When choosing a fish you want to make sure that the gills are nice and red, the skin feels slimy and the scales are still on. These are all indicators of freshness.

Take a flexible sharp knife and use it to scrape the skin from tail to head to remove the scales. Give it a quick wash.

Use a sharp pair of scissors to cut the fins off both sides. Then cut the head off at an angle with the knife, being careful not to loose any flesh.

There is a natural line, following the backbone, running down the body of the fish. Using this as a guideline, run the knife down from head to tail, cutting down to the bone.

Using the tip of the knife, gently slide it down along the bones from the backbone to one side using sweeping movements to slice the fillet off. Repeat on the other side, then turn the fish and repeat again to get 4 fillets in total. Note the top fillets will be thicker than those from the underside of the fish so will require a longer cooking time.

If you want to skin your fillets, lay them skin-side down on a board. Starting at the thin end, work the knife in a sawing motion along the fillet, holding on to the skin as you go.

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