How to Remove the Skin from Salmon | Fish Filleting

So what we're going to do is we're going to skin a salmon filet. This technique is pretty much used for all fish. Some of the smaller fish, you just need to use maybe your thumb and your index finger. Some of the bigger fish, even as big as large 100-pound tuna, you may have to wrap your arm around the whole skin and do this. But no matter what size, it's all pretty much the same process.

So what we're going to do is we're going to take our boning knife, our filet knife. Make sure that the piece of fish is lined up as close to the edge as you can possibly get it. The reason why we do that is that we can now then have a little bit more leverage and drop the knife flat down with the board itself or with the table, giving us a little bit more leverage. If your knife comes up or flattens out too much, you can go into the meat and lose tons of product. If you cut it too much, you go into the table and then you end up with the skin still on there.

So what we're going to do is we're just going to take our knife and draw a little bit of like a handle on the back of the fish, pretty much just coming in at about a 45-degree angle. I don't want to waste a lot of meat; I just want to make sure that I can get a little bit of a grip on there. Now what I can do is I can take my knife and turn it and make a couple cuts the other way. One, two, three. And you can see I'm already down to the skin.

Once I'm there, I've got this nice little handle I've created. With some of the bigger fish, you might want to just kind of poke a hole into the skin a little bit so you can get your finger in there, pretty much just have a little bit more leverage. That's about it. So that you can have a little bit of a grip.

And then all we're going to do is once our knife is underneath and kind of on the table at about a 15 to 20-degree angle, we're going to take our skin, and we're not going to pull up. We're not going to zip it out because then we'll crush the meat. All we're going to do is just take it and go back and forth gently, trying to keep the knife pretty still. And what that's going to do is kind of keep the knife along the skin and release the meat from it.

Once you have a little bit more distance, you can get a good grip on there. And again, just keep following through. And then you should be able to pretty much remove the entire skin and have a nice filet. A little bit of that silver skin is OK. That's not really, that's just the inside, nothing wrong with that. Totally edible. Now you have your nice skinned filet.

[nedsheppa]

you just taught me a technique that I've been wanting for years. my wife hates the skin, and u destroy salmon, trying to do this. just watched the vid, and pulled it off pretty much perfect. thanks.

[RonOnTheGrill]

Man that was AWESOME! I tried to cut the skin off a Salmon fillet once and man did I ever jack it up. I never would have thought to move the Salmon and keep the knife still. Yours was the first video that came up when I searched, and it should be the only one. Great lesson.

[damselinadress]

I cooked salmon today. Should have watched this first. Boy did I butcher that fish. It was still good though. lol

[justwalkaway]

thanks as someone who just started working seafood at a grocery store this was very helpful.

[machfrk]

I’m not a fisherman by any means and bought a salmon filet at the grocery store recently. Your video was very helpful as I was clueless on how to remove the skin without damaging the meat. Thank you so much!!

[JamesLee-tgxl]

nice, concise - in under 3 minutes - the best salmon skinning vid on youtube after much searching! Thank you!

[tiffanyhogan]

Today was my first time cutting scales off of fish & this worked like a charm. Thank you!!

[bchuggs]

Awesome video! The tip about having it close to the edge was a huge help! Thanks!

[Alexor]

Great video. Does it work on human flesh as well??

[angelbabyg]

This was so helpful and such a easy, effective technique! thank you!🙏🏾💞

[robertnope]

Another thing I ought to remember from culinary school but had long since left my brain. Thank ya. M

[thebalance-mindbodycryp]

WOW That’s was dirty!! That finger hook tech tho!! Badass move Chef 👌🏽

[names-mars]

I just started eating salmon recently, and even recently just started to get the fish whole and clean it up myself. Someone told me, it's always important to know what you're eating. So this was very helpful, thanks.

[jasonstudley]

Bruh. I screw up skinning salmon ALL the time. My jaw dropped watching this vid. Can't wait to try it.

[jbsilveradoo]

Wow!! This technique worked right away for me! Thank you 🙏🏻

[Born_Yashish]

Simple and brilliant. Skinning now takes me quarter of the, leaves a tenth of the mess and the fish remains clean.
Thank you!

[elmarito]

" a little bit of skin is ok"

yeah, tell that to my boss.

[alexmeza]

You made me the fisherman I am today ❤

[MaiGoodLife]

Thank God for this video, it really helped me! 

[natalief]

I have never taken skin off of any fish. I was very nervous I was gonna mess it up but it came out perfect and it was so much fun, thank you!!