How do I debone fish quickly?

Question

A week ago, we bought some salmon, that was oddly cheap. Today, after cooking it, we realized why: there were hundreds of bones in the fish, all waiting to make their way into our throats. We stopped eating it and threw it away. I realized at the same time that even though they were potential hazards, it was such a waste of money.

Question is, how do we best efficiently filter out fish bones from fish that have tons of them? In other words, is there an easier way besides manually pulling out the bones one by one?

Answer 1

If you are speaking of a salmon filet, you must remove the pin bones one by one. The easiest way to do it is with tweezers or needle nosed pliers. This brief video demonstrates the technique:

• Run the back of your knife across the line where the bones are, from tail to head, to make them pop out more.
• Pull each bone, on an angle towards the head of the fish

Answer 2

Depending on your tolerance for waste, you can also slice away the portion of the fillet that contains the bones. That can be used in a stock to be strained after cooking.