Skin

To skin means to take the skin off a food before you cook or serve it. Recipes skin fish fillets, chicken pieces, nuts such as hazelnuts and almonds, and roasted peppers. Each needs its own method. For fruit and vegetables with a thin skin, the word peel is more common.

How to do it

Fish fillet:

1. Lay the fillet skin side down with the tail end toward you.
2. Make a cut at the tail end through the flesh down to the skin, but not through it.
3. Grip the tail end of the skin with a paper towel.
4. Hold a long, flexible knife almost flat, angled slightly down toward the skin.
5. Move the knife forward in small sawing strokes while you pull the skin back and forth against it.

Chicken: grab the skin with a paper towel for grip and pull it off. Use a knife to cut the thin membrane that holds it to the meat.

Hazelnuts: toast them at 180°C (350°F) for 10 to 12 minutes, wrap them in a clean towel, and rub hard. Most of the papery skin comes off.

Almonds: blanch them in boiling water for about 1 minute, drain, and squeeze each nut out of its skin.

Bell peppers (peppers in the UK): char them over a flame or under the broiler (grill in the UK) until black all over. Cover them in a bowl for 10 minutes, then rub off the skin.

Common mistakes

• Cutting through the fish skin at the start, so there is nothing to hold.
• Angling the knife up into the fish, which leaves flesh on the skin.
• Rinsing charred peppers under the tap. It washes away flavor. Rub the skin off with your fingers instead.
• Skinning chicken before roasting when you want juicy meat. The skin protects it. Remove it after cooking if you do not want to eat it.

In recipes

"Skinless chicken breast" has no skin. "Skin-on fillets" still have it, which is good for pan-frying. "Skinned hazelnuts" have had their papery brown skins rubbed off.