How to fillet Mackerel

Mackerel is one of the best oily fish you can eat and very healthy. They can be cooked, whole and gutted or filleted. We can even remove the bones by v-cutting them for you. With this quick and easy to follow video guide you too can prepare a delicious fillet or two in no time under the guidance of our expert mongers!

Fishmonger Matt's top tips for filleting fish:

  1. Make sure you're working on a clean, dry and secure chopping board as well as placing a damp cloth underneath to prevent the board from moving.

  2. Use a sharp knife with flex in the blade approx 6 inches long.

  3. ALWAYS cut away from yourself, keep the sharp pointy thing away from your body!

  4. Maintain clean and confident strokes with the blade, the more cutting you do, the poorer the fillet.

  5. Put adequate pressure on the blade by maintaining a consistent downward pressure to maximise yield against bone, be cautious not to apply too much, however!

  6. If you're a complete novice, firstly welcome! Secondly, practice filleting on cheaper fish such as mackerel to avoid disappointing cuts on expensive fish.

  7. If in doubt, leave it to the professionals and order superb fillets of the freshest fish in Cornwall. We don't mind if you take the credit!

Get Fresh & Delicious Mackerel here

Fish For Thought Recommends:

We recommend taking a whole fish and asking us to take the head off and guts out but leave the belly intact. This creates a cavity for stuffing and a butter, chorizo, tomato and chilli mix is fantastic and really simple. Chef Adam has made some other fantastic recipes using Mackerel in our development kitchen, see them here:

The best Mackerel Recipes

Is Mackerel healthy for me?

Mackerel is a superfood - an amazing source of Omega 3 containing a whopping 2,804mg per 100g of fillet!

Is Mackerel sustainable?

Yes, the Cornish fishery is a wonderful example of best practice sustainable fishing, with small inshore day-boats catching the fish by hook and line. Read more about Mackerel's sustainability here:

Sustainable Mackerel