Department of Agriculture: http//www.da.gov.ph/tips/milkfish.html
Bangus or milkfish is my favorite fish.
It is abundant in the Philippines.
Actually, this is our national fish. There
are many ways by which this fish can be prepared.
Every family has their own style of preparing
bangus like plain fried, broiled plain or with stuffing of
tomatoes and onions, stewed in vinegar, in sour broth
with vegetables and or smoked.
The latest trend about this ever popular fish is to debone
it first before cooking it so we don't get those spines
into our mouths. Since this is my most favorite local fish I
tried my best to learn how to debone it.
I watched and learned from fish vendors in Orani, Bataan
who are experts in deboning bangus and here's how
I debone my bangus.
Procedure:
1. Wash the fish
2. Split the fish butterfly style
3. Remove the internal organs, gills, blood and slime then wash the
fish thoroughly
4. Remove the backbone and dorsal fins by means of a sharp knife
5. With the use of forceps, remove the spines at the belly cavity.
This can be done easily because the spines are superficially
embedded.
6. Debone
Make a halfway slit along the flesh of the dorsal and ventral muscles
with a knife. Remove spines one after the other by inserting the forceps
between the segments of the dorsal and ventral muscles.
Continue removing the spines in similar manner on the dorsal and ventral
areas until all spines are removed.
From the dorsal portion, there are approximately 44 branching spines
embedded between the muscle segments. Starting from the nape along the lateral line 22 spines are embedded and along the ventral muscles are 24 spines.
Here's some extra tip: In order to remove the spines at the tail area
make sufficient vertical slits along the tail area flesh ad work the knife
to expose the spines like in the photo.
See how those spines are easily visible for me to remove them.
Do the same along the other side of the fillet.
Freshly caught fish is harder to debone. It must at least rest to firm the
flesh or put them in ice.
After removing all the spines I use my hand to flatten slightly the flesh and it will look as if nothing happened. It will look okay.
Rub enough salt on the deboned bangus to give it flavor and to prepare it for cooking.
This is now the finished boneless bangus and it is now ready to be marinated or cooked in whatever way I want. I prefer to make it into Lamayong Boneless Bangus. For every salted half-kilo size bangus I add 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 head minced garlic and 1 teaspoon powdered black peppercorns. I marinate the fish in a tightly covered plastic container and store in the refrigerator for at least overnight. The boneless bangus can be fried and serve with chopped tomatoes with chopped onions and mashed salted egg. Delicious!
