340 



MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



Larger fish, such as sahnon, hahbut, and swordfish, are not usually filleted, but 

 are cut crosswise of the backbone into "steaks," each a little more than an inch 

 in thickness. These steaks usually include 1 vertebra. 



The demand for fillets and steaks during the late twenties gave great impetus 

 to the freezing of packaged fishery products. Fillets and steaks absorb too much 



(Courtesy General Seafoods Corp.) 

 Fig. 16-3. Filleting rosefish by hand. 



salt when they are frozen by immersion in or spraying with brine, consequently 

 many new quick freezing systems were invented which make it possible to freeze 

 packaged products rapidly (p. 349). 



Since fillets and steaks are difiicult to glaze satisfactorily, it became necessary 

 to perfect both wrappers and packages which would retard desiccation and oxida- 

 tion during freezing and storage. Ordinary vegetable parchment, cellophane, and 

 waterproof papers do not disintegrate in water, but permit so much moisture- 

 vapor to pass through them that frozen fish fillets wrapped therein desiccate and 

 oxidize rapidly. For this reason, sheetings used for wrapping fillets for freezing 

 must be specially coated to make them moisture-vapor-proof. 



Filleting. The layout of a filleting plant and the methods used in handling the 

 fish and fillets will vary from place to place; however, a description of operations 

 may be helpful. 



The fish, which have been eviscerated and packed with ice in bins at sea, are 

 hoisted out of the hold of the vessel in canvas baskets holding approximately 

 100 pounds. The fish are dumped into a tank of running chlorinated water in 



