Deboning Trout – How to Debone a Trout Fish

You have gone out on the water, baited a hook and caught a trout. Congratulations, you are going to have a good dinner, if you debone it correctly, that is.

Following is how to successfully accomplish deboning trout for your dinner so you can have a pleasant dinning experience.

You will need to have a sharp knife made to debone trout. A fillet knife is made for this purpose. And your fish, of course, along with a cutting surface that can be easily cleaned.

Make sure, before you start working on deboning trout, that it has been dressed and cleaned. That means it should come to you with the scales removed and it should be gutted. Then, remove the fins and tail. You can leave the tail on if you are going to be cooking the trout and want a gourmet look. After it has been rinsed in clean water, you can start deboning the trout.

The first thing you will do to debone trout, is put the cleaned and dressed fish on your cutting board. If the head is still attached, take hold of it. Using textured gloves will make it easier to get a grip on the head and make the experience of deboning trout more pleasant. Slice into the fish until you feel the backbone, and then turn the knife so you will be cutting along the ribs, cutting toward the tail. Do the same on the other side of the fish.

Now you have two fillets of trout in front of you. To cut out the rib bones, run the knife between them and the meat. Now you can pull the pin bones, which are smaller and are through out the center of the fish. Since these are rather small, you will need to feel for them first. Once you find them, use tweezers or similar tool to grab onto the tip of the bones and pull them out. And that is all there is to deboning trout.

A couple of things to keep in mind while deboning trout is that the sharper the knife, the better the experience will go. The skin of the fish is delicate and using a dull or serrated knife would just make a mess. Avoid electric knives all together. And since this is a very sharp knife you will be working with along side a wet fish, be very careful.

Before you cook the fish, try soaking it overnight to give it a more mild flavor. Now that your trout has been deboned, you can cook it. The nice thing about fish is that you can cook them just about any way you want; broil, bake, grilled, deep fried, even sushi, if you don’t feel like cooking at all.

Filleting the Fish

A fillet is the most common cut of fish – offering great versatility and variety in preparation. Preparing fillets yourself assures better freshness and flavor.

1. To remove the backbone, hold the fish firmly by its mouth using your gloved hand – its back facing up and tail facing toward you. Cut from head to tail along the entire length of fish in long strokes, on both sides of the top dorsal fin. (To keep your fillets neater in appearance, avoid a back and forth sawing motion.) Remove the fin and the attached bones.
2. Remove the fish head with the fillet knife – cutting in a semi-circular motion from the backbone toward the throat. It may be necessary to turn the fish over and cut through that side as well.
3. To separate skin from flesh, lay the fish on its side and grip the tail. Hold the knife parallel to the board and cut through the side of the fish at the tail end – with the edge of the blade facing forward and angled down toward the board. Using a gentle sawing motion, cut from the tail toward the head. Turn fish over and repeat.
4. To separate flesh from bone, hold the tail portion and run your knife from tail to head right above the center rib bones. (This will produce one fillet.) Turn fish over and repeat.

Check both fillets for bones by running your finger over the fillet. Remove any bones with pliers or tweezers.

If fillets are large, cut into portions. Rinse under cold running water, pat dry and you’re ready to cook.