How to Remove the Skin and Scales from Sole - sake

Method

• Here is how a sole looks from the front and back.
• The skin is removed from the front side (photo top), and scales taken off the back side (photo bottom).
• Scrape the scales off the bottom side of the fish with the back of a knife.
• If the sole is big, a lot of hard scales will come off!
• Once the scales have been removed, cut around the head where there is a shallow depression.
• Leave the skin on the other side intact, so that the head is still attached by that skin.
• This is how it looks from the side.
• Hold onto the head that was cut in Step 4, push out the guts, and peel off the skin in one go.
• Peel off the skin like this up to the tail, as shown in the Step 8 photo.
• Rinse the skinned fish quickly and it's done.
• Sprinkle with some sake to remove the fishy odor.
• Bonus: I marinated half of the fish in shio koji and froze it.