How to Debone Bangus

How to Debone Bangus

Bangus or milkfish is one of the Philippines' hugely popular fish for cooking everyday fish dishes, such as:

· sinigang na bangus (bangus stewed in tamarind sour broth with lots of veggies),

· fried bangus

· fried boneless (deboned) bangus,

· bangus sisig (flaked bangus meat with onions, peppers, lemon and soy sauce), and

· rellenong bangus (bangus stuffed with its own deboned meat sauted in garlic, onions, and tomato).

Although most locals can eat bangus or milkfish with all its bones in place, quite a number of local consumers prefer to eat bangus dishes without the bones (baked fillet, sisig, relleno, lumpia shanghai, or fried boneless bangus). Easier to eat and safer for everyone especially the children.

Unfortunately, deboning skills are hard to come by. Housewives complain that it’s so hard and takes so much time to debone bangus. It’s so tough to locate the bangus’ many hidden and deeply embedded, pesky tiny pin bones – more so pluck them out one by one. So why bother. Best to just buy “boneless bangus” from the market. Or pay a skilled deboner to do the work for a fee.

Because of the huge demand for "boneless" bangus, Fish Pond Buddy has decided to prepare a blog on how to debone bangus.

Note: Procedures described below are drawn from the technique of Nana Beata, a veteran deboner for the last 40 years. Nana Beata and Teresa (her daughter in law) were kind enough to accommodate us in taking videos of the deboning process at their stall in the Binmaley public market.

And while we’re at it, we might as well proceed to the making of the “boneless bangus” (deboned bangus soaked in vinegar and rubbed with spice powder mix topped with sliced garlic) also courtesy of Nana Beata and Teresa.

Tools/Materials Needed

1. For deboning – a small forceps (with looped handle)

2. For boneless bangus making – deboned bangus, vinegar, spice powder mix (salt, pepper, MSG or its variants, or other local branded equivalent), slices of fresh garlic, plastic bag

Deboning Procedures

1. Lay the fish on the table flat on its side with the tail away from you, the head near you and its back to your right (body slightly angled to the right).

2. Slice open the bangus. With a sharp knife, slice the body from the tail, cutting along the back and toward the head, splitting the head into two. Make sure that the tummy is intact.

3. Open the sliced fish to expose its innards and lay the fish on the work table.

After slicing open the bangus, it assumes the shape of a butterfly (referred to as the “butterflied” fish).

4. Run the sharp edge of the knife under the backbone from head to tail. Break the last bone of the backbone connected to the head. Lift the backbone and detach it from the tail by breaking the last bone at the tail side. Set aside the backbone.

Note: Some flesh may still be found attached to the backbone so it’s possible that an enterprising person will ask for these waste materials and scrape off any remnant flesh to make bangus lumpia shanghai (small spring rolls with bangus flesh as main filling). Deboners usually give them away or sell them at a give-away price.

Typical “boneless bangus” has its tail intact and head still attached though split into two halves.

Also scales are not removed. All the five body fins are intact and not cut off (dorsal fin at the back, tail fin - as mentioned above, pair of pectoral fins at the side, pair of pelvic fins, and anal fin).

5. Remove the following:

a. Bile (“apdo” in Tagalog; “akgo” in Pangasinense)

b. Intestines (“pait” in Pangasinense; “bituka” in Tagalog)

c. Gills (“hasang” in Tagalog; “asang” in Pangasinense)

6. Throw the bile in the waste can.

7. Set aside the intestines because these can be sold as main ingredients for adobong “pait” (stew of intestines in a briny mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, onions, and spices).

Owners of bangus fish who contract deboning services for a fee usually take back the intestines for their own use in cooking.

8. Set aside the gills (“hasang” in Tagalog, “asang” in Pangasinense) (also sold for a nominal price, given away, or used as thrash fish materials to be eaten by prawns, crabs, or tilapia).

9. Focusing on the split-open or butterflied bangus, pluck out (using forceps) the large bones that are readily seen near the head and tummy. These are the large spines or parts of the rib cage that were cut when the backbone was removed (after sliding the sharp knife edge underneath the backbone).

10. Begin removing the more difficult pin bones or the much smaller, thin spines or bones embedded in the muscles or flesh of the bangus.

Locate the following lines, or more accurately arc lines (because they’re shaped like an arc), or as our expert deboner refers to as "layers”.

Note: For each half of the butterflied bangus, the deboner locates the 3 arc lines or layer as follows:

a. First arc line – about a quarter to a half of an inch from the edge of the fish. This is the arc line on the dorsal side (i.e., the back or near the backbone)

b. Second arc line or middle arc line – about half an inch from the first arc line

c. Third arc line or layer – about half an inch from the second line. This is the arc line on the ventral side (i.e., the tummy side).

Arc lines where pin bones are located - first line near the edge, second or middle line above it, third line near the black fatty abdominal wall (above the second line). First and third lines in photo have deeper grooves. 

Our veteran deboner explained that the tiny spines or pin bones of the bangus fish, which experts say number around 180 or so, are found in the first and third arc lines only. The second or middle arc line does not contain pin bones.

11. Deepen each arc line by a centimeter or so using the pointed end of the forceps, so that the “groove” of each line is clearly etched and readily visible to the deboner.

12. Beginning from the head, insert the pointed end of the forceps into the groove of the first arc line, tweeze the bunch of bones with the forceps, then rotate or twist the forceps to the right to pluck out the pin bones or detach them from the muscles/flesh of the fish. Set aside the plucked pin bones.

13. Continue moving along the groove of the first arc line, to pluck out the pin bones with a rotating motion to the right (clockwise), until you reach the tail.

14. Check out the groove of the first arc line and run your fingers along the groove to make sure no pin bone was missed.

15. Go to the third arc line and do Steps 12, 13 and 14.

16. Debone the other half of the butterflied bangus and repeat Steps 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.

17. Do a final visual check of the deboned bangus to make sure no other bone is left (whether big bones or the small pin bones).

Washing, Soaking in Vinegar, Adding Spices, Wrapping of “Boneless Bangus”

18. Wash the deboned bangus in clean water to remove blood and other residues. After washing, transfer to a plastic strainer and let the water completely drip down.

19. When the deboned bangus is free of water, soak in vinegar then transfer for a while in a strainer.

20. Prepare a spice powder mix consisting of rock salt, pepper, and MSG (such as Ajinomoto or any other equivalent local commercial brand). Rub the spice powder mix on the body of the deboned fish (interior only, not on the outside of the fish). Add slices of fresh garlic at the middle.

Note: At this point, the deboned bangus is ready for cooking, usually fried, and served as breakfast meal with fried rice, diced tomatoes with salted eggs, fried, poached or scrambled eggs, and coffee or hot chocolate (using the local tablea cocoa roll).

If the deboned or boneless bangus is to be sold, it’s packed as follows:

21. After coating/rubbing the body with spiced powder mix, put the fish inside a clear plastic wrapping bag. Note that depending on the size of the bangus, a pack can contain one, two or three deboned pieces of bangus.

22. Put fresh garlic slices on the tummy area of each of the deboned bangus.

23. Fold and staple the pack and the “boneless bangus” is good to go.

Deboned, vinegar-soaked, spiced and wrapped bangus, 3 to a pack

For a video of how to debone a bangus, please refer to Parts 2 and 3 below. 

Part 1 is a video clip of an actual deboning of bangus and making of "boneless bangus" by an expert deboner in a public market in Binmaley, Pangasinan. Click https://youtu.be/z1rAyohCPx4

Parts 2 and 3 below show how the same method is applied by my farm overseer/cook at our fish farm. Thanks for watching guys!

For a complete list of Fish Pond Buddy blog posts on fish farm- related topics, please click the Index page.