Fish Yields - or - How Much Does This Really Cost Me?

By -

I often find it necessary to explain the yield (amount of usable flesh) off of various fish. By knowing what percentage of meat will be available when a whole fish is filleted one can make an accurate analysis of; A. how much whole fish must be purchased and B. what is the true fillet cost. Knowing how to correctly perform these calculations will benefit not only seafood suppliers, restaurant chefs, but also the casual cook. Below is a list of some common fish and the net yield percentages. Actual percentages may vary depending on skill of the butcher.


  • Salmon (head-on gutted) yields 75% skin-on fillet

  • Snapper (head-on gutted) yields 40% skin-on fillet

  • Mahi (headed and gutted) yields 65% skin-on fillet

  • Monkfish (tail) yields 70% skinless fillet

  • Cod (headed and gutted) yields 60% skin-on fillet

  • Grouper (head-on gutted) yields 35% skinless fillet

  • Halibut (headed and gutted) yields 66% skin-on fillet

  • Tuna (headless bullets) yields 75% untrimmed loins

  • Sword (headless bullets) yields 80% center cut

  • Fluke and Flounder (whole fish) yields 35% skinless fillet

  • Skate (wings) yields 35% skinless fillet

  • Wild Striped Bass (whole fish) yields 33% skin-on fillet

Example: To find out how much whole salmon you need to get ten pounds of fillet you would convert the yield percentage to hundredths (75% = .75) and then divide 10 by that number. So 10/.75= 13.33, so you would need about 14 pounds of whole salmon to give you 10 pounds of fillet.


If you paid $7.00 a pound for whole salmon then to figure out your fillet cost you would then divide the whole price by the yield percentage $7.00/.75= $9.33


To determine how much fillet you get from whole fish simply convert the percentage to hundredths and multiply. Lets say you have a 20 pound wild striped bass, your fillet yield would be 20 x .33 = 6.6 If you paid $5.00 a pound for the fish your fillet cost would be $7.00/.33 or $21 per pound.


So plan accordingly and take into account fish yields when making your purchasing decisions. It is easy to see that whole fish prices can be misleading if you do not have an accurate concept of fillet yields.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flounder and Sole: or A Fish By Any Other Name Would Still Taste as Sweet.

By -
Image
Ever wonder what the differences are between Sole and Flounder? Some customers recently asked me the question so I thought I would take a moment to shed a bit of light on the subject. Here in North America we have no true sole only flounders. When Europeans came to the Americas they called flounders soles because they looked like the fish they knew in the "old world". This has led understandably to much confusion over the years. The only true sole would be Dover Sole, Solea solea . Lemon sole is one of the names given to winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus , (also known as black back). Usually at the retail level when multiple flounder sku's are sold; flounder is the name given to the refreshed less expensive product, and sole (or lemon sole) is the name given to the more expensive fresh cut product. Fluke, Paralichthys dentatus also called summer flounder can also be sold as sole fillet. Sometimes there is a distinction
Read more

Sugar Toads, What? : Blowfish Tails Check

By -
Image
So Friday morning I am on the phone with one of the good old boy fish sellers in Maryland, and after hearing about how the Maryland DNC might be the ones "poaching" all those rock fish (wild striped bass) in ghost driftnets he finally gives me his catch list, and he just says it 'sugar toads'. So I had to look at the calendar and make sure it wasn't April 1st, because I hate to admit it but I have no idea what this is. He says "..you know theses little puffer tails". The lights go on in my head: BLOWFISH TAILS.....send me 50 lbs to sell and a couple for testing. I have to say these are one of this Fishmonger's favorite appetizing seafood specialties, and no they are not poisonous that is a different fish. I cannot wait until these jewels arrive Monday. I did a little research and it looks like they are a 'micro-trend' according to a recent article in Grubstreet declares this, who knew. So if you get the chance try some at the next chance you
Read more