How to Fillet Salmon

Step 4: Fillet the first side

With the flat of one hand, steady the salmon while you cut with the knife hand. Make an initial cut about one half to one inch deep along the length of the backbone to penetrate the skin and establish your line. With practice, you will be able to feel how deeply and evenly your knife is cutting. Then, starting at the head end, begin to slide your knife more deeply along the backbone, heading towards the fish's ventral side. That is, cut from the spine towards the body cavity with your knife at a shallow angle to the cutting board. As you move down the ribs, gently lift up the fillet and progressively work your way down the fish. Be careful not to press your thumb or fingers into the flesh or you will bruise it. To end up with a nice smooth fillet, there are two other things to watch out for. First, as you lift the meat off the bone, be careful not to bend the fillet too far back or the flesh will tear. Second, use smooth, long, even knife strokes, all in the same direction. Do not use a sawing motion or you will end up with a ragged fillet. As you work, think of the knife as pressing along the backbone as it separates the meat from the bone. This requires a bit of downward pressure, a slight angle to the knife, and a feeling for the resistance of the ribs, which is different than the resistance of the flesh. If you get it just right, the ulu blade will ripple along the ribs like a scale down a piano and you can feel it riding over them. You want to leave as little meat on the skeleton as possible. When you have the fillet fully detached from the skeleton, cut the skin along the stomach with a vertical knife cut to completely free the fillet.