the.com/fillet
a clean cut that turns butchery into surgery and dinner into a flex
means To cut the bones out of meat or fish, leaving a boneless strip — or the boneless strip itself.
from From Old French 'filet,' a little thread or band, the diminutive of 'fil,' meaning thread — itself from Latin 'filum.' The same root threads through 'filament' and 'file' (the kind you string papers on). A fillet was first a strip or band, like a ribbon tied round the head, and the meat sense follows that idea of a neat band of flesh. The French spelling 'filet' still rides along for the fancy menu version.
- two spellings
- fillet meat, filet mignon, blame the French
- silent T
- pronounced fill-ay only when fancy enough
- goldsmith roots
- originally meant a thin band or ribbon
- knife required
- flexible blade hugs bone like a secret
- boxing too
- a filete is a decorative metal strip
beef tenderloin fillet — most expensive cut of beef, priced at $25-40 per pound at high-end butchers
salmon fillet — popular fish cut sold fresh or frozen, comprises 40% of salmon consumption in restaurants
chicken breast fillet — boneless cut, most commonly purchased poultry product in us supermarkets