A fillet or filet (, ; from the French word , ) is a boneless cut or slice of

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

. The fillet is often a prime ingredient in many cuisines, and many dishes call for a specific type of fillet as one of the ingredients.

Meat

Beef

In the case of

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

, the term most often refers to beef tenderloin in the United States, especially filet mignon.

Chicken

Chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

filets, sometimes called inner filets, are a specific cut of meat from the

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ...

steaks. There are two filets in a chicken, and they are each a few inches long and about 1 inch or less wide. They lie under the main portion of the breast just above the ribcage around the center of the sternum. They are separated from the main breast by filament. Chicken filets are very popular in

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

s in many countries. They can come attached to the main breast itself or separated from the breast in packages of generally four or more filets. File:Kycklingfilé.jpg, Raw chicken filets File:Schweinefilet-1.jpg, Filet of

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved ...

Fish

In preparation for filleting, the

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

on the fish should be removed. The contents of the abdominal cavity (guts and other organs) also need careful detaching from the fillet. Fish fillets are generally obtained by slicing parallel to the spine, rather than perpendicular to the spine. Cuts of fish performed perpendicular to the spine are known as

steak A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patti ...

s or

cutlet Cutlet (derived from French ''côtelette'', ''côte'', "rib") refers to: # a thin slice of meat from the leg or ribs of mutton, veal, pork or chicken # a dish made of such slice, often breaded (also known in various languages as a '' cotoletta ...

s, and often include bone. The remaining bones with the attached flesh is called the "frame", and is often used to make fish stock. As opposed to whole fish or fish steaks, fillets do not contain the fish's backbone; they yield less flesh, but are easier to eat. Special cut fillets are taken from solid large blocks; these include a "natural" cut fillet, wedge, rhombus or tail shape. Fillets may be skinless or have skin on; pinbones may or may not be removed. A fletch is a large boneless fillet of halibut,

swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordf ...

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

. There are several ways to cut a fish fillet: * ''Cutlet'' ** This fillet is obtained by slicing from behind the head of the fish, round the belly and tapering towards the tail. The fish is then turned and the process repeated on the other side to produce a double fillet. * ''Single'' ** This fillet is more complex than the cutlet and produces two separate fillets, one from each side of the fish. * ''"J" Cut'' ** This fillet is produced in the same way as a single fillet but the pin bones are removed by cutting a "J" shape from the fillet. File:Hake fillet.jpg, Filleting

hake The term hake refers to fish in the: * Family Merlucciidae of northern and southern oceans * Family Phycidae (sometimes considered the subfamily Phycinae in the family Gadidae) of the northern oceans Hake Hake is in the same taxonomic order ( ...

File:Oroshi hocho knives.jpg, Japanese utensils used to fillet large tuna File:Salting Fish (1878) - TIMEA.jpg, Two men filleting and salting fish, 1878 File:Fish processing hg.jpg, Automatic knives for filleting fish

References

{{reflist Cuts of meat Fish processing Culinary terminology

Meat

Beef

Chicken

Fish

See also

References