Filets Pochés

Lay the fish on paper towels on a counter. With a sharp knife cut down the dorsal fin to the tail and then along the belly. Cut just through the skin and not into the meat. Now hold the tail of the fish with paper towels, then with a knife push the skin up off the tail to get the skin started. (The skin does grow down on the tail fin!) Once it is started, take hold of the skin with another paper towel (so the skin won’t slip out of your hand) and peel the skin off down to the head. Peel the skin from the other side in the same way. It peels just like a banana. Thawed and fresh fish are easy to skin from the tail up, and not from the gills down (catfish, large-mouth black bass, etc.). The heads of flat fish are normally discarded when the fish is to be poached; they tend to make the meat strong when cooked in liquids.