Cleaning and Dressing Fish

Appears in
At Home with Japanese Cooking
At Home with Japanese Cooking

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1986

  • About

This is work that not all cooks enjoy. Although most fishmongers will dress and prepare fish for their regular customers, for some dishes, such as Mackerel Loaves, you might prefer to do the work yourself. And you might have your own fresh catch to eat one day. So here are the basics of fish preparation.

Generally, the order of events is as follows: scaling if necessary, decapitation, evisceration, filleting. When smaller fish are to be grilled or fried whole, they are scaled if necessary, then eviscerated. Before starting, have all your tools at hand: