How to fillet a flat fish - lemon sole

Originally, this was going to be a recipe for breadcrumbed and fried goujons of lemon sole - but the cooking bit is so easy, it doesn't need it. [Flour, egg & breadcrumb the fish, shallow fry in olive oil and butter, serve with sauted potatoes and something creamy like a mayonnaise - we had tzatziki.]

However, some of the search terms that have led people to this site imply something on technique might be required.  Filleting fish is a key technique - you'll never do it as fast as your fishmonger, but it is satisfying to do - and when you can see the whole fish, you'll have a better idea as to how fresh it is.

So first, take your lemon sole (or similar flat fish) on a board.  The fish has two sides - the underside is a beautiful opalescent white, the upperside (with the eyes) is a mottled camoflage.

1. See those fins round the outside?  Cut them off with a pair of kitchen scisors and throw them in the stockpot.
2. Now, working on the top side, cut around the head with a sharp knife, all the way to the bone.  Get in as close to the head as you can.  You can see that these fish have already had their gills removed - if yours haven't, cut them out and chuck them away - you don't want these in the stockpot.
3. Make sure your knife is very sharp - especially at the tip - and cut from the tail to the head along the backbone.  This is the faint line you can see down the middle of the fish.
4. Now comes the fun bit:  Working from the tail to the head and using a sharp, flexible knife, run the blade down the fish from the backbone to the outer edge of the fish - keeping as close to the bones as you can, gently pulling the fillet away with your free hand. 
   
   
   
   The flexible knife allows you to run the blade adjacent to the bones - making an entertaining noise as well as making sure you remove all the meat of the fish.  Don't try to get all the way through in one go - try to make gentle sweeping strokes from the backbone to the edge all the way down.
5. Now reverse the fish and do exactly the same down the other fillet on the upperside.
6. Turn the fish over and perform steps 4 and 5 on the underside.  You should now have four lovely fillets of lemon sole - congratulations!  Now make sure those bones (which should bring to mind those cartoon fishbones - just a skeleton, head and tail) go into the stockpot to make fish stock!
7. Next, you need to skin the little blighters.  For this, lay a fillet down on the board skin side down.  At the very end, cut into the flesh all the way to - but not through - the skin.  Again using the flexible knife, bend the blade as near to horizontal as you can and cut along the skin gently pulling the flesh away as you do. 
   

Once you have your skinned fillets, the world is your oyster.  Or something.  Here is my big plate of breaded goujons with the tatties.  Note: I use Japanese panko breadcrumbs for this sort of thing - highly recommended.

Other lemon sole recipes:

• Lemon sole with mushroom risotto
  

tags: fish  

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