Snapper and Hon Deba.

Having a father that fishes professionally certainly has its benefits. Last night he brought me a couple yellowtail snapper and some mangrove snapper to compliment. I don't feel like I get to use my deba often enough as we mostly get in filleted fish at work( still trying to convince the executive chef that there are enough of us that know how to break down fish to start bringing in whole fish ). Had a lot of fun with this and had to chance to put my new scaler from Jon at JKI to work. It works fantasticaly by the way.

A couple yellowtail scaled and ready to go.



The rest of the troop.



Gotta' love fileting with a Deba. Just can't match its performance.

Hmm. I might have to take a look at that scaler after all. :scratchhead:

Which deba is that?


Tell your chef that the price point of whole fish vs. fillets is worth it. Not to mention it gives a cook a sense of possesion and pride when they personally break something down.

Yah those scalers are awesome! I got one of them from Japan woodworker.

I have been wanting a deba for awhile now, but sadly we don't do a whole lot of fish at work. So I wouldn't get to use it very much, thus it's making it hard for me to spend a couple hundred on a knife that isn't going to get used

I've been reading the Essential Pepin just lately, and the way he uses fish heads and bones comes to mind here. He calls the stock made from them free food!

Awesome work. I need that scaler too, it works better on smaller scales than the one I have which is better on bigger ones. Or so I tell myself.

SpikeC said:

I've been reading the Essential Pepin just lately, and the way he uses fish heads and bones comes to mind here. He calls the stock made from them free food!

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I was going to say that the key would be convincing the chef to make more stuff with fish stock. Then whole fish are just cheaper!

mhlee said:

Hmm. I might have to take a look at that scaler after all. :scratchhead:

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I need someone to agree to rehandle it before I commit to buying one

The deba is a 210mm lefty Tanaka. Very utilitarian.