Hey Everyone!
Here is a complete step by step video of how to clean a Pompano and get it ready for sushi and Sashimi
Pompano is probably one of my favorite fish to eat
Its extremely fatty and packed with a lot of flavor
It just melts in your mouth
So the first thing I'm going to do is, cut around the collar and try to get as much meat as I can onto the fillet
Notice I'm cutting behind the fin
Cut from top to bottom
Again behind the fin
I'm cutting it at an angle, going down at about 45 degree, leaving more meat on the fillet
Running the blade along the belly
and I'm careful not to go too far deep
I don't want to puncture the stomach and get all that nasty stuff on the meat
If you notice, the yellow sack, in there is actually fish roe
If you want you can save it and put salt and pepper on it
and drench it in flour and pan fry it, its actually really good
its sweet and very rich in flavor
It's something that I look forward to everyday catch this
And if you did this correct, you're notice the intestine and head is still attached
so the next step is crucial, you want to take your blade and run it inside where you see the dark cavity is
That's actually the blood line
That needs to be removed, so when you fillet the fish later on, the meat is going to have a better finish to it (this step is optional)
And here I'm just taking my finger and I'm scrapping it under water
It helps remove all that blood
Some people actually use a toothbrush or chopsticks to do this
So now its time to fillet
I have the fish belly up
The head section on the right
I'm going to cut a line from the head to the tail
this is pretty standard for any filleting job
So i'm running the knife thru the filet again
I'm getting as close as I can to the backbone, I'm actually cutting right on top of it
That way I don't lose any meat
Take your time, do it slow
Now I'm at the hump where the middle of the spine is, and I'm running the knife over the hump
So for this filet, I'm running the knife over the rub cage, going around it
You can cut thru the rib cage if you want, but this is a little easier for me and saves some time
That filet is almost boneless
You noticed this filet is a really nice and clean, no bruises or red marks, beautiful meat
There's not much meat on there, and I can run my knife on the bone and here the click click
So next I'm going to do the same thing to the other side
Again, I'm making a score first
Doing the same thing to the belly side
This step is a little different from what most other people do
But actually I like to fillet it with the bone side up
I curve my knife upwards, follow right along the bone
For me I can get as close as I can and not waste so much meat
You don't have to do it this way, but this is just the way I've been doing for a long time
This way works pretty well for snapper or grouper
Because their meat tends to be softer, so by doing it this way, you won't break the meat up too much
So for the second filet, you see I left the rib cage on there
Again, it doesn't matter, you can leave it on or off
which ever is easier for you
later on, I'll show you how to take it off
If you notice that hump, that actually rises up by 1/2 cm, so if you run your knife on top of that hump you won't get as much meat on the filet
So the way I did it, really maximize the filets
This side has the rib on it
I'm just running the blade as close to the bone as I can
Run your finger along the belly and make sure there is no bones left on
I'm removing the center part of the filet because there is a bunch of pin bones
I didn't cut directly in the center, I cut on one side and the other side, that way I keep all the pin bones in the middle
Next, I'm taking off the skin, do this as slow as you can
basically, you want to keep the blade almost parallel to the cutting board
You noticed, I left a little meat on there, because the bottom part of the skin is dark and with red meat
its kind of fishy and I try to leave that on the skin
So next I'm going to clean up this filet a little, taking off some of that red meat on there
So this piece is ready, I'm going to cut it into sashimi pieces
I'm holding the knife at an angle, about 15-20 degree and slicing it from top to bottom
There's no need to saw the filet
If your knife is sharp enough, you can do this relatively easy
Just slow slices, one at a time
So that right there will probably cost you $5- $6 at a sushi bar
The second piece here is the belly part
I'm going to use this to make into sushi pieces
The reason is because this part is a bit wider and thinner
so its better for making nigiri out of it
I'm holding it like that, I want the fish to bend around my finger a little
If it doesn't bend, than you cut it too thick
So for this piece, I ended up with about 6 slices
You can cut it thinner and get maybe 7 or 8 pieces
but I don't like it that way, for me, I like it a little thicker for my sushi, I like the texture
heres another piece for sashimi
And at this point you're pretty much done
If you want you can get some shredded daikon, or carrot, some endives, and put it on a plate, make it look pretty
totally up to you
for me, I like it simple
These are the sushi pieces from earlier
heres some sushi rice I made earlier
I'm going to make another video and show you guys how to make the sushi rice
So I got it into about the size of a golf ball, maybe smaller
Get the rice nice and firm but not too hard
get a little wasabi on the fish
try to make a square, and flip it over
flip it over and squeeze the top and the side
Here it is again