BONE FREE

Have you ever met anyone who enjoys picking bones out of their meal of fish? They are almost as rare as finding a fisherman who enjoys pulling the pin bones out of his salmon filets using a tweezers.

Many years ago I watched a Canadian guide skillfully remove the y-bones from a northern pike filet. We all appreciated the bone-free shore lunch. When I took up salmon fishing my family complained about the pin bones, as they were accustomed to boneless dining. If you could remove bones from northern I thought there must be a good way to take care of salmon. In the process I sacrificed a little meat but found a method for removal of pin bones that is easy to learn.

Pin bones are visible white dots found on the upper portion of the filet. On smaller filets they are less obvious but still easily detected with you fingers. They end just above the anus.

My method is:

1. First I remove the skin because once the pin bones are out, it is easy to cut the filets into serving size portions before cooking.

2. Cut the tail section where the pin bones stop. That piece is now boneless.

3. Draw your knife at a 90-degree angle along the pin bones on the thick side of the filet. The knife blade will bump along the bones but do not cut through them.

4. On that same cut but now at around a 25-degree angle, cut into the filet but not through it, along the entire length of the filet. The depth depends on the size of the fish. On larger fish, you will feel the bones with the knife blade.

5. Repeat step number 4 but on the opposite side of the pin bones.

6. Using a scissors, remove the strip of flesh that contains the bones and discard (or feed to the cat or your mother-in-law).

Mastering this method will take a little practice but your friends and family will appreciate your efforts.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

Aka Michael Collins R.Ph.