Wild: bigger tail. Farmed: smaller tail, fattier. A little blue in the eye means fresh.
Fins are dangerous — hold the fish by the eyeballs.
Scaling & gutting
Scale in a plastic bag (80 % cut open on one side) or in the sink with a little water. Hold the edge of the scaler, scale tail to head, head left, belly bottom; flip, keep head left. Then rinse under running water.video 5-5
Remove the scales around the fins with the knife.
Head left, belly down. Hold the pectoral fin to the left, knife under the cartilage, going in at 45°. Don't go all the way through — guts.
Go under and cut the thin belly, connecting with the head cut. Don't break the green bag (bitter gall).video 5-5
Flip, belly up, head left. Shallow cut; cut the head bone at 45° going down flat. Angle toward the head to leave more meat on the body.video 5-5
Knife upright against the spine, cut through it. Hold the spine with the knife and pull the head away — the guts come with it.video 5-5
Open the belly, cut the membrane over the bloodline (under the spleen), then brush under running water with the tip of a bamboo brush, tail to head. Clean out any leftover guts at the same time.video 5-5
Cut the tail. Back on the board, wipe all moisture off, inside and out.video 5-5
Filleting 3-piece
Shitami (underside) first. Head top-right, belly down. Pinch the flesh firmly. Knife goes in above the fin, 45° then flat when it touches the bone; pull.
Same side, head left, belly up, tail to head. Knife follows the fish line; when it touches bone, incline and pull. Pinch the tail, knife going in; at the middle there is resistance — cut the bones one by one.
Uwami (upper side), head top-right, belly up. Start from the top, knife angled then flat on the bone.
Head down-left, belly down, tail to head; pinch to see better. Open with the head down, pinch to lift, cut vertically to finish the belly bone.
Belly bones: tail down, knife upside down to detach the membraned part. Rotate, place to the left, insert inclined, pull — very thin cuts. Sandwich membrane and flesh, cut the edge.
Pin bones: remove with the yanagiba, keep them to the right, follow the fish line; then remove the spine strip with the pin bones.
Video alternative — single pass, “bream only”
Shitami: cut the skin from the belly up to the tail, knife slightly upright; find the bone with the tip, slice deeper to the backbone; push the tip against the backbone to free the belly bones; keep sliding along the backbone out through the back skin. No flipping.video 5-5
Uwami: start from the back, skin cut first, tip on the bone to the backbone, free the belly bones, go over the backbone and out through the belly.video 5-5
Belly bones: belly to your left, tip of the knife always, follow the curve (steeper near the head), lose as little meat as possible, trim the thin belly-skin edge.video 5-5
Cutting for nigiri
Skin-on (torched): tail up, skin up. Two shallow score lines. Salt lightly. Torch with the tip of the flame, on a plate over ice, then 5 min in the freezer.
Skinning: tail right, skin down, hold with the left hand. Knife flat, press down and pull the skin, tiny moves.