Here is my most viewed video, how to fillet a salmon and one catching up to it, how to fillet a Monkfish. Butchering whole animal, fishes or meats is something I started doing very early during my apprenticeship at the Repair de Cartouche, a French Parisian restaurant when I was 15 years old. One month into my new career my real mentor, Chef Raphael Puchios put me in front of 2 large styrofoam boxes one with 4 salmon and the other one with plenty of small monkfish. He quickly show me how to butcher one of each and went onto is afternoon break while I was suppose to finish the work. As he left he told me, you might do a terrible job, try your best, take your time and just follow the bones this is the best way to do it. After is departure I looked at those creatures and wonder for a moment, the flesh was so cold and firm, it was my first time hearing the crack of fish bones against a knife. The salmon were easier than the monkfish which have slimy skin, usually a sign of freshness for fish, monkfish have as two skin that need to be removed but only one bone, the back bone, when salmon and most of other fish species have plenty of pin bones added.
My break that day consisted of cleaning fish, and trust me I was bitching a lot because it was not that fun at all, I had much prefer being at the bar next door playing baby foot or like we say here, fuss ball sipping a panachée, a mixture of beer and sparkling lemonade, yes you can do that at 15 in France. Today I am glad I did it so I have a story to tell. How to become a chef!
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