Scaling a fish is not an easy feat. It requires precision, expert knife skills and basic knowledge of fish anatomy. If you are planning to eat fish and bring home an unscaled one, you’re probably wondering where to start and how to go about it. Trimming the fins, removing the scales and cleaning the flesh - all come under fish scaling. Follow this guide to learn how to scale a fish like a pro.
Things you’ll need to scale a fish
- Butter knife
- Water
- Kitchen shears
- Fillet knife
The first step towards scaling a fish is removing the fins. Use the kitchen shears to remove the top fin along the spine. It’s called the dorsal fin and is found along the spine. Then cut off the chest fins, called pectoral fins and then belly fins, called ventral fins. Lastly, remove the tail fin that’s called caudal fin. When you are snipping these fins, make sure to keep the knife as close to the body as you can.
Scrape the scalesNow comes the main part. Hold the fish by the tail end and use the butter knife to scrape the scales against their direction. Make sure to keep your hand away from the scales as their sharp edges can give you a bad cut. Let the scales fall into a bowl of water so they don’t fly away and get into other things and make a mess.
Cleaning the fishOnce the fish is snipped and scaled, you’ll have to clean the fish to remove all the unwanted parts and also the smell. Located the gill where it connects with the lower jaw of the fish. Now pick up the fish in your hand with your thumb lodged just underneath the gill. Then insert the shears into the hole in the bottom of the belly and cut all the way up the belly.
Cutting the fishThis is a bonus step. Once you have successfully scaled the fish, you can just split the belly and remove the viscera and cut off the gills and head, if you plan on making fish fillets. Step 3 becomes inoperative in this case.
