In German/Yiddish Flaisch (flesh) means meat, unlike in American English wherein flesh is what is on the outside. If you remember that flesh really means meat, you will always know the answer. One more thing about eating the meat of fish.....stay away from the gray which contains most of the pollutants absorbed by a fish. Cook and scrape away the gray flesh.
Since I had never heard this before, I decided to do some checking. According to America’s Text Kitchen: “The gray matter on the underside is rich with Omega-3’s” and Dan Souza (6-20-2022) with Cooks Illustrated: “The gray area contains more fat than the rest of the salmon, it is also the most rich in omega-3 fatty acids.” So I advise anyone before they think about discarding this part of the fish to do some checking on their own! If Jo G’s info happens to be incorrect, it needs to be corrected as soon as possible, even tho this was posted in 2014. Calling the cancer society might be good idea too. I would’ve done just that myself but this is a weekend so I emailed the American Institute for Cancer Research instead.
If it has no skin on it, you can tell where it used to be. The orange/coral colored side is the flesh side. The skin side will have remnants of the skin or silvery markings.
If you mean a salmon filet, the side without the skin - where the pink flesh is exposed (the side which would have been next to the bone, when it was still a whole fish.)
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So I advise anyone before they think about discarding this part of the fish to do some checking on their own! If Jo G’s info happens to be incorrect, it needs to be corrected as soon as possible, even tho this was posted in 2014. Calling the cancer society might be good idea too. I would’ve done just that myself but this is a weekend so I emailed the American Institute for Cancer Research instead.