When it comes to seafood, there are certain body parts we typically like to avoid eating. Most consumers discard shrimp tails and we always leave the shell out of lobster rolls. If you’ve eaten herring, pickerel, or pike, you may also be familiar with dealing with bones. What about salmon? Does salmon have bones? You may have eaten salmon that already had its bones taken out, but it’s not hard to debone salmon yourself.
As a seafood aficionado, I love cooking with fresh wild salmon fillets. However, one key prep step before cooking salmon is properly deboning it Salmon fillets contain tiny bones called pin bones that must be removed to ensure a pleasant dining experience. Through trial and error in my kitchen, I’ve discovered the most effective techniques for deboning salmon and removing those pesky pin bones
Understanding Salmon Anatomy
Wild salmon like sockeye and coho have an elegant torpedo-shaped body designed for swiftly swimming upstream to spawn. This streamlined build contains some inedible parts that must be removed before cooking.
The main structural bones are the spine and ribs. Professional butchers remove these large bones when filleting salmon into steak or fillet cuts. However, salmon fillets also contain many small pin bones interspersed throughout the flesh.
What are Pin Bones?
Pin bones are not actually bones at all. They are the calcified tips of the salmon’s rib bones. These thin, brittle, needle-like structures run horizontally across the salmon fillets.
Pin bones help the fish detect vibrations and movement in the water. They act like a lateral line system to sense predators, prey, and other salmon.
On a fillet, pin bones are normally 1-3 inches long and around 1 mm wide. They overlay the ribs and feel hard like tiny bones under the salmon’s skin.
Are Pin Bones Edible?
Many cultures around the world routinely eat pin bones along with the salmon flesh. However, pin bones can pose a choking hazard if accidentally swallowed.
In the US and Europe it’s standard practice to remove all pin bones from salmon fillets before cooking. With care, the bones can be extracted quickly while leaving the fillet intact.
How to Remove Pin Bones from Salmon
Deboning salmon takes finesse. Here are the best techniques I’ve found for removing pesky pin bones:
Use Your Fingers
- Feel along the salmon fillet to locate pin bones
- Gently pull bones straight out of the flesh with your fingers
- Take care not to tear the delicate flesh
Tweezers or Needlenose Pliers
- Run fingers along fillet to find bones
- Firmly grasp bone tips with tool
- Pull gently in direction bone lies in fillet
- Discard bones when removed
Flexible Knife
- Lay fillet skin-side down
- Angle knife 45° and scrape along bones to lift them
- Pull out loosened bones with fingers
- Take care not to cut deeply into flesh
Fish Deboning Tool
- Specialized U-shaped deboning tools available
- Hook tool under each pin bone end
- Lift bones up and out of salmon flesh
- Quickest and easiest method
How to Debone a Salmon Steak
For salmon steak or tail pieces, you’ll need to take out the ribs and the big bone in the middle. Here are the steps:
- Lay salmon steak skin-side down
- Locate central backbone and ribs
- Run knife horizontally to cut ribs from backbone
- Lift out backbone and rib cage in one piece
- Locate and remove remaining pin bones
Serving Deboned Salmon
Here are some great ways to serve your salmon once you know how to debone it:
- Salmon fillet baked en papillote with vegetables
- Pan-seared salmon topped with mango salsa
- Cedar plank grilled salmon steaks
- Poached salmon folded into salmon cakes
- Cold smoked salmon sliced for bagels
- Soy salmon glazed under the broiler
- Blackened salmon tacos with lime crema
- Herb-crusted salmon with roasted potatoes
Does Salmon Have Bones?
Yes, salmon has bones. A lot of people are not sure if salmon has bones because as the second most popular seafood product in the US, most of the salmon purchased at the supermarket has already had its main bones removed.
That said though, like many animals, salmon do have large bones. The largest, being the spine, but those are removed when the salmon is fileted. It’s most likely that you’ll see pin bones in salmon. These are long, thin bones that run along the salmon filet. These ones are typically easy to see and they’re often removed before salmon is sold.
Salmon steaks are the only food that might have big, thick bones that are still attached to the spine.
But what about salmon pin bones?
Yes, there’s another type of bone to be aware of, and it’s found in most salmon filets. However, it’s actually not a bone at all!.
Pin bones refer to the needle-like pieces that run along the length of a filet of salmon. While not bones per se, they’re calcified nerve endings that feel very similar to bones. The salmon need them because it helps them sense other salmon swimming close by.
With your fingers, you might be able to feel a line of pin bones just below the filet’s surface. They’re about one or two inches long, and you should be able to feel them sticking out. Alternatively, you may notice a shallow trench where the pin bones have already been removed.
How to Remove Pin Bones from Salmon | Fish Filleting
FAQ
Do you remove salmon bones before cooking?
How do you remove pin bones from salmon?
Lay the salmon on a cutting board. Run your fingers down the length of the filet to feel the tips of the pin bones. Remove the pin bones with your tweezers/pliers. Using your fingers, you should be able to feel the pin bones on the surface of the fish. Gently secure the salmon filet by placing your fingers around the pin bone you’re removing.
What are the benefits of smoked salmon over raw salmon?
It actually has the same characteristics as raw salmon, being relatively low in calories, it is an excellent source of protein, good fat and several vitamins and minerals. The smoking process just adds an aroma.
Do you pull out pin bones before cooking salmon?
Pull out the pin bones before you cook your salmon. Here’s how to do it quickly and easily. What are pin bones? Pin bones are long, thin, needle-like bones that run along the length of a salmon fillet. In fact, they’re not bones at all — they’re calcified nerve endings that salmon use to sense other salmon swimming in close proximity.
What happens if you remove pin bones from salmon?
This ensures that you don’t end up ripping the salmon flesh, and it also decreases the likelihood of the pin bone breaking at the surface of the fish . Once you’ve removed all of the pin bones from your salmon, it’s ready to cook.
How do you check for bones before cooking salmon?
When preparing recipes like our Miso-Marinated Salmon, it’s always a good idea to check for bones before cooking. 1. Drape fillet over inverted mixing bowl to help any pinbones protrude. Then, working from head end to tail end, locate pinbones by running your fingers along length of fillet. 2. Use tweezers to grasp tip of bone.
How do you tell if a salmon is skipping bones?
You’ll find the pin bones on a side of salmon right between the top loin and the bottom loin, starting from the collar area and going 2/3 of the way down the length of the fillet. And they’re spaced about 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch apart. If you notice you’re only pulling bones out every inch or so, it means you’re skipping bones.