Start with lifting the whole halibut out of the box and clean it thoroughly under cold water.
Wipe it dry and remove as much of the protective mucus as possible and place it on your cutting-board, top-side facing up. Find your best cutting knife, a fillet knife, a sawing knife and a fish scissor.
If preparing whole baked halibut continue with the following steps:
- Cut away fins and head, if you do not want them on.
- Add butter / oil to a baking tray or place the fish on a baking sheet.
- Leave the skin whole or make angled cuts on the top side, rub the fish with butter / oil and salt + pepper.
If preparing steaks, with bones (e.g. cutlets, darnes, tronqons), continue with the following steps:
- Cut away fins and head, if you do not want them on.
- Start with the whole fish or cut the fish in two pieces along the backbone.
- Cut portions from a cross-section straight through the backbone
If preparing large halibut fillets or portion size steak fillets, continue with the following steps:
- Start to cut around the head, but not all the way through. When coming around the head towards the abdomen, cut all the way through to include the top-side fins and bones.
- Starting from the head, cut down to the backbone all the way to the tail.
- Continue to cut from the tail, with even and long movements, close to the backbone and side-bones towards the side of the halibut. Then you have made a nice fillet.
- Repeat on the other top-side fillet, but this time start from the head.
- Flip the halibut around and repeat.
- Now you have 3 even sized fillets and 1 slightly smaller from the underside. You can choose to keep the skin on or remove it by placing the fillet skin-side down and cutting slowly close to the skin, from the tail end. Hold on to the skin as it comes off and gently push your knife forward. If you cut close to the skin, more of the tasty and healthy fat will stay on your fillet.
- Cut the fillet (either with or without skin) in single-serving portions. For use as sashimi or sushi-topping, see “Slicing of sashimi grade halibut fillets”.
The cheeks are normally cut from the head of larger halibut and are the small pockets of flesh found below each eye. The cheeks are regarded by many as the tastiest part of the halibut.