Quick de-boning method for fish.

[Bootstrap Bob]

I've been trying to find a reference or video clip of a quick method I was shown some years ago for removing the bones and vertebrate from fish but I'm struggling.

From what I remember it went something like this:

• Gut the fish
• Cut around the head behind the gills but not through the vertebrate
• Repeat at the tail end.
• Open out the fish on a flat surface (scales upwards)
• Run your finger (or blunt object) down the spine between the two cuts
• Hold onto the fillets with one hand and pull out the bones in one move from the head end with your other hand.

I can't remember if there was anything else to it, hence this post and I appreciate this is very similar to the ponassing method however when I was taught ponassing there was no pressing down on the spine and the ribs were loosened from the flesh by making small slits parallel to them along the fish with the tip of your knife.

Am I imagining being shown the method I have described above or is anyone else familiar with this process?

 

[Filterhoose]

Windy

 

[Gaudette]

If you look on you tube Ray Mears sweden episode he demonstrates this method really well with a salmon.

 

[Bootstrap Bob]

Thanks Gaudette but in that episode Ray is Ponassing the salmon which as I indicated is very similar.

Perhaps I should have said that the finger (or blunt object) was run down the spine on the outside of the fish in effect flattening it further. When ponassing you peel the flesh away by slipping your finger/thumb under the bones and gently teasing them away.

I'm actually looking for something to confirm the method I described and to see if anyone else had come across it. Perhaps I imagined it or it was some alternative method that has been forgotten but it did look very efficient.

 

[Gaudette]

Are you trying to create a butterfly fillet ? Along the lines like you would do with a Sardine?

 

[Bushwhacker]

The easiest way is to just fillet it - 2 cuts per side with a knife is all it takes.

 

[John Fenna]

Thanks Gaudette but in that episode Ray is Ponassing the salmon which as I indicated is very similar.

Perhaps I should have said that the finger (or blunt object) was run down the spine on the outside of the fish in effect flattening it further. When ponassing you peel the flesh away by slipping your finger/thumb under the bones and gently teasing them away.

I'm actually looking for something to confirm the method I described and to see if anyone else had come across it. Perhaps I imagined it or it was some alternative method that has been forgotten but it did look very efficient.

That sounds pretty much how I do it....

 

[Gaudette]

Just phoned the wife up she reckons she saw jamie oliver do something along the lines of what you are describing. Sorry can't be of more help but this is how i do Sardines.

 

[Buckshot]

Is that a different method to ponassing or just another way to ponass - a variation on a theme?
I too have seen people push down on the spine but they then tease the bones away from the flesh in the 'normal' way
I think pressing the spine just helps free the meat a little doesn't it?

 

[Bootstrap Bob]

Thanks folks. It sounds like there is something in the method and I'm not going mad.
The Jamie Oliver thing sounds like the sort of thing he'd do but it wasn't him who showed me.

 

[Thoth]

Am I wrong in thinking that ponassing refers to the method of cooking the fish (held open with sticks over a fire) rather than the preparation of the filleted fish? The only thing that might be missing from Bob's post is to mention removing any fins.

 

[Bootstrap Bob]

Am I wrong in thinking that ponassing refers to the method of cooking the fish (held open with sticks over a fire) rather than the preparation of the filleted fish? The only thing that might be missing from Bob's post is to mention removing any fins.

You might be right Thoth. I always associated the name with the method of preparation and cooking but it could be just the cooking element.
I think what I'm looking for is the alternative preparation method without getting bogged down on what it's called.

I deliberately left off the removal of fins as I was only interested in the spine/rib removal bit.