【Reading】さんまいおろし

【English Name】fillet a fish into three pieces

The most basic technique for preparing fish in Japanese cuisine is three-piece filleting (sanmai-oroshi), a method that divides the fish body into three parts in total: the right fillet, the left fillet, and the central bone. By going through this process, development into a wide variety of dishes—sashimi, grilled dishes, simmered dishes, and more—becomes possible.

Specifically, after removing the head and the entrails, the blade is inserted along the central bone to detach one fillet. The state in which the other side still has the bone attached is called two-piece filleting (nimai-oroshi). Cutting that fillet away from the bone as well completes the three-piece filleting.

Rather than removing a fillet in one stroke, the method of advancing the blade in the order of belly, then back, is called both-sides filleting (ryomen-oroshi).

The meat remaining near the central bone can be put to use as an ingredient called "nakaochi." In the case of tuna, the way of eating in which the lean meat around the bone is scooped out with a spoon or the like and made into negitoro or tekka-maki has spread widely.

Suited to small fish and fish with soft flesh is daimyo-oroshi, a method of detaching the flesh by running the blade in a single stroke. A deba knife is indispensable for the work, and for flat fish such as flounder and flatfish, handling them with five-piece filleting is common.