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This technique works for most fish (except flat fish, which requires a different method). If you have caught the fish yourself, gut and clean it as soon as possible (professional trawler workers do it on the boat, so their catch is ready to sell when they hit the shore).

1. Run the fish under cold running water and then dry it with paper towels. This removes the slime and makes it easier to handle.

2. Use a genuine fillet knife and sharpen it before you begin. Its thin, flexible blade practically shapes itself to whatever you’re cutting, making your job much easier.

3. If the fish has large scales, remove them, because they can harbor bacteria and get stuck in your teeth. Run the back of the knife along the fish’s body. If the scales are quite large, some of them will come away, indicating that the fish needs complete descaling (if the scales don’t detach, they can be left alone). Keep scraping with the back of the knife to remove all the scales.

4. If you want to skin the fish, split the skin down the fish’s back, loosen the area around the fins, and then peel away using pliers.

5. Place the fish flat on a chopping board, with the belly facing you. Press firmly on the fish with your free hand to stop it from moving, while making a slit from underneath the chin all the way along the belly, between the dorsal fins to the anal fin.

6. Remove the guts. Make sure you remove the brownish-red line that runs along the spine (the kidney line).

7. If you want to keep the head, remove the gills. Remove the head by lifting up the pectoral fin and then cut underneath it using an angled incision toward the head, stopping at the backbone. Repeat on the other side of the head and then cut through the backbone by placing your knife on it and applying pressure. Then cut through any remaining soft tissue that joins the head to the body.

8. To remove the dorsal fin, cut along it on either side then pull the fin away with a sharp pull from the tail end outward.

9. Wash the fish again, inside and out, in cold running water. Clean and sharpen your knife.