Fresh Filleting

1. Wash the flounder thoroughly under cold, running water to remove the slime, or the fish will slide around when you try to cut it.

2. Place the fish, light side down, on a chopping board.

3. Hold the filleting knife vertically and make an incision just behind the head, cutting down as far as the backbone. Draw the tip of the knife crossways around the head to make a curved incision. Work the blade with precise but forceful cuts to separate the sharp bone segments from the cartilage.

4. Insert the tip of the knife just in front of the tail, lower the knife and cut with the side of the blade all the way around the edge of the fish to the head incision. You should hear the blade scrape on the rib cage bones as you go. Lift the skin slightly and separate the flap from the body by slicing inward toward the backbone with clean, light strokes until you can fold the fillet over at the central backbone.

5. Repeat the process on the other side of the fish. As you cut through the flesh near the backbone, the fillet should lift clear.

6. Lay the fillet, skin up, on the board and slide a knife sideways beneath the flap of skin near the tail. Holding the skin flap in place, work the knife sideways up the fillet to remove the skin. Angling the blade slightly upward against the skin should cut away the fillet easily, with minimal wastage.

7. Turn the fish over and repeat the process for the belly, which yields a smaller fillet.

8. Rinse each fillet thoroughly under cold, running water and slice away any remaining patches of skin.

9. Cut down the center of both sides to produce 4 fillets in total.

From Cooked

1. Wash the flounder under cold, running water and place in a baking tray, belly or light side down. Drizzling the baking tray with olive oil will prevent sticking.

2. Season the flounder with olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit until the flesh is consistently white, then remove from the oven and place on a chopping board, belly down.

4. Trace an incision with the tip of a filleting knife down the backbone from the head to the tail, then run the blade around both edges of the fish, just inside the furrowed skirt of tiny bones and paper-thin flesh.

5. Slide a flat-bladed spatula from the outside of the fish under the fillet toward the backbone, working it from the tail to the head to lift away a single fillet.

6. Turn the fish over and repeat the process.

7. Divide each top and bottom section into 2 fillets and lay on a serving plate. The skin can be eaten, or it will slide away easily with the flat blade of a knife.