For those of you who have never filet a fish it is somewhat of a soothing, albeit disgusting experience.
There is something soothing about watching the clean cut along the spine and then along the tail in one swift movement. (In a ‘It’s a fish and we’re gonna eat it’ kind of way, not in a Dexter / serial killer kind of way.)
Watching Ivan skin the filets has the same satisfying feeling as when you try to get a sticky label off a glass bottle and you find the right angle and the right speed and it comes off perfectly with no residue.
I found filleting the mackerel a therapeutic / meditative experience. They are a fatty, oily fish so the knife slides through with very little resistance. It was like colouring within the lines to see how close you can come to the spine to get the most meat off, without cutting any of the fins.
However, one hundred and forty mackerels later, I am covered in fish guts and never want to see another fish again.
Check out the full experience: Filet o’ Fish 101