How to Fillet a Red Snapper
Red snapper is a delicious and versatile fish found in many different cuisines including Mexican, Italian and Japanese. Red snapper is prepared dozens of different ways: deep fried, sauteed, grilled, poached and as sushi. Due to its bony body structure and sharp spines, preparing a red snapper fillet properly is crucial to its safe consumption. You don't need to be an expert seafood chef to fillet red snapper but you do need to know what you're doing. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Remove the spiky fins on the top of the red snapper using your cooking scissors. Red snapper fins are quite sharp and can cut through skin easily, so be careful when doing this. Slowly cut along the bottom of the fins on the fish's back.
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Cut the remaining fins from the fish's body. There are two on the sides next to the gills and two more on the bottom of the fish, one near the front and one near the back. Cut off the head as well and discard it with the fins.
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Resting the fish on its side, find the backbone. Place your knife just above the backbone and slowly cut in a sawing motion along the bone until you reach the back fins. Your knife may encounter some resistance from the smaller bones along the backbone but just cut through them. Remove the top fillet once you have reached the back fin.
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Using a similar sawing technique, place your knife below the remaining back bone and cut towards the end; only this time, pull the knife up rather than cut straight through, so you don't lose any of the meat along the backbone. Remove the backbone and you're left with two beautiful red snapper fillets.
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Tips & Warnings
Wash the fish fillets and your hands before cooking.
Wear protective gloves when gutting fish to protect yourself from cuts and potential infection.
References
- Photo Credit red snappers image by Amjad Shihab from Fotolia.com
