Gutting a fish?

[yepi'mon]

Hi Guys

Was wondering to what extent everyone here guts their fish... in particular a large snapper.

I remember hearing somewhere in the past that you should also remove the "gills" from the fish.... Well last thursday I scaled and gutted 3 large snapper and had a go at removing the "gills". It's never been an issue in the past with smaller fish but after a few tries I gave up on pulling these out and left them in there to bake with the rest of the fish.

I am also wondering how particular you are about how much you remove of the fishes innards. Do you get every last little bit or just get the large/main bits out and don't worry about the finicky little stringy bits?

:water: :water:

[Lbsnapperhunter]

Do fish have little lungs ???

[cheaterparts]

Do fish have little lungs ???

only the air breathing ones

[Lbsnapperhunter]

snapper with lungs - must be a new species

[yepi'mon]

haha gills / lungs

[yepi'mon]

These bits -

[Lbsnapperhunter]

Yep them gills...

[Luluberlu]

I always take off the gills and everything inside but the eggs and the "air bags" near the central bones, and clean with fresh water....but now during the week I heard a chef (on the ABC) saying that we should never use water to clean the fish but "dry clean" them as the water will remove a lot of the fat and so flavor....I never try yet just report what I heard :cheers:
The Japanese are strong to eat the liver

[Scraglor]

I insert my knife into the hole under the anal fins (the bum) and run it up to under the chin. if you break the whole gill structure off where it joins the body at the top, and on each side where it joins the body, you can then pull the whole lot out and it will take all the guts with it. I dont do this for big (4kg+ fish) as I just knock the fillets off and portion them up for multiple dinners.

[cobby]

Scraglors method is the easy way. A small cut where the gills meet the upper part of the mouth makes them easier to rip out. You'll need a bloody good solid knife to cut through the bones on the underside of the fish. Once all the guts and gills are out, scrape the blood etc. Between the gut lining and spine, with a super sharp super thin knife trim any loose gut lining off and wash in SALT water