Filleting

Filleting removes the bones from a piece of meat or fish to produce a boneless cut called a fillet, a preparation used across many cuisines as a prime, easy-to-eat cut of the animal. For fish, filleting cuts parallel to the backbone rather than across it, after the scales have been removed and the abdominal cavity cleared, producing two boneless fillets that contain less flesh than a whole fish or a cross-cut steak but are considerably easier to eat; several specific cutting methods exist, including a cutlet cut behind the head and around the belly and a J-shaped cut used to remove the pin bones. For meat, the term commonly refers to a specific whole muscle removed intact, such as beef tenderloin, known as filet or filet mignon, or the small boneless strips taken from above a chicken's breastbone.