DannyW
Senior Member
Seeing the Lackster's post about removing the pin bones out of smoked trout made me remember a technique I learned last year on a trip to BWCA. Ya'll probably already know this but I was amazed that I had never even heard of it. The guy that showed it to me called it "zippering a fish". (BTW...this technique will only work on skinned, uncooked fish, so it would not work for the Lacksters purposes.)
First, fillet the fish as you normally do. Then make a small 1" cut on both sides of the lateral line.
It will look like this.
Grasp the fillet by one of the sides and the lateral line and gently pull them apart. Repeat for the other half of the fillet.
In the end you will have 3 pieces of fish from one fillet. A top boneless half, a lower boneless half, and the lateral line with all the pin bones.
The two fillets go in the hot oil, the lateral line gets tossed to the sea gulls. Hope this makes sense.
First, fillet the fish as you normally do. Then make a small 1" cut on both sides of the lateral line.
It will look like this.
Grasp the fillet by one of the sides and the lateral line and gently pull them apart. Repeat for the other half of the fillet.
In the end you will have 3 pieces of fish from one fillet. A top boneless half, a lower boneless half, and the lateral line with all the pin bones.
The two fillets go in the hot oil, the lateral line gets tossed to the sea gulls. Hope this makes sense.