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Preparing the Salmon

Filleting your Salmon

Filleting - Before filleting the fish you will need to remove the guts. First, make a slit along the ventral (belly) side from the vent (anus) to the gill plates or lug bones at the back of the head. Discard the guts. With your forefinger break the membrane protecting the blood channel at the back of the gut cavity.

This is best done under a running tap. There may be some veins in the belly walls of the gut cavity. These should be pierced and squeezed out to remove traces of blood. The blood won’t affect the taste but can detract from the appearance of the finished salmon.

To filet the fish, lay it flat on your cutting board with the dorsal side towards you (gut cavity facing away from you). Make a cut towards the spine as close to the head as possible leaving the gill plates intact on what will be the fillet. When your cut reaches the spine, turn the knife through 90 degrees so the blade now faces down the length of the filet towards the tail and lays parallel to the spine. Don’t attempt to remove the head is it provides somewhere to get hold of while taking the fillets off the bone.

With the knife flat against the spine, start running the blade towards the tail of the fish, initially cutting through the rib bones where they meet the spine. Keep the blade as flat to the spine and as close to the centre line of the salmon as possible to ensure you remove as much flesh from the bone. Be careful as you cut past the dorsal fin, you may need to lift the knife slightly to negotiate this area. The same goes for the anal fin. Continue cutting towards the tail until you release the fillet from the body of the salmon. To remove the second fillet, turn the fish over and repeat the process for the first filet. Sometimes it can be a little tricky removing the second filet as it’s closer to the work surface and a little harder to judge. The watch word here is take your time and be patient.

Turn both fillets flesh side up laying them flat on your cutting board. The rib bones can be removed at this point by cutting just beneath them removing a thin layer of flesh. This is easier said than done and requires quite a bit of patience. The rib bones can be left intact for smoking especially if you’re not confident you can remove them without damaging the fillet. I prefer to remove them as it makes slicing the fillet much easier once it has been smoked.

Pin boning - Pin boning the fillet removes the lateral bones which run from the head to just below the vent. These are the small bones at right angles to the spine. There are several ways these can be removed, I prefer removing them before salting as the flesh is more pliable and soft and the bones can be removed causing less damage to the filet. These bones can also be removed after salting. Some prefer this method as the flesh shrinks slightly after salting and the heads of the lateral bones are easier to find. The most effective method for locating the lateral bones is with your finger. Once found, using a pair of long nosed pliers, gently tease the bone out of the fillet being careful not to damage the flesh. You’ll be surprised at their length. This process takes a little time and can be fiddly however, the finished filet will be completely bone free and very easy to cut.

When you are happy all the bones are out of the salmon filet, you can trim the edges of the filet to tidy up any scraggy ends or rough cuts removing any traces of fin or membrane, ensuring the gill plate or lug bone is intact. These bony plates will provide the fillet with structure and support for hanging in the smoker. At this point two small slits about 1 cm in length should be made in the skin just behind the gill plate to facilitate threading the string you’ll be using for hanging the filets in the smoker.

Pre-salting or Brining

The Salt Cure - Preparing the cure. One can cure salmon with plain salt. Avoid salt containing magnesium additives. fine dry salt is perfect as is fine granular sea salt. Don't use products like Lo-Salt as this is packed with additives. The addition of sugar to the cure can produce a sweet flavour in the salmon which is really nice. I also like to chop a little dill into the cure to add a nice herb flavour to the finished salmon. Mix the salt and sugar 3 to 1 (3 salt to 1 sugar) add the chopped herbs to taste.

Salting - Wash the filet in cold water and pat dry. Lay flat in a suitable dish on a sprinkling of salt skin side down. Apply a fine layer of salt so that it just covers the flesh. As you work towards the tail of the filet reduce the salt in proportion to the thickness of the filet so that at the tail of the filet there is just a slight sprinkle of salt.

Lay the second filet next to the first and repeat the salting process. The time required for salting varies depending on the size and thickness of the fillet and your own taste. Salt for too long and the fish will be unpalatable. Insufficient salting will result in your filet spoiling through bacterial growth. For an average sized farmed salmon you are likely to buy from the supermarket, one should be looking to salt the sides for around 4 hours.

After salting, wash the filets in cold water to remove any remaining traces of salt and pat dry. The filets should be left to air dry for 12 -24 hours before smoking. The salting and air drying removes between 8 – 10% of the weight of the filet (in water) leaving the flesh firm and springy to the touch.

A London cure consists of a light sprinkle of salt for around one and a half hours (Less is more etc) I would recommend that if you want to do the London cure you only work with the freshest ingredients in a cool environment because you’re relying more on the freshness of the salmon and the ambient temperature to prevent ransidification of the flesh than you are on the salt cure. This method combined with a light smoking of around 4 to 6 hours produces a lovely delicate smoked salmon.

Brining – Brine curing - To cure salmon filets in brine I use an 80% brine solution. This is made up from 2lb 10oz/1.2kg of salt in one gallon/4.54 Liters of cold water. Brining is a much quicker method of curing as it takes between 1 – 3 hours depending on the size of fish and of course how you prefer the taste. Brining only removes between 2-3% of the weight of the filet (in water). After brining hang the filet to drip and dry for 24 hours. Brined fish will produce a salt glaze on the surface of the flesh when dry which adds to the appearance of the fish.