Pin bones in salmon - remove them?

[lokidog]

I just grilled a yummy Atlantic filet from last August and remembered as I was enjoying the boneless pieces, that I had pulled the pin bones out before freezing.  Does anyone else do this?  It is so nice to not have bones to pick out. This would even be better for smoked salmon.

[Crunchy]

I never mastered removing them. Would make a mess of my fillets.  So i gave up years ago.

[lokidog]

I had tried previously and was not 100% successful, on these fish it worked great.

[Crunchy]

My guess is the atlantic salmon is similar to pinks, softer or lose flesh.  Making it easier to remove pin bones

[JKEEN33]

If I’m giving someone fish, sometimes I will get the stainless needle nose out and pull them. Never had any problem removing them that way. Pull the direction the bone is laying and you can’t tell a bone was ever there.

[lokidog]

If I’m giving someone fish, sometimes I will get the stainless needle nose out and pull them. Never had any problem removing them that way. Pull the direction the bone is laying and you can’t tell a bone was ever there.

I figure if I'm giving someone fish, they'd better be happy however it is.      

[BigGoonTuna]

i'm lazy, i'll usually slice out the section with the pin bones.  if you're careful, you'll only waste about an 1/8" thick strip of meat.

[fishngamereaper]

i'm lazy, i'll usually slice out the section with the pin bones.  if you're careful, you'll only waste about an 1/8" thick strip of meat.

Not lazy at all. I do the same... generally the meat above the pin bones gets cut out for canning and the meat below the pin bones is my freezer fillet. I hate bones in my fish...

[Jason]

I always pull them out with my leatherman.

[pianoman9701]

I have a pair of dedicated curved needle nose just for pin bones. If my wife finds a single bone in her fish, she loses her appetite.

[Fungunnin]

Here are a few tips for pin boning salmon:
Let the fish rest. The bones come out much easier if you let the fish come out of rigamortis. At least 48 hours after catching.
If you want skinless and boneless skin the fillet first then pull the pin bones.
For pulling the bones you want pliers or tweezers with maximum surface contact. I prefer smooth surfaces over heavily textured. My preference is for a set of Japanese pin bone tweezers. They have a wide angled face and flat cut jaws. I'll take a picture when I get to work. They are like $5 and we'll worth it.
Make sure you pull the bones in the same direction they lay in the fish. I place one hand on the fillet to hold it in place and gently pull towards the head and up on the bone.
To make the bones stand out and easier to find run your knife perpendicular to the fish from head to tail. This will cause the bone to poke out a bit more and be easier to find and grab.
Go slowly! The worst thing is to break off the bone half way down so apply even gentle pressure until the bone releases.

.... or you can just pick them out after you cook the fish. 

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[Okanagan]

i'm lazy, i'll usually slice out the section with the pin bones.  if you're careful, you'll only waste about an 1/8" thick strip of meat.

^^Another ditto^^

Slide the long fillet knife blade along the pin bones on each side and the meat loss is negligible.  It makes a Y shaped fillet, totally boneless.  I have used pliers to pull out pin bones and this is much faster and gets them all.  My wife loves salmon but won't eat it any other way than our boneless method. 

[Encore 280]

I think I have 4 of those Japanese pullers, they work great! Really nice having boneless smoked salmon and a beer. I do believe there's a YouTube vid of a Japanese chef pulling bones, the guy is fast!

[hollymaster]

 Hemostats work good.

[lokidog]

Thanks Fungunnin.

Man, I feel sorry for you guys with wives that freak over a bone in their fish.....    

I'll have to look into those pullers though.

[jackelope]

I hate bones in fish too. Bought these, they work great.

https://www.amazon.com/W%C3%BCsthof-5880-Fishbone-Plier/dp/B0000DJZ1A

[Alchase]

Yep needle nose pliers work great!

FYI, your wife's eyebrow tweezers also work great, just do not forget to clean them "before" you put them back in her draw, bad things will happen.

[kisfish]

I always pull mine before they go in the freezer. I personally like to be able to cook them up and not have to worry about the bones. I always use my leatherman as well.

[Stein]

I either leave them or cut them out and end up with an upper and lower filet.  Pulling them is more work than I am willing to do.

[Angry Perch]

i'm lazy, i'll usually slice out the section with the pin bones.  if you're careful, you'll only waste about an 1/8" thick strip of meat.

This, and they don't go the entire length of the filet (at least not any significant ones). I always leave skin on salmon, so it all still cooks/ smokes up as a single piece.

[plugger]

If you plan on freezing the fish, pull them after you thaw them out. they come out way easier

[Band]

I'll tell you what works best for smoked fish, wastes zero flesh, and is very quick and easy as well.  After smoking, you'll notice that the pin bones stick out slightly.  Take the edge of your sharp fillet knife, lay it parallel to the flesh and let it catch on the edge of the end of the bones sticking out and simply lift the blade and several bones come out at a time very easily.  Work your way down from the beginning to the end of the pin bones.  Easily takes less than 10 seconds per fillet.  Once you try it you should quickly learn the right angle of approach.

[2MANY]

I'll tell you what works best for smoked fish, wastes zero flesh, and is very quick and easy as well.  After smoking, you'll notice that the pin bones stick out slightly.  Take the edge of your sharp fillet knife, lay it parallel to the flesh and let it catch on the edge of the end of the bones sticking out and simply lift the blade and several bones come out at a time very easily.  Work your way down from the beginning to the end of the pin bones.  Easily takes less than 10 seconds per fillet.  Once you try it you should quickly learn the right angle of approach.

This before you vacuum pack or you will have some slow leaking bags that lack their vacuum.

[Skillet]

If you plan on freezing the fish, pull them after you thaw them out. they come out way easier

I have a pair of curved hemiosats that work perfect for pin boning.  20-30 seconds per filet, barely able to tell I've been there when I'm done.

[Wetwoodshunter]

Here is the ticket, and it will keep all ya'll wives happy.

[WSU]

I don't remove them.  It's easy to take them out when you're eating.

[SeatoSummit88]

As mentioned above, letting the fish rest so that the muscle composition is not tough any more makes it very simple to remove the bones. There is around 20 pin bones, start from the front of the fillet and work towards the tail, keep in a straight line and use a pin bone remover or medical tweezers. I personally would not cut the portion out, because that's some quality meat your losing out on.