements of a fish that would traditionally be considered ‘waste’.