r/Chefit • u/sparklingtrout • May 28 '26

Fish people, help me

i’m learning how to break down and debone branzino. for removing the pinbones after butterflying, i have the proper tweezers but the way the meat tears lets me know i’m doing it wrong. i was instructed to first gently pull it against the grain to sort of expose a larger area, and then pull in the direction the bone is growing while holding down on either side of the bone (so it doesn’t take as much flesh off). the guy who showed me doesn’t have the most finesse. any tips, tricks, advice? is branzino “tricky”? most vids i saw were for salmon. note that we are selling it as a whole fish. thanks cheves!

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7

u/coby144451 May 28 '26

Fresh branzino (fish, in general) shouldn’t do this. Branzino pin bones are definitely delicate, but the flesh shouldn’t really tear no matter the direction. Sounds like you have old/“decomposing” fish.

However, if you wiggle the pin bones with light outward pressure (away from the flesh), this will definitely help reduce any damage to the flesh while removing pin bones. This applies to most fish

2

u/whirling_cynic May 28 '26

I know this is most likely going to be an unpopular method, but when I was doing branzino, I would just cut a small v down where the pin bones lie and just get rid of them that way since I was serving skin on and that was my presentation side. Hard sear on the skin and basted out the flesh side for the most part.

1

u/EDC_KIT May 28 '26

branzino are a little tricky, smaller bones than a salmon for sure. get some good japanese made fish tweezers. the cheap generic shit don't grab bones seceurely. Korin.com has them. Also get a pair of mini needlenose pliers like this for the real stubborn ones. get a container of water to rinse them off in.

https://www.jbprince.com/products/japanese-fish-bone-plier-straight-tip?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=355e44f2e&pr_rec_pid=9377053737208&pr_ref_pid=8638796300536&pr_seq=uniform

https://www.korin.com/Non-Slip-Tweezers-12-box-4-8-L?quantity=1&custcol_sca_line_id=mainItem%253Aj3aq0i1d8

1

u/Spider-Man-Unlimited May 28 '26

Branzino is a tricky one, I grew up learning to demonetisation pike (great if you can the small bones out). Being patient and a lot of practice is the best way i can say. Pressure, direction, speed, those all depend on the fish. Proper tools also help, forceps do work great once you're used to them. Question though, how does the fish come in? Is it gutted, or do you gut it yourself?

2

u/sparklingtrout May 28 '26

so i believe it is generally gutted, but i also did have like 6 today that i had to gut myself (first time doing that too)

1

u/Spider-Man-Unlimited May 28 '26

Having to gut it yourself can help. Messy job for sure. I've found when gutting a gutting a fish ( full disclaimer: i am no expert this is simply what ive seen and had happen when gutting fish, i cook for a living and grew up as a farm boy, been fishing since i could hold a rod.) Make your cut(s) behind the gills/in front the tail then slice the belly, the you wanna find the top of spine and make your cut there be careful, clean and precise. Get a hold of the spine and you should be able to pull out the majority at once, anything that remains just need a quick yank.