How to fillet a smoked eel

Lay smoked eel with its back to you with the skin on.

 

Using a sharp knife, pierce through the skin midway along the eel next to the backbone. Run knife along the backbone to the tail.

 

Bring knife back to the centre of the eel and run along the gut cavity to the head and cut away the fillet from the head.

 

Cut below the backbone, lifting it away from the bottom fillet.

 

Lay fillets skin side down. Using a large spoon, starting from the tail, scrape the meat away from the skin