Buying guide for Best fillet knives
Cooking show hosts may laud the chef’s knife as the heavyweight cutting implement in the kitchen, but the fillet knife quietly holds its place as the go-to blade for making precise cuts of meat or fish. On a whole fish, it can separate the fillet from the ribs, the backbone, and even the skin without damaging the delicate flesh.
Once cooks understand the versatility and fine control that a fillet knife provides, they’ll spend as much time as they need to find the perfect one. Even for the casual cook, a good fillet knife can be a game-changer in the kitchen. Fillet knives are also a standby for avid fishermen and hunters, who take them on every excursion.
However, a good fillet knife is not necessarily the biggest or thickest blade. Consider what kind of protein you’ll be slicing with it — delicate fish, chicken, pork, or red meat — and how often you'll use it.
Key considerations
Length
Fillet knives come in several lengths, from as short as four inches to nine inches or longer. The shortest knives are good for slicing small fillets from panfish and for decorative cuts, while longer knives work for larger fish, but these aren’t hard-and-fast rules. A wide variance in blade flexibility, the overall knife balance, and other factors can change the behavior of a fillet knife, and it’s not unusual to see a cook trimming and filleting a piece of poultry or fish with a shorter or longer blade than one might think.
Home vs. outdoor use
Where the fillet knife will be used also matters. Home-based cooks may not need to worry about how well a knife is constructed, but fishermen and hunters need a blade that won’t rust in damp environments and that will hold its edge for several uses, and they need a handle that won’t warp or mildew.
We find out if a fillet knife is suitable for outdoor use, looking for features such as a rugged handle and a sharp, rust-resistant blade that would meet the needs of someone who likes to hunt and fish.
We want to know if a knife has important safety features such as a guard, sheath, blade-locking mechanism, and folding blade. These components protect a user’s hands while using, transporting, and storing the tool.
The tip of a fillet knife is useful for removing fish scales and bones. We determine a tip’s effectiveness at these tasks based on its sharpness and durability ratings.
Blade performance is a key consideration. We look for fillet knives with a balance of stiffness and flexibility so the blade will provide leverage and a subtle bend when cutting through meat.
The material with which a blade is made is important to us. Most knives are crafted from stainless steel that is durable and resists rust and corrosion.
The lengths of the blades we recommend range from approximately 4 to 9 inches, and sometimes a bit longer, to suit different users’ needs and preferences.
When it comes to knife performance, the handle is almost as important as the blade. We research how the contours of each knife handle feel in the hand, how easy it is to grip, and how durable it is.
We research the sharpness of each blade we recommend. We want to know how sharp it is when it arrives, how quickly it dulls with use, and how easy it is to sharpen.
We determine if a knife is backed by a warranty, and if so, we note the duration. A warranty can save consumers money if the knife has defects or breaks with typical use.
We consider the contour and taper of a fillet knife’s blade, both of which are key performance components. We look for blade shapes that are suitable for cutting different types of food.
Features
To choose the best fillet knife for your needs, consider these main features:
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Handle: Designed to be sturdy without hindering control of the knife, the handle should fit the user’s hand and feel comfortable when held lightly or with a firm grip. Handles are made of an array of materials, including wood, bone, metal, or plastic.
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Guard: Located between the handle and the blade, the guard, often just a metal “lip” extending from the handle, keeps fingers from sliding forward onto the blade.
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Blade: Fillet knife blades can be found in varying lengths ranging from four to nine inches (even longer for professional and industrial uses). The blade usually curves upward slightly toward the tip.
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Taper: The point of a fillet knife tapers sharply down to the tip. Contemporary fillet knives tend to curve sharply upward as they taper, a shape that lends itself well to detail work.
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Tip: The tip of the knife is always sharply pointed and can be used to remove tiny bones from fillets.
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Thickness: Fillet knives have thinner blades than other knives of the same length.
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Flexibility: This is a key feature of a fillet knife. A flexible blade can bend slightly around the tougher parts of a fish so that as much of the meat as possible is separated from the bones in the first cut. Fillet knives have varying degrees of flexibility, and each user has a preference.
- Stiffness: Fillet knife blades can have more stiffness than flexibility, and the best knives find a balance between these traits, with more stiffness in the blade near the handle and more flexibility toward the tip. A more rigid blade helps when making super-thin slices.
Fillet knife prices
Fillet knives can be found for as little as $5 to $9, though the knives at this price point tend to lose their edge easily and little attention is paid to ergonomics.
Hunt for knives from $19 to $39 for a range of grips, weather resistance (for fishing and hunting), and flexibility with good feedback.
The best blades are in the $70 to $119 price range, with the best of this group balancing practicality and attractive design.
Tips
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The smaller the blade length of a fillet knife, the smaller the fish should be.
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Longer fillet knives can make it easier to remove the skin from a fillet.
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Care for your knives and keep the knife blade sharp at all times to maintain control of the cuts.
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When filleting, slide the knife gently between the meat and the bones so that the meat separates. Otherwise, the knife may slice through the bone.
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To remove the skin from fish or poultry, turn the newly cut fillet so the skin side is on the cutting board and ease the fillet knife between the meat and skin, pushing away from you.
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Grip a fillet knife firmly, but not too tightly, and keep your wrist loose during use.
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Always cut away from your body when using any knife.
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Clean and dry a fillet knife completely before storing it in its sheath, knife block, or edge protector.
- When using a knife on a fishing trip, store it in a dry spot, such as the large compartment of a tackle box.
FAQ
Q. How do I figure out how flexible a fillet knife blade is?
A. Test the flexibility of a fillet knife by placing the blade on its side on a cutting board, facing away from the user. Lift the handle so that only the tip rests on the board. Press down gently to flex the blade downward.
Q. What advantages does a fillet knife have over a boning knife or a hybrid knife?
A. The difference is in the purpose of each blade. The flexible fillet knife is thin enough to slide easily between the skin and the meat of a fish or poultry. Boning knives have stiffer, thicker blades that can tear through the skin, making it much harder to separate from the meat. However, cooks who fillet meat, poultry, and fish, and who don’t want to keep switching from one blade to another, may prefer a hybrid boning-fillet knife.
Q. What is the point of the upward taper that fillet knife blades have?
A. The curved end of the fillet knife blade and its severe taper makes it possible to perform intricate cuts. The curve can even be used as a unit of measure, as it begins at the last third of the blade. For example, when filleting a panfish, making an initial cut along the backbone is recommended, and the tapered end is the best part of the knife to make this shallow cut. The upward taper is helpful in the decorative cutting of vegetables and fruit, letting the user make precise, curved slices.
