ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ZACHERY DYKE
Spearo, fisherman, and passionate home cook. I enjoy harvesting my food from the ocean and sharing it with my friends and family. Follow along as I use species local to Florida to make incredible meals you can make at home.
How To Fillet A Blackfin Tuna In 10 Easy Steps
The Difference Between Filleting & Breaking Down A Fish
In this tutorial, I’ll show you not just how to fillet a Blackfin Tuna, but how to BREAK DOWN a Blackfin Tuna. The difference is that simply filleting a fish, only yields two pieces of meat, while the rest of the fish goes to waste. If you properly break down your fish, you’ll be left with several other cuts that can be used to make incredible meals.
What To Make With Your Blackfin Tuna
Use our Fish Recipes Database to get ideas of what to make with your tuna. These “off cuts” include but aren’t limited to; the collars, ribs, head, skin, blood line and the fish frame. You can also do more with the internal organs of the fish, but I don’t have much experience with that yet. The video above will be the best way to follow this break down process, but I have also included a how to guide below as well.
How I Got This Blackfin Tuna
This was actually the same Blackfin Tuna that I used in my Blackfin Tuna Poke recipe, and the same fish that will be used in some other upcoming stuff. I was out spearfishing earlier in the morning on my kayak and then my buddy met me out there on his Jet Ski a little bit later.
He wanted to go out and do some jigging for tuna so I ended up paddling out to around 400 feet. I didn’t have a rod and reel, or any fishing stuff for that matter, so he let me borrow one of his. After about 45 minutes, I finally hooked up on this one. It wasn’t the biggest, but it was all I needed!
Why I Like To Use More Of My Fish
As a spearo and fisherman, I believe I have a duty to use as much of the fish I harvest as possible. I feel that if I’m going to take a life, then I need to honor it. I also enjoy understanding the anatomy of the fish that I harvest, and getting creative in the kitchen. Some of the best parts of the fish are ones that are commonly overlooked! I hope you enjoy this tutorial on How To Fillet A Blackfin Tuna:
How To Fillet A Blackfin Tuna
Equipment
Materials
Instructions
- Make sure your fish is bled, gutted, and completely dry.
- Remove the left fillet.
- Remove the left collar.
- Scrape the left side with a spoon.
- Remove the right fillet.
- Remove the right collar.
- Scrape the right side with a spoon.
- Remove head.
- Remove bloodline from the fillets.
- Remove skin from the fillets.
- Overview.
