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1
Cut into the fish around its neck, just above the side fin, until the knife blade hits the backbone.
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2
Cut into the belly from the lower part of the fish to below the side fin.
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3
If you break the fish's neck by bending it towards the belly, the head and guts should be removable together.
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4
Rinse out any residue.
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5
Fillet the right side first.
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6
Place the fish with the belly facing you and the tail facing left.
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7
Cut into the fish from the lower part, all the way to the other side above the backbone.
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8
Slice above the bone to the tail.
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9
Next, place the tail to the right and slice the fish from the tail to the head end as shown here.
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10
Let's tackle the left side next!
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11
With the back edge facing you, make a cut about 4cm (just eyeball this) in starting from the tail end, pushing the blade through the other side.
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12
Then cut through the fish as shown in the Step 7 photo.
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13
Turn the fish over, hold it down and cut through the fish over the backbone.
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14
Once you get used to it you can do this all in one go.
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15
Once the fish is filleted, slice out the main bones.
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16
Start by holding the knife with the blade facing upwards, and make a cut from the middle of the fish in between the flesh and the bones.
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17
Next, hold your knife the normal way and slice out the backbone.
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18
Once the backbone has been removed, salt the fillets generously, put into a tray or similar, and leave in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up.
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19
When moisture comes out of the fish, rinse the fillets off under running water to remove the salt, and pat dry with paper towels.
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20
The traditional method is to rinse the fish in vinegar or sake, but using water doesn't make a big difference in the taste.
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21
Next, immerse the fish in vinegar and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
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22
Wipe the vinegar off very well, and peel off the skin with your hands!
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23
You can start from the head end or the tail end.
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24
If you start from the tail end, it's easier if you make a 1cm or so cut first!
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25
The skin rips easily so go gently.
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26
There are some small bones left in the flesh.
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27
Slice the fillets diagonally as if to cut through these tiny bones.
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28
You may feel the bones when you are slicing, but you won't really feel them when you eat the fish!
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29
If the bones really bother you I recommend curing the fish in vinegar (Step 15).
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30
Line up the sliced fish on a plate and serve.
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31
I cured the fish with salt and vinegar, but this is not to add flavor; it's to get rid of any parasites and bacteria and to firm up the fish so that is has a more pleasing texture.
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32
You won't really taste the vinegar or salt, so you can eat this like sashimi.
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33
If you want to cure the fish with vinegar some more, add sugar to the vinegar in Step 12 and leave the fish to marinate for 3 hours.
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34
The result is vinegar-cured fish that has a sour flavor.
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35
If you leave the fish in salt for a longer time in Step 11 the fish will be 'cooked' through (it will turn white), but it won't taste as good.
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36
The photo shows one serving of vinegar-cured Pacific saury that was on sale.
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37
It cost 70 yen.
