The Fish & Fillet Knife Set. Featuring the 7" Fillet & The 2.5" Bird & Trout
Made for the outdoorsman with skills in the kitchen. Take your catch from the line to the table with precision with our new Fish & Fillet Knife Set. This set features the perfect small field knife, our Bird & Trout, specially made for field needs with small fish. Coupled with our Fillet Knife, a knife that is just as at home on the river as it is in the kitchen.
The Fish & Fillet Knife Set
The Fish & Fillet Knife Set combines our best small game field knife, the nimble 2.5" Bird & Trout, with our popular flexible blade 7" Fillet Knife.
We took the 2.5” Bird & Trout out for a field test on a fishing outing with Teton Valley Lodge Fly Fishing Guide Michael Sanchez. Read about the day catching and field dressing the mountain whitefish in our Bird & Trout field test profile.
After the fish were prepared in the field with the Bird & Trout, Michael finishes their preparation at home using the Fillet Knife. The ultra-sharp knife slices perfectly through the tough exterior of the mountain whitefish. Using the flexible blade, Michael takes the maximum amount of meat off the fish.
See our full tutorial on Filleting Fish here
Filleting mountain whitefish
The G-Fusion handle on the fillet knife gives this tool the versatility to work well out on the water, or at home in the kitchen. There are certainly advantages to being able to fillet the fish in the field if you’ve got proper storage to transport the fillets. If not, the striking appearance of the fillet knife looks right at home on the kitchen cutting board too.
With the fillets complete, the fish are seasoned and cooked. Using an electric smoker, he smokes the whitefish for a recipe he had been wanting to try out, recently featured in Outdoor Life. Smoking fish is a great way to inject flavor. In this case it worked well to be able to smoke the fish and then prepare the dish a few days later.
Smoked mountain whitefish
The additional ingredients for the dish are chopped using the New West KnifeWorks Teton Edge Santoku. The edge on the knife slides easily through the apple without sticking to the blade. Apple pieces are scooped easily off the cutting board with the nice wide blade of the knife.
Slicing apples with Teton Edge Santoku
Michael makes an executive at home chef decision to substitute broccoli in the recipe in place of celery. “Raw celery is disgusting,” he proclaims when I ask if he got all the ingredients for the recipe. Having absolutely no rebuttal for this claim, I nod in agreement and wash off the broccoli.
Broccoli makes a substitution for celery
The recipe being prepped is a Wild Rice and Smoked Whitefish Salad, with Highbush Cranberry Vinaigrette. With the chopping complete, he assembles the rest of the dish. We each give it a taste and it is clear that more goodies are needed in the rice. Michael ups the apple, broccoli and cranberry content to load up the salad. He decides to let it rest for a while and we serve it with dinner.
Wild Rice and Smoked Whitefish Salad
The final product is much tastier after the vinaigrette has had time to meld through the salad. It is also clear that the broccoli is the best part of this dish, totally validating the substitution of celery here. If you’re interested in making this salad, Michael recommends doubling up on all of the salad mix-ins, and giving ample time for the vinaigrette to meld everything together before serving. In the end the assessment of the salad is that it is a decent side dish. It would pair nicely with a green salad with a honey mustard dressing. It didn’t knock anyone's socks off but it’s got some potential with a few tweaks. We also had a mixture of long grain rice with wild rice on hand to use in this. Using purely wild rice would probably be tastier here also. See the full recipe on Outdoor Life.
It’s always fun to catch your own protein to supply. Even if the dish isn’t 5-star quality, we had a great time getting the fish and putting it on our table. The knives performed excellently, and in the end we got the protein for free. A win all the way around.