Encyclopedia of Sea Fish | Cooking a La Carte | How to carve fish


Hamachi Season: All Year (sashimi, a dish made by boiling the bony parts of the fish in soy sauce, grilled with salt)

Remove the slime from all over its body using a knife.

Take the base of the gills off.

With the stomach facing toward you, insert the knife in the middle of the lower jaw.

Cut to the back of the pelvic fin, open the stomach, and take the gills and insides out.

Insert the knife near the back of the pectoral fin and cut a little towards the stomach.

Insert the knife near the back of the pelvic fin and cut towards the neck to the part you already cut in #5.

Hold the pectoral fin and cut towards the head, the opposite direction to #6.

Cut the other side of the fish using the same method described in #5.

Cut the head off by inserting the knife into the same place as in #6.

Lay it stomach-side up and cut it to the tail following its stomach center bone.

With its back facing up, cut it to the head following its back center bone.

Hold it by the tail and cut it apart.

With the meat-side down, cut from its upper stomach side following along the center bone.

Lift the bone out towards the tail.

Since the bones are large, take them out one by one. (It is easier if you lift the meat up from the bottom while you are taking the bones out.)

Insert the knife as shown and cut along the center bone. This piece of meat is called the "saku".

Remove the center bone and the dark red meat (called the "chiai") that separates the back from the stomach.

Removing the skin: Insert the knife between the meat and skin at the tail.

Pull the skin to your left and continue moving the knife to the right.

Use the same method described in #19.

There is one bone left at the pectoral fin. Remove it.

The bone has been taken out.

When you make sashimi, put the thicker part of the meat away from you and slice it using the knife's edge near the point. B