Remove Gut from Fish

Video Transcript

"Hi there! This is Bruce Marnie on behalf of Expert Village. I this segment, we are going to show how to gut a saltwater fish. Gutting is important if you want to cook the whole fish and have it as a complete fish presentation. It is also important if you are going to fillet the fish particularly if you are a beginner because by gutting the fish first, you remove the entrails and the part that contaminates the fillet flesh and it makes the filleting process a whole lot easier. The first step in gutting the fish is to lay it on the cutting board with your hand firmly in place to hold the fish from moving. We are going to use the knife with a pointed end, very important and we are going to insert that point into the fish's anus and slice shallowly through the abdominal cavity all the way between the paired pelvic fins, right between the two pelvic fins slicing all the way up just beneath the jaw, right up to here. Alright I am going to lay my left hand on the fish and roll it slightly away to stretch the skin so that I can make a puncture wound right at the anus and shallowly cut all the way up the ventral surface of the fish between the two paired pelvic fins right up to this region between the two opercula plates underneath the jaw of the fish just like that. A very important point to remember is to not insert the knife any deeper than it is necessary to just cut through this thin abdominal wall. Inserting the knife too deeply will end up cutting the guts and releasing a lot of toxic materials and blood that can contaminate the flesh on the fish. "