After the first cutlassfish was prepped, Erica wanted to skewer it on a branch and grill it right away, but Lin Chen immediately stopped her.
"Hold on, we're not done yet."
"What do you mean, 'not done'? Didn't I already prep it?"
"Do you want to eat it with bones or without?"
"Is that even a question? Of course I want... Wait, you mean you can take out the bones too!?"
"Right," Lin Chen nodded, pointing at the cross-section of the cutlassfish's neck. "See the backbone? Just slice with the knife flat against it, all the way down. It's the same as filleting any other fish."
Cutlassfish only have two rows of bones: one along the back and the other being the spinal column. This means there are no extra small bones around the spine, so once you remove the backbone, all that's left is pure meat.
Erica knew this common filleting method. She quickly sliced off the two long strips of meat from either side of the cutlassfish, then trimmed off the few soft bones from the belly area.
