Have you ever thought of cleaning a catfish? Most of you will answer “No”. The problem is that it is a mindset of most of you that cleaning catfish is often a very hectic job and that is why you prefer to buy its fillet from the fish section of supermarkets. Well, you can easily learn how to clean catfish. People use lots of techniques to clean catfish and the worst is nailing catfish with a tree and peeling the skin with the help of a peeler. Let’s know how simply you can do the task of cleaning a catfish. Try your hand and your catfish will get cleaned and processed in a very less time. Read on.
Complexity Level: Moderate
Time Required: 15 minutes
Resource Required:
- Catfish
- Fillet Knife
- Water
- Paper towel
Instructions:
1. Locate adipose fin and start processing
Adipose fin of the catfish is located on the top of the catfish from where the tail begins. You will locate two fins on catfish top and ignore the fin that is near to the head. Now the other fin available is the adipose fin. Now, with the help of a fillet knife start cutting catfish from the adipose fin and make a long continuous strip that continues under the adipose fin and the back near to the head. Keep making long cut unless you reach near to the dorsal fin.
2. Position your fillet knife
Now, under the dorsal fins position your knife and start slicing downward. Behind the head try to make a deep slice with the fillet knife. Keep cutting the fish down to the back bone. Take fillet knife out of catfish.
3. Break the backbone of the catfish
By grabbing head of the catfish with one hand try to bend it down and break the backbone of cat fish. Do not apply much force as you do not want to rip off the head completely. You are breaking the back bone so it becomes easy for you to cut the other sections properly.
4. Insert your finger into fish body
After holding the fish body, try to insert your index finger right into the backbone and also try getting a firm grip on the body of the fish. Hold the fish tight and pull the head of the cat fish towards its tails. It is almost the way you peel your banana. This will help you to pull the skin from the meat and with an even and careful pull you can easily do it in a single chance.
5. Start making fillet cut
Keep the fish on the cutting board and try to make a fillet cut and make the meat separate from the bone. Place your fillet knife flat opposite to the side from where you are going to start cutting. Place your fillet knife to a slightly angled position and starts slicing the catfish flesh. There are bones within the catfish but slice straight so that you can end up in getting a big boneless cat fish fillet.
6. Slice the other side
Turn the catfish and slice the other side of the catfish. Try to take off the cat fish bones as these are very thing and hard. Before cooking the fillets, make sure that you have removed all the bones from the fillet as it has very thin and pointed bones. Catfish cleaning is done and now apart from these two catfish fillets you can dispose all other parts of the fish to the water.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Apart from making a fillet, how can I cut the catfish along with bones?
In the store, usually, they make a slice or piece of the catfish, but you can get the catfish from the super market and process it on your own. Before cutting, you put some salt on the catfish and then hold it tightly. With a sharp knife, chop off the fins of head and tail of catfish. You will only have the body in your cutter board then. Now, slice the catfish body with the chopper cut according to the desired size.
Quick Tips:
- Catfish body is very slippery to hold. Put some salt in the body before cutting, it will be easier to hold it.
- If you are not sure about the availability of bones, do not feed cat fish fillet to the kids as the bones are very thin and pointed.
Things To Watch Out For:
- You can dispose the catfish remains to the water so that the other fish can have a feed from this.
- While inserting your index finger to the fish body, be careful about the hard, pointed bones.
- In the entire process, be careful to use the fillet knife as catfish body is very slippery the knife may slip and you may have a cut.
