Processing of fish of different types. Fresh sterlet: how to butcher and gut

Catfish is a fish unlike the usual representatives. It lives at the bottom of rivers and is nocturnal. Due to the fact that the fish is constantly at the bottom, its skin is covered with mucus with a persistent silt aroma.

There are no scales on the body. Not everyone knows how to clean a catfish. This product needs a special approach, and this is due not only to the absence of scales and the presence of an unpleasant odor, but also to the spikes that can cause significant wounds.

Preparation

When starting work with catfish, it is important to consider that the circumbranchial fins have sharp spikes that can seriously injure. Therefore, they should first be cut with a knife or scissors.

Before you start cleaning the fish from the internal organs, you need to prepare it. First of all, professionals advise to make sure that the individual is dead, otherwise it may injure the cook. catfish very strong fish. To do this, cut off the tail, which in the future is still of no use anywhere.

After that, the skin should be cleaned of mucus and partially rid of the unpleasant odor. To do this, the catfish is rolled in coarse salt and left for 5 minutes. Then you need to rinse the carcass by scraping off the mucus from it, for this you can use a hard sponge, or scrape off the mucus with the blunt side of the knife blade. There is no need to be afraid to damage the skin, it is very thick in catfish and difficult to damage, so you can actively clean it.

It should be cleaned until the skin acquires a light shade. If the first time this did not work out, you can repeat the procedure. Catfish is often cooked for fishing, immediately after the catch, in these conditions the mucus can be removed with ash, it is important to thoroughly rinse the carcass after that.

gutting

After getting rid of the mucus, you can start gutting the catfish. This process has some differences compared to gutting other fish. Since the skin is thick, it will take effort to cut it.

To properly cut the abdominal cavity, you need to turn the catfish on its back and make a small puncture at the base of the head. Then, carefully pulling the skin with a knife from the inside, you need to cut it, trying not to damage it. internal organs fish. If gallbladder breaks and its contents fall on the meat, it will spoil its taste.

Advice! To save the meat, which has got bile, it is necessary to cover the pockets of contamination with salt. After a few minutes, you need to rinse the fillet and you can use it for cooking.

The entrails must be carefully removed from the abdominal cavity without tearing them from the head, then the gills should be cut and removed along with the entrails. After that, the fish must be washed and all films covering the fish from the inside should be removed. The product must be cleaned thoroughly. Pull out the fins by making a wedge-shaped incision on both sides.

If the insides of the catfish contain caviar, it must be removed, freed from the film and fried or salted. She has excellent taste.

Filleting and skinning

Information on how to properly clean a catfish will be incomplete if you do not know how to skin the carcass and separate the fillets. After the fish has been cleaned, you can begin this stage.

It is better to skin the catfish when the fish is still whole, and not when the fillet is already cut. It is most convenient to clean the carcass from the skin by hanging it by the gills. To do this, an incision is made near the head and along the back along the entire length of the fish. Then the skin stretches down, for this it can be hooked with pliers. It is important to ensure that the meat does not come off, for this it needs to be cut in time. It is the skin that has an unpleasant odor, so removing it can get rid of it.

Advice! To completely remove the smell, soak the meat in milk or white wine.

After the skin is removed, you can separate the fillet from the spine. catfish has no small bones, the only ones are the spine and ribs. Therefore, by separating them, you can get the purest fillet. You need to cut it off carefully by making an incision along the vertebral bone, then deepen it reaching the ribs, but without damaging them. Pass the knife along the ribs and remove the meat from them. Cut the fillet from the tail. Do the same with the other half.

The spine and head are great for broth or fish soup, so don't throw them away. Many meats can be made different dishes. Catfish makes excellent kebabs, or cutlets, because there are no bones in it at all. Knowing how to clean fish and get rid of an unpleasant smell, you can regularly treat yourself to wonderful dinners from tender meat.

Catfish meat can be cooked a large number of various dishes: meatballs, pies, pies, baked fish and even kebabs. But in order for them to be tasty and fragrant, you need to know how to clean the catfish correctly.

Catfish live in almost all major rivers of Russia. They lead a nocturnal lifestyle. During the day, catfish lie in deep pools on the muddy bottom of reservoirs, buried in mud. This is a truly huge fish that can reach 5 meters in length and weigh up to 3 centners. But such giants are rare, and getting such a trophy out of the water is very problematic. For cooking, specimens are used much more modestly - up to 20 kg. Properly cooked young catfish meat is very tasty.

In addition, this fish has absolutely no scales, which means that during its processing the kitchen will remain clean. Another significant advantage of catfish is that catfish do not have small bones in the muscles and tail - only spinal and ribs.

How to clean catfish before cooking

There are no scales on the skin of catfish, but it is richly covered with mucus, which has bad smell mud. If you do not get rid of it, then you can thoroughly spoil the cooked dish. But in general, cleaning catfish is easy.

• Sprinkle the fish first coarse salt(or roll in it).
• Rub with an old sponge or napkin (you can just use a gloved hand).
• With the blunt side of the knife, carefully scrape the salt and mucus from the skin. We must try to make the skin a light shade.
• Rinse the fish well.
• If the mucus is not completely cleared, you need to repeat all the steps again.
• In "marching" conditions, you can clean the catfish using wood ash instead of salt.

The skin of this fish is strong, so you can safely clean it without fear of damaging it.

Catfish do not have sharp spines on the dorsal and ventral fins, like perch or zander, but on the front fins (near the gills) there are sharp spines that can hurt you. Such punctures are very painful. Therefore, during work, care should be taken, or, first of all, remove the fins by cutting them off with kitchen scissors or a knife.

gutting

After you have finished cleaning the catfish, you can start gutting. For this:

• Putting the fish on its back, a shallow puncture should be made next to the head, so as not to damage the insides. Insert the tip of the knife into the hole with the blade up and, slightly pulling the peritoneum with it, cut the belly from the head to the anus.
• Open the incision and carefully remove the entrails without tearing them away from the head, trying not to crush the gallbladder - the bile that gets on the meat will make it bitter.
• Cut off the gills and pull them out along with the insides.
• The inner walls of the abdomen must be well cleaned of films.
• Make cuts on both sides along the fins, then pull them out with your hand or pliers, starting from the side of the tail to the head.
• If caviar is found during gutting, then it must be carefully removed and then cleaned from the film. This is easy to do with a regular fork. Salty or fried caviar soma is a real delicacy.

When bile gets on the meat, most often the pieces are cut out and thrown away. Should not be doing that. Bile should be washed off or wiped with a napkin, and the place where it got to, rub with salt. After a couple of minutes, wash off the salt and you can safely send these pieces to cooking.

How to separate the pulp

If necessary, separate the fillet from the bones. To do this, you first need to cut off the head. Then the fish should be laid on its side. From the tail, along the back, make a shallow incision, placing the blade of the knife parallel to the countertop, trying to make it go along the spinal bones. Then, pulling the edge of the pulp along the incision, deepen the incision to the costal bones with the tip of a knife.

Turning the blade along the ribs, carefully remove the flesh from the front of the carcass, without cutting off from the tail. Raising the cut part of the fillet, place the knife parallel to the spinal bones and, moving along the spine, cut the fillet from the tail. Turn the carcass over and remove the fillet on the other side.

The head and bones do not need to be thrown away, they can be used to make broth or for boiling when preparing a double fish soup.

We remove the skin

For the preparation of minced meat or barbecue, the skin is not needed, which means that it can be removed. It is more convenient to do this with a whole catfish carcass, and not with a removed fillet.

• First, the fish must be washed, gutted and fins removed.
• After that, with a sharp knife, you need to make a circular incision in the skin across the body behind the gills and another one in the middle of the back along the body.
• Grab the edge of the skin near the head with pliers and pull towards the tail, cutting if necessary with a knife.
• Having removed the skin from one side of the carcass, they are similarly removed from the other.

You can cut the carcass into portioned pieces or fillet.

It is the skin that has strong smell mud, so removing it from the carcass, you can almost completely get rid of this smell.

It will be much more convenient to remove the skin from the fish if you hang it by the gills.

How to get rid of a peculiar smell

Catfish are not always taken to cook because of the specific smell of mud that its meat has. Moreover, the larger and older the fish, the more sensitive this smell. You can significantly reduce the unpleasant odor by removing the skin from the catfish. To get rid of it completely, you need to pour the meat before cooking. lemon juice or dry white wine, soak for 15-20 minutes, then rinse.

You can soak the catfish in milk for 2-3 hours. This will not only remove the smell, but also make the meat tastier. During cooking, it will not be superfluous to generously flavor the catfish with spices, including allspice and black pepper.

This smoked fish is very good, and it does not matter if it is cold or hot smoked. It makes excellent barbecue steaks and even shish kebabs.

From properly cleaned and processed catfish meat, you can cook many different dishes that will not leave anyone indifferent.

Fish deservedly occupies one of the main places on our table. Nevertheless, many housewives prefer not to cut this product, but to buy it already packaged in the store. After all, there is an opinion that it is difficult to clean and cut river and seafood because of the mucus covering the carcasses and the scales flying in all directions. In fact, it is not difficult to clean and prepare fish for heat treatment, the main thing is to know how to do it correctly.

What you need for cleaning and cutting fish

Many of us prefer to clean and butcher carcasses with a regular kitchen knife. But there are many cleaning methods that may require other tools:

• sharp knife;
• scaler;
• grater;
• Chinese chopsticks;
• fork;
• tablespoon;
• fishing knife;
• hose high pressure or karcher;
• tin;
• drill;
• latex gloves;
• kitchen scissors.

Spicy kitchen knife far from the only device that can clean fish

How to properly clean a fish

Of course, cleaning river and sea fish are different. Mainly because of the size of the scales. The sea is cleaned easier and faster, as it is covered with small scales that quickly come off with physical impact. However, there are some rules you should know to make your job easier.

How to clear mucus

Some types of fish must be cleaned of the layer of mucus before removing the scales from them. There are several options for solving this problem:

• We lower the carcass for 15-20 seconds in very hot water. Mucus will come off during this time, and it will be possible to start cleaning.
• The second method is also quite simple. Before cleaning, the product is rubbed with salt. The carcass stops slipping in the hands.
• When fishing, you can use sand instead of salt. But this method is not very convenient, because it is difficult to wash the grains of sand from the meat well later.
• For 3 l. dilute water 1 tbsp. l. table vinegar. We lower the carcasses into the solution for 1-2 minutes. Slime is easily removed.

It's time to catch eels. Caught, brought home. The fish is interesting, but how to clean it from mucus. They brought the fish, put it in a bowl or any other dish and sprinkled the fish with coarse salt at regular intervals. They let it stand for 20 minutes. Salt corrodes mucus. It remains to rub a little with the remaining salt and rinse with water.

Vladimir

I make it even easier. Right on fishing, roll the fish in dry sand, with one hand tightly hugged around the scruff of the neck, with the other you take it by the head and stretch it out. And so several times, it cleans great.

Neighbour

http://www.rybolov.de/poleznye_sowety/aal

And you can also get rid of mucus, and not only on eels, but also on other fish, using an acetic solution.

http://www.rybolov.de/poleznye_sowety/aal

The right way to scale

Before you start cleaning, fill the sink, basin or any other container with water. We lower the carcass into the water. This will avoid unnecessary cleaning: the scales will not scatter around the kitchen, but will settle in the liquid.

Instead of a fish scaler, you can use a fishing knife, a sharp kitchen knife, a tablespoon or a fork. This method is great for various types: river and sea. However, with larger individuals, you will have to make more efforts.

How to properly clean a fish

Cleaning the fast way

One of the most efficient and quick ways cleaning fish from scales, this is cleaning with a grater. For this method, we use a grater with 4 ribs, it is more convenient to use.

In nature, instead of a grater, you can use tin can by piercing the bottom with nails. In this way, pink salmon, chum salmon, pike perch and other species are cleaned. For individuals with hard scales, a large-mesh grater rib can be used.

Instead of a grater, you can use a tin can pierced with nails

How to quickly clean a fish with a grater

How to do it with ... a drill

Folk methods are often unusual, but nevertheless effective. We will tell you how to clean with a conventional drill:

The drill removes scales from river and sea individuals. It does an excellent job with both small and large hard scales.

Cleaning video guide

Cleaning with KARCHER

This method of cleaning fish from scales is convenient in nature, in the country or in the courtyard of a private house:

This method is convenient for cleaning large individuals. Small fish will not be able to withstand the pressure of water and will break off the latch.

Cleaning from scales with a karcher

How to clean frozen

Many experts advise to defrost the fish before removing the scales from it. But most often there is not enough time for defrosting. Is it possible to clean a carcass that has just been taken out of the freezer? It is possible, because frozen products are quite easy to clean from scales.

The method is perfect for small fish weighing up to 1.5 kg. It is better to defrost carcasses weighing more than 1.5 kg so as not to get hurt when cleaning and cutting. This method is used when removing scales from river species: crucians, perches, breams and others, as well as marine fish, including salmon.

Processing video for frozen fish products

Evenk way of cleaning

In the north, this method is constantly used, it is convenient and easy to use:

The method is interesting in that even when cleaning fish with small scales, only the scales are cut off, not the skin. She remains untouched. Thus, in the north, all types that have been frozen are cleaned.

Cleaning fish from scales in Evenki

How to cut a carcass

After cleaning from the scales, the fish must be butchered in order to proceed to the cooking stage.

How to Gut with Chinese Chopsticks

This method of gutting fish is used when it is necessary to keep the carcass intact.

How to gut fish the Chinese way

How to cut fish in different ways

You can cut fish products in different ways. It depends on how we are going to cook them.

How to quickly fillet

To quickly and efficiently cut the fillet, we need a sharp knife.

This method is also called "Finnish". For cutting, it is more convenient to use a knife with a long blade.

For portioned pieces - "rounds"

For stuffing

Basically, the fish is stuffed either in portions or whole.

Another way to cut fish

For minced meat

1. We cut the fish in the same way as for the fillet.
2. Medium-sized bones are removed with tweezers.
3. We scroll the meat through a manual meat grinder 2-3 times.
4. Simmer minced meat for 1-2 minutes until completely softened. tiny bones, which could get into the stuffing.
5. Mince is ready.

When using this method, a manual Soviet meat grinder is indicated. You can use other household appliances: a combine, a blender or an electric meat grinder. But a combine or an electric analogue of a meat grinder does not grind fish bones so small, there is a great risk of injury after eating the finished minced meat.

I often make cutlets from silver carp. I buy a whole silver carp, peel off the skin along with the scales, it shrinks like a stocking. I cut off the meat from the ridge, it turns out two fillets without large bones. I grind in a Soviet meat grinder, all the bones remain in the meat grinder, and already I make delicious meatballs from minced meat.

AntiTroll

I made minced meat in a combine, it turned out to be airy, but the bone harvester does not grind, I once tried it.

Anna

http://sovet.kidstaff.com.ua/question-678004

Features of cleaning and cutting fish

• When cleaning and cutting salmon: salmon, pink salmon, chum salmon, salmon, and others, you can not clean the scales, but cut the fillet from the skin.
• Small perches can be scaled with your fingers. It is enough to scald the carcass with boiling water and remove the scales.
• It is better not to peel off the scales from the flounder. We remove the skin in the direction from the tail to the head along with the scales. To do this, we make a small incision at the base of the tail and pry the skin.
• When cleaning and cutting carp, it is very easy to get rid of small bones. We make frequent cross cuts. During cooking, small bones soften under the influence of high temperature.
• Small bones from herring, trout, rudd, omul are removed with tweezers.
• Small fish, such as capelin or sprat, are cooked whole. If we are still afraid that the bones will fall into the ear, you can boil it in a gauze bag.
• When stuffing, the eyes and gills are necessarily removed from the head of the carcass.
• If the gallbladder ruptured during gutting, wipe the place where the bile got into with salt.
• For minced meat, it is better to choose big fish: salmon, catfish, zander.

As we can see, it is not difficult to quickly clean and cut fish into fillets, minced meat or portioned pieces. The fish retains its structure and taste qualities with any method of cleaning and cutting. Now you can be sure that fish dishes delight not only amazing taste but beautiful appearance.

Taste a freshly caught fish from a cauldron, appetizingly fragrant on the river bank, meet a beloved husband from a “quiet hunt”, quickly prepare a catch and treat the household - these moments could be even more pleasant if it were not for cleaning the fish from slippery scales. This adds a "fly in the ointment" to the enjoyment of dishes from river fish.

We will not give up positions, and will try to optimize the objective reality. After all, dishes based on fish are healthy and tasty.

The basic rule for processing fish: clean from tail to head, with small sharp movements. First we clean the sides, then the belly of the carcass.

Preparing for cleaning

• Cutting board.
• Kitchen, large scissors.
• Paper towels.
• Sharp knife. If you are not a master, take a regular knife.
• Scraper for cleaning small scales. This device is purchased at retail outlets.
• A grater will also come in handy.

A difficult task is to remove adhering debris from the fish. This is grass, grains of sand, mud and more, so we wash the catch in cold water. If the water is running - great! If you have to wash the fish in the basin, change the water several times.

ADVICE! Do not cut off the head while cleaning. It will come in handy when removing scales. Cut it off when you begin to gut the carcass.

The method of liberation from scales and giblets depends on the type of fish. For some varieties, you need ingenuity when cleaning at home.

Quick and easy cleaning of the most popular river fish

Perch river and sea

First, cut off the fins with scissors, which can damage the skin of the hands. It's painful and unsafe.

Then dip the carcass in cold water, and scrape against scales with a fork or knife. Grooves are obtained that raise the scales in some areas. Thus, they are easier to clean.

ADVICE! You can easily, quickly and safely remove the scales from the perch along with the skin.

Video tips

catfish

Catfish has smooth skin, and there are no small bones in the carcass. Removing the mucus covering it is the main task in preparation.

Coarse salt will come to the rescue.

1. Roll the catfish in salt.
2. Let's leave it for a minute.
3. We wipe the carcass (putting on a rubber glove beforehand) with a sponge or a clean rag.
4. With a knife (blunt side) scrape the skin to a light shade.
5. We wash off everything that is rubbed off. Then repeat at least once.
6. On "summer fishing" salt can be replaced with ash.

Zander

Pike perch has a slimy surface, so we also use coarse salt.

1. We get rid of mud and mucus, wipe the carcass.
2. Cut the fins with a knife, capturing some meat.
3. We use boiling water to remove scales. We clean from the tail to the head, against the growth of scales. A metal grater cleans fine scales well. We attach the grater to the stick and, holding the handle, process the fish.
4. Now we remove the offal. We cut the skin of pike perch between the gills and bring the knife down to the tail, while holding the carcass by the gills.
5. We take out all the insides, not forgetting to remove the films. You can not remove the skin from pike perch.

ADVICE! Always clean the membranes inside any fish to avoid bitterness and an unpleasant taste in the finished dish.

Video guide

Tench

Tench has small, dense scales and mucus. To begin with, it washes away the mucus, then we dip it in boiling water and sharply shift it into cold water. Let's start cleaning the scales and entrails.

carp

Carp is the cleanest fish. We wash it in water, clean the scales with a knife. Gutted.

silver carp

Silver carp lends itself well to cleaning special device(buy at the store or process with a grater). Keep the fish in the water if you do not want to collect the scales scattered around the house.

Cleaned, washed cold water. It's time to learn about some features when cleaning the insides.

CAREFULLY! There is a lot of bile in silver carp, so when cleaning, try to take out the offal carefully! If you damage the place of accumulation of fluid secreted by the liver, you can say goodbye to the plans for the "fish day" - the pulp will become bitter in taste.

Be sure to cut the gill plates from the head. From a semi-finished product (head of a silver carp), you can cook an ear or fry it.

Carp

Carp has large and dense scales, it is better to clean it in a bowl of cold water, moving against the growth of the scales. Places that are difficult to reach for processing can be doused with boiling water. Then the scales will soften and it will become easier to move away.

Video instruction

• For processing all types of fish, it is desirable to have a special cutting board. To fishy smell has not been absorbed into the canvas, put on a plastic bag or lay paper.
• Handling should take place as soon as possible after the catch (or purchase). Pull out the fish giblets on the same day.
• If the fish is dry, soak it for a few minutes in cool water. Then start processing.
• Rinse fish thoroughly after handling. This will allow you to notice the flaws of cleaning - a small scale that has not come off in places, a film inside the abdomen.
• When the fish is intended for smoking and drying, it is better to leave the scales.
• Does the fish give off the aroma of river mud? Soak after brushing for an hour salt water, the problem will disappear.
• Can be used freezer. Place the carcass for a day. Take it out, wait for the moment when the scales thaw, and inside the pulp is still frozen. You can clean it, the scales will come off perfectly.

So it's time to look in your notes for recipes for fish dishes. Now you will deal with any "river guest" caught in the net or on the hook, and then straight to the kitchen.

Sterlet has long been considered a delicacy fish and is often served with royal table. They cooked fish soup from it, smoked balyks, baked it whole, fried it, boiled jelly, baked pies with it, and prepared many more dishes. In the time of Peter the Great, sterlet was even specially bred in ponds so that the tsar could have this tasty and tasty food at any time. valuable fish on your table. It takes some effort to clean and butcher the fish, but we are not afraid of difficulties, right?

What kind of animal is this fish

The sterlet belongs to the sturgeon family, although it differs slightly from them. Compared to other sturgeons, it matures earlier, lives less and has a smaller size. But this cannot be attributed to its shortcomings, sterlet meat is perhaps the most delicious of all its relatives.

This fish is found in fresh water and is distinguished by pickiness in the choice of habitats - it will not live in muddy and dirty water with a low oxygen content. Therefore, its meat can be called environmentally friendly. Now the sterlet is successfully bred in artificial conditions.

Sterlet meat is rich in vitamin PP, unsaturated fatty acids Omega 3, trace elements that improve blood circulation and brain activity, restore vision, reduce the risk of cardiovascular and even oncological diseases. At the same time, its calorie content is only 90 calories per 100 grams. This makes the sterlet not only very useful product but also dietary.

This fish is easily distinguished by its long narrow nose and fringed whiskers reaching to the mouth. There are no scales, but there are 5 rows of bony scutes: along the edges of the belly, on the sides and closed in the center of the back. Between the rows of scutes, the skin is either bare or covered with bony plaques.

The sterlet has no bones. Instead, a cartilaginous ridge runs along the entire body, in the cavity of which a screech is located, it is also called a chord.

Screech - sinewy fabric in the form of a bubble rope. It is believed that if the fish fell asleep in the air, cadaveric poisons begin to stand out from the squeals, which can spoil the meat and make it unsuitable for eating. Therefore, experienced fishermen immediately remove the screech from freshly caught fish in the summer. At quick freezing, this does not happen. With appropriate processing, screech is edible and even very tasty.

This structure of the fish determines the features of its cleaning and cutting.

So, in front of you lies a miracle-yudo sterlet fish, covered with mucus and rows of thorns, and you are already looking forward to Tasty dinner. But first, the fish needs to be cleaned, gutted and butchered.

What you need for cutting at home

• sharpened knife;
• cotton or rubber gloves;
• cutting board;
• coarse salt;
• water.

It is important that the knife is well sharpened. The fact is that the skin of this fish is very tough, rough. Without a sharp knife, cutting and cleaning it will not work.

Quite often, the sterlet is sold in stores live directly from the aquarium. If this is your case, the fish must first be euthanized. Put it in the freezer for a few hours or let it fall asleep in the air. Frozen fish is easier to clean.

Fresh sterlet: how to butcher and gut

For ease of cutting, you first need to get rid of the mucus. To do this, the skin is rubbed with coarse salt, and then washed off a little warm water. You can not do this, but just use cotton gloves. Cotton will absorb mucus, and you will not get hurt on sharp spikes - bugs.

With a sharp knife, the dorsal bugs are cut off along with a strip of skin starting from the tail. The lateral and periventral scutes can be scraped off with a knife like ordinary scales or cut off in the same way as the dorsal ones. Along the way, cut off the fins.

The cavity is well washed with cold water, freeing from blood clots along the ridge line, films and remnants of the air bubble.

Open the belly starting from the anus, remove all the insides. Do not rush to throw away the insides, some of them are quite suitable for food. If caviar is found in fish, it can be salted, freed from the film, or cooked with fish.

Remove the screech. To do this, the tail is cut and an incision is made at the junction of the body with the head, trying to cut only the cartilage without damaging the screech. Pick up the squeal with a stick or crochet hook and carefully pull it out, trying not to tear it. If you still cut the chord, use pliers. Or make an incision along the entire spine and remove the chord by picking it up with a fork.

The head can be cut off or left, it depends on the dish that will be cooked. In both cases, the gills are removed. The head can also be used separately, it makes a beautiful ear.

If you need to remove the skin, it is scalded with boiling water and removed from head to tail. If this is not done, it will be very difficult to separate the skin from the tender meat, it will be removed along with it. IN ready dish the skin itself is easily separated.

Detailed instructions for the steps on the video

Advice! Do not rush to throw away "production waste". From skin, fins and even bugs it turns out good ear or broth for aspic.

If you got a frozen copy or you yourself brought the sterlet to such a state, cleaning is noticeably simplified.

Frozen sterlet: how to remove mucus and clean

1. Cut off the head along with the fins.
2. Holding the tail, stand the fish upright and cut off the spikes along with the fins.
3. Remove the skin by prying from one end. Sterlet is a very oily fish, so the skin does not harden into a stone when frozen, and it is easy to remove it.
4. Then proceed in the same way as when cleaning fresh fish.

How to properly clean frozen fish: video

The preparation of the cleaned fish depends on the dish you are going to prepare.

Preparation for cooking

For fish soup

The skin is removed, the fish is cut into portions. Often other fish are added to the sterlet's ear, sim and burbot are best suited.

If you use the head of a sterlet, you need to cook it within 1-2 hours after cutting, otherwise it will go bad.

For frying, barbecue

The meat is separated from the cartilage and cut into portions. Use a very sharp knife, otherwise the tender fatty meat will not be able to cut neatly.

Sterlet cartilage is edible and very tasty, they can be added to the ear or aspic. At cooking cartilage softens.

Smoking and baking

In this case, there is no need to remove the skin and cut off the head and tail. The fish is cooked whole, skin off finished meat easily separated.

Steaks

Cartilage is not removed, but the skin is removed necessarily. The meat is cut into slices 1.5-2 cm thick.

Stroganina

For stroganina, the fish is cleaned and cut, but not thawed. If the carcass is large, first cut it into several pieces, and then cut them into thin slices.

How to cut a sterlet for stroganina: video

Advice! If you want to cook minced meat from sterlet, just chop the tender flesh with a knife. There is no need to use a meat grinder, it will only crush the meat.

• to get rid of mucus, rub the carcass with coarse salt, and then rinse with slightly warm water;
• be sure to remove the screech, otherwise the meat will become inedible and dangerous to health;

About 5 years ago I made an ear. Everything according to the “classics”: roach, crucians scavengers first. Then a couple of small carps, about a kilogram each. After that, 2 sterlets, about a kilogram each (we specially went to the nursery and brought them alive, taking crushed ice). Vyazigu did not remove it: no matter how much he tried to understand where it was, he could not. At hot taste It was good, though with some strange undertones. Knowing that if it stood, then the cold would be much tastier, left it overnight. And it was fatal: I, perhaps, have never tasted such strychnine in my life.

Popovich Alexey

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• so that the skin can be easily removed, pour over the carcass with boiling water or freeze;
• bugs are easily removed without the help of a knife, if the fish is held in hot water a few seconds, and then remove them with twisting movements;
• Before cooking, pour boiling water over portioned pieces, this will help maintain their shape.

Sterlet is a fish that is difficult to spoil when cooked. She is good in every way. The main thing is not to shift the salt and pepper, and, of course, to properly clean and prepare. Armed with the acquired knowledge, you will do it with ease, and the royal dinner is provided for you.