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Technique
Deep-skinning tilapia fillets cleanly
Why we deep-skin, and how to trim the dark line for a milder, whiter plate your guests will notice.
Tilapia carries a thin band of dark red muscle just under the skin. It's harmless, but it's stronger in flavour and greyer on the plate than the pale flesh around it. Deep-skinning, removing the skin and that dark layer together, gives you a cleaner, milder, more premium-looking fillet. Here's how to do it without losing yield.
Points
A long, thin, flexible filleting knife
A clean, damp board that won't slip
A dry cloth for grip on the skin
Steps
1 Lay the fillet skin-side down, tail toward you.
2 Make a small cut at the tail between flesh and skin, leaving a tab of skin to hold.
3 Grip the skin tab with your cloth, angle the blade slightly down toward the skin, and draw the fillet away from a near-still knife.
4 Angle just deep enough to take the dark line with the skin, you want the pale flesh left clean, not gouged.
Angle the blade at the skin, not the flesh. Let the fish move; keep the knife almost still.
If you'd rather not do this on the line, we deep-skin to order at source, so the fillets arrive already trimmed and graded by ounce. Tell us deep-skin or regular when you set your spec, and it's documented on every consignment.
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Kitchen notes
NileX kitchen notes
