Hi my name is Dan, and this video
supports my online sushi course on Udemy.com
and you can learn more about the
video lectures in the link below.
In this lecture, you're going to learn how to break down an entire salmon and prep it for sushi.
And to do this, I suggest using both the Deba
and the hollow ground slicer. This is a
very affordable knife and does an excellent job.
So if you plan filleting salmon often, it's a great investment.
The way I'm going to show you how to fillet might come across as being unorthodox.
but I believe this is one of the more effective technique for beginners to pick up,
in terms of speed and efficiency.
It's also much easier to learn than the traditional method, which can split to me if it's handled too
aggressively and if that happens it's
tough to cut it for sushi purposes.
To start, always dry out the fish as much as you can on both sides before you start filleting.
This way the fish won't slide around so it'll be safer to work with.
And also it would be a good idea for you
to request your fishmonger to scale at first.
To make this process less messy at
home.
Then next, you'll want to remove the
head with the deba.
And to do this, first position the fish with the head on the left side and belly up,
then lift up the pectoral fin and cut at an angle behind it until you hit the spine.
Then flip it over, and repeat the same cut on the other side,
except this time once you hit the spine,
use the heel of your blade and give it a heart thrust to cut it through.
You can use your other hand to help,
and the reason why you want to cut that angle is because you can maximize the
yield and leave little meat behind.
You can tell by the v-shaped cut this
was done properly
Now position the fish so the head size
on the right with the belly side up and
have to fish as close to the edge of the
counter as possible this is because
you'll need space for your cutting hands
so you can slice at an angle.
And make sure to cut above the spine this is very important and once you're set up you'll
want to run the blade all the way
through in a fast slicing motion and
hold a belly flap with your other hand
as you cut
And after the first fillet comes off the
second step is easier, but this time
you'll want to cut just below the spine
but try to angle two blade slightly
upwards this way you can get a cleaner
cut and leave as little me possible on the backbone.
And as you can see,  there's really not much meat left on the bones when you fillet it this way.
And this part can be scraped off so don't throw it away.
You can cut this into smaller pieces by cutting between the disc
this is softer and much more blade friendly.
Now what a tip we do is spoon to me off the bone but be very careful not to scrape
off the pin bones.
These will run about halfway down the fish right next to the spine.
And it's very important to scrape towards the tail so you don't go against the pin bones.
And you can do the same to the tail
portion but this part doesn't have any
pin bones so you can be a little bit
more aggressive with a spoon and try to
guess much meat off as you can
Afterwards, you're left with a few ounces
of salmon tartare and you can use this
to make items like spicy salmon rolls or
hand rolls.
So onto the fillets, first, you'll need to trim out the belly tag along with the fin.
And this is where you'll need to use your deba knife again.
And on one of the fillets, you'll need to
do a bit more trimming. So start off by
cutting off the rear fin that was left
behind and then turn the fillet around
and slice out the white membrane from
one end to the other.
If you have a sharp knife this is very
easy to do. It might look a little
difficult in the video but that's
because I'm standing about three feet
away from the camera with my arms
totally stretched out to get this angle.
But if you're standing over there fish
it's much easier to do.
Next, you'll need to use tweezers to
remove the pin bones and this will run about halfway down the filet.
and it's best if you can start from the very front because you need to pull the bones
in the same direction as the head.
So that we don't rip the me going backwards, and there are always a couple of bones hiding a very front so start with those first.
Once you get those out you can start
working on the rest by holding down the
fish with one hand I'm pulling with the
other. Again make sure to pull in the
direction of the head, because if you go
the other way the fillet weld rip apart
and sometimes as you're pulling the
bones might snap in half so just
remember to go back and pull the rest.
And once you get all the bones out it's
a good idea to always run your finger
along it just to make sure you got every one.
Next I'm going to show you how to prep
the fillets for sushi but keep in mind
that this is what I think is the most
practical method for home users because
many restaurants were prepared
differently depending on their operation
To start cut a small piece off on the
front so we end up with a straight edge
next measure out each cut roughly the
width of four fingers or about three
inches across and the logic is because
this will be the length of the nigiri
that you'll learn how to cut later and
it's a good idea to portion these into
smaller pieces for those at home this
way you can freeze them and only take
out what you need at a time and also by
leaving the skin and the ribs on this
will act as an extra protective layer
while it's in the freezer and I'll show
you how to remove this part later in the
course
Now if you plan on using a lot of salmon
then you can portion it into larger
pieces like the way I'm measuring it out
and this is typically how it's done in
some restaurants before it's frozen
and once you're done portioning the
fillets you end up with a couple of tail
pieces and these are normally a bit more
fibers so they're usually cut into small
pieces for sushi rolls or other
applications and remember the two front end
pieces that was cut off
well those can also be cut into smaller
pieces once the bones and skin is
removed
Next you'll need to prep them for the
freezer normally I use daily paper or
paper towels to cover each piece then
wrap it with plastic film this way the
paper will help prevent the me from
getting freezer burn and also help
absorb some of the water when you're
ready to defrost it.
and here's something to remember unlike
other fish, salmon freezes very well and
maintains his quality for a longer
period compared to other fish and that's
because it doesn't have as much of a
drip issue after it's been frozen and it
maintains this texture color and flavor
quite well and if you're somebody that
wants to eat raw fish every week and
don't want the hassle of buying fresh
fish all the time then freezing salmon
fillets is really the way to go because
they'll last for several weeks in the
freezer before the quality starts to
diminish this isn't something you can
deal with tuna or white fish like
snappers without the use of an IQF
freezer and color treatment
now I know that for many of you purchase
an entire salmon and filet at home isn't
really practical so instead I suggest if
you trust your local fishmonger it's a
better idea to ask them to scale a fish
and fillet it for you and then you can
use the information you learn from this
lecture to portion it and prepare for
the freezer once you get home but if
you're a fisherman and catches your own
salmon or you don't trust the sanitary
standards at your fish shop then I hope
this video is helpful if you decide to
fillet yourself.
and one last thing usually I don't always advocate freezing fish for a while consumption because
this is depending on the species of fish
but in the case of salmon I recommend
freezing it for sushi for both
farm-raised and especially wild fish and
that's because they're known to carry
parasites like anisakis & tapeworms
although farm fish are less likely to
get infected there's still possibility
since most are raised in open pens but
generally for other fish it varies from
species to species
for example tunas not on a list if you
want more information on parasite
destruction I made a PDF file that you
can download where there is much more
information on this topic.
okay I hope you enjoyed this video this is actually a preview of my sushi course on udemy if
you want to learn more about preparing
salmon for sushi there are more
information in the course that shows you
how to break it down even further for
nigiri and sashimi applications also there
are over 40 video lectures that cover
many other fundamentals such as learning
how to prepare sushi rice how to cut
different vegetables how to make
different types of sushi rolls and much
more and aside from just video lectures
there are also PDF files of recipes and
resources you can download so if you
like to learn more use the link down below.
