How to quickly and easily skin a pike without damaging it

Pike is a predatory fish with quite tasty meat.
To cook pike, you can find a large number of different recipes, especially on the Internet. Some of them are designed to remove the skin from the fish. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to do this quickly and correctly. This operation requires attention and caution, as there is a possibility of damage to the fish carcass. This is especially important when the pike needs to be cooked whole.

How to skin a pike: several effective methods

Pike is one of the most valuable freshwater fish. It is rich in protein and contains no more than 2% fat. Pike contains natural antiseptics that increase our immunity. This fish should definitely be present in the diet of every person. However, not everyone likes to cut pike. That is why the list of dishes prepared from fish is often limited to pike cutlets. Meanwhile, it would be much better to cook stuffed pike. At the same time, we will tell you how to skin a pike in our article. Here we will present a recipe for stuffed fish.

Useful properties of pike

Calorie content of 100 grams of raw pulp is 80 kcal, boiled pike meat is 94 kcal.

The product can be eaten without restrictions, including by people suffering from a number of diseases. The only obstacle to use is individual intolerance.

Fish pies and pies are baked for 40-60 minutes. Salted pike can be eaten after 5-7 days. The fish is cut with gloves on a separate board.

How to clean pike from scales and entrails?

The dense and hard scales of pike are quite difficult to clean. To do this you will need a sharp knife and limited space. If you do this on the kitchen table, you should be prepared for pike scales to scatter throughout the room. It is better, of course, to clean the fish in the courtyard of a private house, but in extreme cases, a deep wash will do.

The scaled fish is washed and dried with paper towels. This must be done so that the fish does not slip in your hands. Now you need to remove the insides. To do this, immediately behind the gill bones, an incision is made on the left side of the scalp up to the ridge. You need to cut on the left, since the gall bladder is located on the right, which can burst when cutting fish. Next, a horizontal incision is made at the anus, and the intestines are trimmed.

Now the head needs to be finally cut off without touching the gall bladder, and separated from the carcass along with the intestines. Next, the fish is cut along the belly, finally cleaned of films and washed. Now the pike can be filleted.

The correct and easy way to clean, gut and cut fresh fish

If it is possible to clean the fish outside and not in the apartment, it is better to do this, because there will be no problems with cleaning the kitchen due to scales and splashes. When cleaning pike in the kitchen, you will need to perform a number of other steps, regardless of whether the pike you are using is frozen or fresh.

1. Remove all kitchen utensils from the table where you will be cutting fish, and cover the stove and furniture with plastic wrap or newspapers.
2. Empty the sink of dishes and clean it. You will need to soak and wash the pike in it. A large bowl will also work.
3. Prepare a large glass or plastic cutting board. Wooden is not suitable, as odors are absorbed into it. To prevent the kitchen board from moving on the table, you need to place a damp cloth under it.
4. It is necessary to use a pre-sharpened narrow knife or a special tool for cleaning fish.
5. To comply with safety rules, wear gloves - they will protect your hands from damage and allow you to more firmly hold slippery fish during the cleaning process.
6. Pour salt into a small box. You will need it to powder the tail. Thanks to this, it will not slip out during operation.

Tools for cleaning and cutting pike must be prepared in advance

How to remove mucus, clean and gut fresh and live pike

When cleaning fish, you need to be careful, as you can get hurt on its teeth or gills.

1. Wash the pike well under the tap to remove mucus.
2. Fill half a sink or bowl with water and place the fish in it.
3. Pour boiling water over the carcass. Not all at once, but gradually. First, clean one side, and then the other.
4. When cleaning, hold the fish by the tail and remove the scales in the direction from the tail to the head using a knife or a special device.
5. Remove fins with scissors or a knife.
6. Cut the cartilage located between the stomach and head, make an incision on the stomach. You need to put the fish with its head towards you and use a knife to make a puncture near the head, cut the cut line all the way to the tail. The puncture should be shallow so as not to cause damage to the internal organs, otherwise the abdominal cavity will be stained with the contents of the viscera.
7. Carefully remove the giblets and remove the gills using a knife.
8. If the fish is very large, the liver can be carefully separated from the gall bladder and prepared from it into fried liver with onions and bacon, salads and other dishes.
9. As a last resort, remove the air bubble and blood clots underneath it. This is a white film that is located along the ridge.
10. Thoroughly rinse the inside and outside of the pike.

How to fillet and mince fish

Most housewives know that pike fillets make amazing minced fish for cutlets and juicy battered dishes

To make them really tasty, you should pay attention to the procedure when cutting pike into fillets.

1. Remove the head from the carcass.
2. Place the fish with its back to itself, make a neat cut along the ridge. Perform these steps several times until the cut reaches the ribs, being careful not to damage the bones of the ribs, and do not cut the fillet along with the bones.
3. Raise the knife and carefully cut the fillet from the pike ribs.
4. If necessary, remove the fin and pull out the bones using tweezers.
5. Lastly, remove the skin. The piece is placed meat side up, after which a knife is inserted between the fillet and the skin and the skin is carefully cut off at an angle. You need to hold the skin with your hands.

To properly fillet a pike, work must begin with a cut on the ridge

How to skin and fillet pike

To fillet pike you will need a special sharp fish knife. It is very convenient to use. It is enough to apply the knife tightly to the ridge and run it horizontally along. Similar steps must be repeated on the other side of the carcass. As a result, you will be able to get two fillet halves with skin. The ridge with leftover meat can be used to prepare fish stock.

How to quickly skin a pike? Again using a knife. You need to press it as tightly as possible to the skin and simply move it along. There may be some meat left on the skin, but it will be less than if you remove the skin by hand.

What is needed for cutting

Minimum inventory:

• An apron so that you don’t look like a murderer when you’re done.
• A sharp knife with a strong, sharp and slightly curved blade. If the blade is straight, it’s not a problem, you can get used to it. The main thing is sharpening.
• Pliers or forceps.
• Cutting board.
• A couple of bowls where we will put “goods” and useful leftovers.

As for the most important “ingredient” - pike. Here, of course, we use what we have (when we don’t have to choose), but from myself I can say the following.

When you want burbot cutlets, there is no need to mince them here. Cutlet burbot is a fish weighing 3 kilograms and above. With pike it’s a little different.

Small ones (up to a kilo) are not particularly respected - the meat is scanty, and there are plenty of bones with a “fork”.

Large ones (from 6 kg) are more suitable for drying (yukola), since they already have “rubbery” flesh. This is not only my opinion, but also that of my friends with whom I have to catch toothy ones.

The optimal choice is fish 2 - 4 kilograms. And the meat is quite dense and, if necessary, it is more convenient to fight with the bones.

How to skin a pike with a stocking: 2 ways

It is much more difficult to remove the skin from pike for stuffing. In this case, it is important not to tear or damage it. If you perform the steps correctly, you should end up with a stocking that will later be filled with minced meat.

Let's look at two ways to skin a pike with its head cut off. In the first case, all actions will be performed by one person, that is, independently. In the second case, you will need to use the help of another person.

First, you need to cut off the head so that the intestines can be pulled out immediately during its separation from the body. Then the skin on the carcass is carefully lifted with your hands at the incision site, and then, using your fingers, it is separated from the meat by at least 5 cm on each side. Now that part of the skin has already been separated, you need to start turning the skin outward, like a stocking. The fins are cut inside with scissors in such a way that the skin is not damaged, and the tail ridge can be cut off or broken. The head is also cooked along with the rest of the fish, so the gills are removed, washed and cleaned.

The second way to skin a pike is to get rid of the skin as quickly as possible. But doing this yourself is quite difficult, since the slippery pike is not easy to hold in your hands. In this case, when the skin is separated from the meat by at least 5 cm, one person will hold the fish vertically (you can use a towel), and the other will pull the skin down. In general, these two methods are equally effective.

How to clean fish correctly

Of course, cleaning river and sea fish differs. Mainly due to the size of the scales. Marine is easier and faster to clean, 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 need to be cleared of their mucus layer before removing their scales. There are several options to solve this problem:

• Place the carcass in very hot water for 15–20 seconds. During this time, the mucus will disappear and you can begin cleaning.
• The second method is also quite simple. Before cleaning, rub the product with salt. The carcass stops sliding in your hands.
• When fishing, you can use sand instead of salt. But this method is not very convenient, because it is difficult to thoroughly wash the grains of sand from the meat later.
• For 3 l. dilute 1 tbsp of water. l. table vinegar. Place the carcasses into the solution for 1–2 minutes. Mucus is easily removed.

The correct way to remove scales

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 throughout the kitchen, but will settle in the liquid.

1. We cut off the fins so as not to get hurt by them when cleaning.
2. We firmly grasp the fish by the head with one hand.
3. In the other hand we take a fish scaler.
4. We begin to clean from the tail towards the head, prying off the scales with a fish scaler.
5. After cleaning, rinse the carcass under running water.

How to properly clean fish

Cleaning in quick ways

One of the most effective and fastest ways to clean fish from scales is to clean it with a grater. For this method we use a grater with 4 edges; it is more convenient to use.

1. Place the fish on a work surface and press down with your hand. If the fish is small, you can pierce the tail with a fork or an awl, holding the tool and fixing the carcass.
2. Let's take a grater. Using the side intended for preparing vegetable puree (with sharp teeth), we clean off the scales in the direction from the tail to the head.
3. The scales at the base of the tail can be scraped off with the coarse side of a grater.
4. We rinse the product under running water.

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

How to quickly peel fish with a grater

How to do it using... a drill

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

1. Prepare a clean container for the fish.
2. We place the drill on a stool and secure it with tape.
3. Insert a drill with a diameter of 10 mm into the drill.
4. Turn on the tool, setting the mode to the minimum number of revolutions.
5. Next to the stool we place a trash can or bag into which the scales will fall off.
6. We take the carcass, holding it above the bucket, and place it under the drill.
7. We clean off the scales in this way from the tail to the head.

Cleaning video tip

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-F_Gobbb73o

Cleaning with KARCHER

This method of cleaning fish from scales is convenient outdoors, at the dacha or in the yard of a private house:

1. Place the fish on a wooden work surface.
2. To prevent the carcass from moving under the pressure of water, we fix it with self-tapping screws, placing caps from plastic bottles under the head of the screw. In this case, the lid acts as a washer, pressing the tail tightly against the board.
3. We turn on the Karcher.
4. Using a stream of water, knock off the scales in the direction from the tail to the head.

Cleaning scales with a Karcher

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dD4-tTZORZ8

How to clean frozen

Many experts advise defrosting the fish before removing its scales. But most often there is not enough time to defrost. Is it possible to clean a carcass that has just been taken out of the freezer? It’s possible, because frozen products can be peeled quite easily.

1. Cut off the fins.
2. We cut off a strip of skin along with scales along the back and abdomen.
3. Cut off the tail.
4. We pry the skin with a knife at the base of the tail.
5. Using a knife, remove the skin along with the scales in the direction from the tail to the head.
6. We cut off the head, rip open the abdomen with a knife and remove the frozen entrails.

Video on processing frozen fish products

Evenki way of cleaning

In the north, this method is used all the time; it is convenient and easy to use:

1. You can use any sharp knife.
2. Holding the fish by the tail, place it vertically, resting its head on the work surface: board, stump, etc.
3. We cut off the fins with sharp movements.
4. We cut off its scales from the tail to the head in thin strips.

How to skin a pike for stuffing with the head

The methods described above are more suitable for beginners, since professionals separate the skin directly from the head without cutting it off. Then, when stuffing, the fish will turn out whole. How to properly skin a pike in this case?

When preparing a fish, its head is not completely cut off, but remains hanging from the back on the skin. Next, the entrails are removed from the body, the head is cleaned and washed, as in the previous methods. How to skin a pike was also described above. By the way, after removing the stocking, it must be turned in the opposite direction again.

For stuffing

A beautiful gourmet dish - stuffed pike. In some recipes, the advice for separating the skin looks like this: the cleaned carcass without the head is placed on a cutting board with its back up. A longitudinal incision is made along the back, through which the meat is separated.

After laying out the minced meat, the incision is sewn up or chipped with toothpicks. This method is simple and does not require any special skills. The downside is that the pike has to be literally sculpted from minced meat, and then covered with skin and sewn up (fastened). After preparing the dish, the place of fastening can be masked with sauce, squeezed out in the form of a pattern from a pastry bag or with herbs.

How to salt pike

Preparing the stuffing filling

The taste of the finished dish largely depends on how well the filling was prepared. First of all, the meat separated from the bones must be twisted twice in a meat grinder. Moreover, after the first time, the device will need to be disassembled and the accumulated bones removed. When the meat is twisted for the second time, add fried onions and carrots, as well as a raw egg, salt and pepper to taste.

If the filling does not seem enough, you can add a couple of slices of bread soaked in milk to the minced meat. It needs to be rubbed well with your hands and mixed so that the mass turns out to be a homogeneous consistency.

Fish stuffing process

When stuffing pike, it is important to find that golden mean that will make the fish look as appetizing as possible. To do this, it is important to put in enough minced meat so that the skin does not burst during cooking and does not hang down, which happens in cases where there is too little filling.

If cuts are formed during skin removal, they must be sewn up with thread, otherwise the minced meat will come out. Before putting the dish in the oven, the skin must be pierced in 2-3 places with a toothpick so that it does not burst. Pike is cooked for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.

Recipe for stuffed pike

There are several recipes for preparing this dish. You can cut and gut the fish before stuffing , and then cut out the backbone along with the bones - this is the simplest and most common method.
But if you keep the skin intact, the dish looks much more interesting. You can try stuffing any fish, but it may be difficult to remove the skin. It is almost impossible to remove the skin from fish of other breeds, at least not with a stocking. pike is used for stuffing . Her skin is very durable and comes off easily.

In addition, it has additional advantages.
This is a predatory fish, and it is believed that all predatory fish have a more developed muscular system, in other words , more meat . The bones in the backbone are very small, which is a disadvantage in fried and boiled fish and is completely unnoticeable in minced meat.

Preparing the fish

For stuffing, you should choose fish in accordance with the size of the baking sheet and oven. Small specimens do not yet have a rich taste, large ones, more than 4 kg, can already smell of mud, so the ideal size for preparing stuffed pike is 1.5-2.5 kg.

• Fresh pike must be thoroughly cleaned and washed. Don't gut it!
• It's good if it was bought the day before. It is advisable to freeze cleaned fish. It must be placed in the refrigerator in a straightened form. It is not necessary to freeze, but in the future this will greatly simplify the preparation process, or the technology of how to remove the skin from pike for stuffing.
• Frozen fish is removed from the freezer 4-5 hours before cooking. During this time, the top layer, that is, the skin, thaws, while the carcass itself remains hard and frozen. You can artificially defrost it in warm water.

Working with fresh fish is also not difficult if you have experience, but for beginners it is better to learn how to stuff it using frozen fish.

Skin Removal Technology

The next stage is recommendations on how to skin a pike quickly and accurately.

• Place the fish on a board or directly on the table.
• Use a sharp knife to make a shallow cut around the head. When cutting the skin, you must try not to affect the muscle layer. There is no need to cut off the head as this will make skinning the fish more difficult. You should also try not to hurt the gallbladder. It and all other entrails are best removed after the skin has been partially removed.
• Next, place your thumbs under the skin and slowly begin to roll it up.
• When you can handle the skin with your hands, you should use the tips on how to remove the skin from a pike with a stocking. There is no need to do this abruptly. Gradually pull the skin a little, still periodically helping yourself with your fingers. You need to be especially careful in the areas of the dorsal and ventral fins. When they reach the fins, they are carefully cut from the inside with a knife or special scissors and left on the skin. This will further make the appearance of the dish more natural.
• When all the fins have been passed, the skin is pulled more boldly and cut off from the carcass at a distance of 2 cm from the tail.

The result is a stocking made from pike skin with fins and a tail.

If you freeze the fish, the skin separates faster, but the disadvantage of this method is that working with cold fish is extremely uncomfortable; you have to periodically warm your hands in warm water.

Cooking process

The fish carcass must be gutted and the fillets separated from the bones. Remove the gills from the head. This not very pleasant procedure can be done using scissors or ordinary pliers. The older the fish, the more difficult it is to do this. The gills are first trimmed as much as possible and then removed. This must be done very carefully, because it is easy to prick or cut yourself with the teeth of a pike, and injuries of this kind are very dangerous.

Then the minced meat is prepared from the following ingredients:

• pike fillet;
• rice - 0.5 cups;
• 2 medium onions;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• lard - 50 g;
• egg - 1 pc.;
• salt pepper.

Grind the fish, onion, garlic and lard in a meat grinder, add the egg, boiled rice and spices.

If you exclude lard and eggs, the dish will turn out lean. For softness, add a little white bread soaked in water. The taste will not suffer much, but the food can be prepared on Orthodox Lent holidays.

Fill the skin with the prepared minced meat, sew the head to it with a regular needle and additionally place the remaining minced meat through the gill covers. We must try to ensure that less air gets into the carcass.

Then place the stuffed fish on a greased baking sheet so that the skin does not burst, pierce it in several places with a thick gypsy needle, grease with mayonnaise and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.

All that remains is to decorate and serve the finished dish on the table.

Cut the slightly cooled pike into portions and arrange with lemon slices and sprigs of herbs. Place it beautifully along the edge of the dish, draw a zigzag along the ridge with mayonnaise, and you can pour a jar of black olives into the center - an improvisation of black caviar.

The dish turns out exceptionally tasty, beautiful and festive. It takes 1.5-2 hours to prepare. It is quite high in calories and economical, so a pike weighing 2 kg is enough for a company of 10 people. A housewife who has mastered all the subtleties of how to remove the skin from a pike for stuffing with a stocking, and the technology of its preparation, creatively changing the minced meat ingredients and external design, is able to surprise guests and loved ones with her signature recipe.

Skin removal methods

The choice of skinning option depends on what kind of dish you plan to make. The simplest methods are used before preparing cutlets, fried or baked fillets.

Option 1:

1. Lightly freeze the fish by keeping it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Remove scales.

After this, the offal is taken out, the fillet parts are cut off from the spine, and small bones are pulled out with tweezers.

If you plan to bake or fry the fillet without skin, then it can be removed directly with the scales after removing the entrails and fins, after first cutting it on the back along the ridge and on the belly in the same direction.

A large carcass can be divided into parts to make it easier to remove the meat from the backbone.

Option 2:

1. Place the fish in a sink or bowl and pour boiling water over both sides.
2. Remove the scales with the blunt side of a knife (they come off easily).

Then the entrails and skin are removed, and the cut fish is used to prepare minced meat for cutlets, omelettes or meatballs. The spine, head (without gill arches), skin with remaining meat can be used to cook broth.

Recipe for the most tender pike cutlets:

1. Place 100 g of finely chopped white bread or rolls in a cup, add 100 ml of warm milk, leave for 15 minutes.
2. Peel and wash 2 onions and 2 cloves of garlic.
3. Grind 1 kg of fillet in a meat grinder.
4. Disassemble the meat grinder and remove any clogged bones.
5. Re-twist the minced fish, adding onion, garlic and soaked bread.
6. Add 2 eggs, 5 tsp. softened butter, salt and black pepper (to taste).
7. Stir the minced meat.
8. Form cutlets by dredging them in the breading mixture.
9. Fry in olive oil, turning.

You can check the degree of readiness by piercing the cutlet with a wooden toothpick: the juice that comes out should be clear. Before serving, sprinkle with finely chopped fresh dill and basil.

One of the main advantages of stuffed fish is its beautiful natural shape and juicy, aromatic filling. Therefore, for stuffing, you need to peel the skin off the pike so as not to damage it.

With the simplest method of skinning, it remains intact only on the belly. Sequencing:

1. Clean off the scales.
2. The head is cut off.
3. They take out the giblets.
4. Place the fish on the board with its back up.
5. Cut lengthwise, reaching the spine.
6. Take out the ridge and lay the carcass to the sides.
7. Remove the meat from the backbone and skin, prepare the minced meat.

The stuffing is spread on the skin, the skin is wrapped to form a carcass, sewn up on the back, and the cleaned head is attached. The fish is pierced with a needle or toothpick in several places so that it does not tear during the baking process. Cook in the oven at 180 °C for 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the fish).

The threads are removed before serving the dish.

This method is suitable for beginner cooks. To remove the skin entirely, without cuts, another technology is used, which requires skills and takes more time.

Filleting pike - stuffing skin with stockings

The operation of cutting pike into fillets without skin is used for the purpose of preparing fried, boiled, oven-baked dishes, cutlets, zraz, jellied, and rolls from the pulp of large fish.

To stuff the whole pike carcass, the skin is removed with stockings, the fillets are cut from the bones, from which minced meat is prepared, which is the filling of the stuffed pike skin.

That is, in this case, first, the pure fillet without the spinal column and small bones is cut out of the skinless pike carcass.

In addition, there are ways to cut cleaned and gutted pike into portioned pieces - steaks, where each portion contains bones. Usually this is how large fish is cut for cooking in fried, boiled, or baked form.

But especially popular is the dish of baked or boiled pike, where, to stuff the minced meat, you first remove the skin from the large fish with a stocking. Moreover, this fish does not necessarily have to be a pike.

To begin with, let's prepare the simplest dishes from pike that has been dressed and cut into portions in the form of fried, boiled or oven-baked steaks.

How to cut a pike - the fastest way

This method of cutting pike does not require initial gutting or skin removal. Cut the scaled and well-washed fish into two parts along the ridge. After the first strip of fillet is cut, another piece will be left with a backbone and entrails. You separate all this from the pulp. Take tweezers or tongs and carefully and patiently remove the fillet, starting from the tail. Hook the tongs onto the edge of the skin and pull it off. All that remains is to remove the bones from the pulp. But this method of cutting pike requires experience.

If you are patient and do everything correctly, you will deal with the pike in a few minutes. Boil a delicious fish soup from the head and fins, bake or fry the fillet with skin, and use the separated flesh for cutlets and fish casseroles. Surprise your family with delicious fish dishes!

Pike is very loved by professional cooks and housewives. Its tender white meat is perfect for making cutlets, meatballs, meatballs, and dumplings. But the most delicious and refined dish is stuffed pike. It is useful for housewives to know how to remove the skin from a pike without cutting the belly.

Cutting pike into steaks

Methods for cutting pike for preparing steaks on the field or outdoors are demonstrated in photographs.

In portions - steaks, except for pike, large river and sea fish are cut. After which the steaks are marinated and eaten fried in a frying pan, baked over a fire or in the oven. Fried pike fillet.

At the first stage, we clean the scales from the fish carcass (photo 1). Cleaned pike should be washed, dried or blotted with a towel.

This is the primary stage of cutting, after which the fish carcass can still be skinned for stockings for cooking stuffed, or cut into fillets with skin. But for now we are faced with the simpler task of preparing portioned steaks from large pike, fried or baked in the oven.

Therefore, trying not to touch the insides, we cut through the abdominal cavity of the pike from the head to the anus (photo 2). We gut the fish and use a knife to remove the film from the inner walls of the belly (photo 3).

Next, we will cut the pike into portioned steaks, which are used to prepare many dishes from the fish. You just need to decide on the width of the pike steaks.

For example: in pike aspic, the fish is carefully boiled in narrow steaks on a special grill.

Features of preparing pike cutlets

They say that pike makes very tasty cutlets. To be convinced of this, you need to try to cook such a dish yourself. The most important thing here is preparation for the operation of the main component. Most often it is pure meat with the addition of a small amount of lard. With its help, the finished products will become softer and more delicate in taste. In this case, it is better to remove the skin, as it can only spoil the dish. After grinding in a meat grinder, the skin makes the minced meat more elastic. As a result, the cutlets simply become “rubbery”. How to remove the skin from pike for cutlets? To do this, you may need a sharp knife and ordinary plumber's pliers. Having completed all the preparatory steps, you need to grab the very edge with the pliers and tear off pieces of skin with sharp movements.

After this, the fillet must be cut off from the cleaned carcass and the bones set aside. They usually make a good rich soup. Those who are not used to working with such tools can do the same with their hands. True, it’s not so easy to hold slippery skin with your fingers. But after several attempts you can learn it.

Cutting pike into steaks

Usually, before cutting pike into steaks, all fins are cut off from the fish with a knife or scissors. Although for some it will be more convenient to cut off the fins of pike in the initial stages of cutting.

Also, before cutting into steaks, the outside of the gutted fish carcass and in the abdominal cavity should be washed, dried or blotted with paper towels. Then, using a knife with a thin but wide blade, we cut off the tail and head (4) of the pike, and cut the remaining pike carcass into wide or narrow portions - steaks.

Currently, any portioned edible product is called a steak, and the correct steak is a piece of fried tenderloin of meat cut into portions.

Pike cut into wide and narrow steaks for cooking fried and baked is shown in photographs 5, 6. But large carp can be cut into steaks in the same way.

In narrow steaks of large pike, the edge planes, that is, both sides of the flesh, are fried. Wide pieces of pike can be stuffed with filling, but it is better to remove all the bones from the steaks before doing this.

Small pike is usually cut into wide portions for roasting. Then the fish is fried from the skin side.

Cleaning and gutting thawed pike

After removing the scales, freshly caught or thawed pike can be cleaned and dressed in almost the same way as frozen pike:

1. The knife is stuck shallowly, so as not to damage the gallbladder, into the head, cutting the thick cartilage at its base with the abdomen.
2. The belly rips open towards the tail.
3. The insides are removed, but the insides are not torn off.
4. The gills are hooked onto the cartilages and removed from the head.
5. The carcass is freed from giblets.
6. The bubble holding the air is removed. The blood that has accumulated underneath is removed.
7. The pike is washed under running water.
8. Everything that will later be useful for fish soup (fins, tail and head) is removed.

• Using a sharp wide knife blade, the fillet, straight with the ribs, is separated from the ridge on one side and the other.
• Using tweezers, remove the small bones remaining in the fillet.

• If the pulp is for minced meat, then you can leave the skin without removing it. If it is not needed, then use a sharp knife blade to cut the fillet from the skin.

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Pike fillet with skin

Techniques for filleting pike with skin are shown in the photographs. But, if after cutting you intend to get two layers of fish fillet without skin, then you do not need to peel the scales. Otherwise, the pike should be cleaned of small scales and mucus with a fish scaler.

At the first step of filleting for cooking pike in a frying pan or baked in the oven, wash the fish and cut off all the fins from the skin with scissors.

We cut into the abdominal cavity of the fish. We gut the pike and remove the dark film from the belly. There is no need to wash the fish again. This can be done after completely cutting the pike into fillet layers.

Recommendations for working with pike

When working with pike, special attention is paid to arranging the workplace and preparing the necessary tools. By spending a few minutes on this process, you can protect yourself and the room from scales and minimize work time

Taking into account the density of the scales and their ability to scatter over considerable distances during the cleaning process, all surfaces near the cutting board must be cleared of utensils and covered with film. We collect cold water in a sink or large basin. Take the largest cutting board. Ideally, it should not be made of wood (this material absorbs the smell of fish too actively), but of plastic or glass. Place a damp cloth or towel under the board

Otherwise, its base will slide across the floor, complicating the cleaning process.

• We take one large, sharp knife with a wide blade so that it is convenient for cutting pike. In addition, you need to take a smaller knife to remove scales. If there is such an opportunity, then it is best to clean the pike not with a knife, but with a special device in the form of a grater with a container.
• We also need coarse salt. You will need to use it to treat the pike's tail after the carcass has been thoroughly washed. This technique will make the element less slippery, which will allow you to securely fix the fish with your hands.

Many housewives refuse to wear gloves when working with fish, citing inconvenience. But this item allows you to significantly simplify the procedure and reduce the risk of injury in the process. And with this approach, the fishy smell does not penetrate the skin, so after cleaning you don’t have to soak your hands in water with lemon juice.

Cutting bones from pike fillet

At the third stage of cutting, we will cut layers of fillet from the bones of the spinal column of the fish. But first, let’s cut off the pike’s tail and head (photo 2).

Using a thin knife blade, cut the top layer of fillet from the vertebral bone of the fish (photo 3).

Cut the spine bone from the remaining part of the pike (photo 4), and remove the costal bones from both halves of the fish fillet with tweezers.

As a result, we get two layers of pike fillet with skin, which should be washed from the blood.

But you can continue cutting the fish in order to obtain a pike carcass of two layers of fillet without skin - the best final product used for stuffing culinary products - either in pieces or in the form of minced meat.

❄ Features of cleaning frozen pike

Frozen pike is cleaned without defrosting, using a large kitchen knife. Special knives (Evenki and Yakut) are ideally and quickly cleaned, in which one side of the blade is smooth, the other is regular, wedge-shaped.

1. Frozen fish is taken out of the freezer (brought into the house from the street).
2. The pike is taken by the tail and placed with its nose on the floor.
3. They begin to clean the scales with a knife, making planing movements from the tail to the head.

To securely fix the carcass, you can use a non-slip box or egg cassette (the nose of the fish is placed in it).

It is better to clean frozen fish using cotton gloves.

Cutting skin from pike fillet

Cutting the skin off fish fillets is often used to make cutlets from minced pike. Why: holding the knife blade at an acute angle, starting from the tail, gradually separate the pike fillet from the skin (photo 5).

If the original plan was to prepare minced pike, then when cutting the fish, the operation of cleaning the scales could be skipped.

The resulting fillet layers from pike skin can be cut into portions (photo 6) as a semi-finished product for storage in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator; or fry in a frying pan, marinate; bake in the oven, boil on a wire rack. But.

Pike fillet without skin is a very fragile product, so pieces of fish may fall apart during cooking. To prevent this from happening in your pan, apply a flour and egg coating before cooking the fish.

Fish with a smell: how to remove the smell

Sprinkle each row generously with salt.
Cover the dish with a lid. When the fish releases juice, place a weight on top and place the container in a cool place. After standing in a warm summer, the fish, although it will be well salted, will begin to emit a specific smell. If you want to avoid it when salting in a barrel, you need to cover the fish with nettles, which protects the fish from an unpleasant odor. HERRING IN VINEGAR

Peel the herring and cut it into halves. Cut the onion into rings. Place all this in a ceramic bowl, pour in a weak solution of vinegar (1 part vinegar to 5 parts water).

FROZEN HERRING Slightly salted

Slowly defrost the herring (it sits in the refrigerator for a day and gradually defrosts), gut it, and cut off the head.

Mix salt and sugar in a 3:1 ratio. You can add to the mixture: crushed dill seeds, cumin and any other spices that suit your taste for fish.

Rub the fish with this mixture; inside you can put a bay leaf and a clove stick (not

more). Place the fish under pressure and put it in the refrigerator for a day.

Fish is a very healthy product, enriched with calcium and other microelements necessary for bone tissue, but its smell is also quite strong. Both raw and cooked fish can transfer the smell to other food products, household items, hands and clothing. Many people wonder how to get rid of this smell so that it remains only in one plate or in one dish. This is quite difficult to do, but there are still proven methods.

How to cook fish? First of all, having bought fresh fish, herring, sprat or smoked mackerel, you need to pack it in several plastic bags, and also place it in a separate bag (package). For cutting and cooking, it is recommended to use a specially designated cutting board and separate utensils. This way the smell will not spread further.

How to remove the smell from the kitchen after cooking fish? Now you need to figure out how to eliminate the smell, especially of sea fish from the kitchen and kitchen utensils. To prevent the aroma from being absorbed into carpets, towels and other things after frying, you need to pour salt into a hot frying pan, warm it up a little and leave until it cools completely. This way the smell can be eliminated to a greater extent. But after this procedure, the lemon or orange zest also needs to be heated in a frying pan, or, as an alternative, boil water with vinegar and lemon juice. After this, ventilate the kitchen, and the smell after cooking the fish will completely disappear.

Cutting pike for stuffing

The stages of cutting pike for stuffing followed by cooking as a whole carcass are shown in the photographs below.

A special feature of cutting is that the tail of the pike prepared for stuffing is not cut off from the skin; you can choose whether the fins are cut out or not. The stuffed pike has a head.

If the stuffed pike will be boiled, at the first stage of cutting we will cut out the gills. To prepare other dishes from pike, fried or baked in the oven, removing the gills is not necessary.

In the second step of cutting the pike carcass, use the blunt side of a knife blade to remove scales and mucus. The skin of the pike will remain much more intact if we abandon fish cleaning during this operation.

Next, rinse the pike and blot it with a paper towel.

Next comes the most important stage of cutting for stuffing the pike skin as a whole. The skin of the fish should be pulled off with a stocking (cut from the inside), without violating its integrity along its entire length.

How to prepare fish for stuffing

It is recommended to stuff fresh, not gutted fish. Before stuffing, pike is processed in different ways.

Classic preparation recipe: fish skin “stocking” for stuffed pike

Wash the fish, remove scales, cut near the head from the belly side, leaving the spine intact.

If you cut off the head, it will be easier to remove the skin.

Cut out the gills, they contain a lot of mucus, bitterness, and can spoil the taste of the dish. Remove the eyes; after cooking, olives are inserted into the pike's eye sockets for beauty.

The entrails are carefully removed from the carcass, after cutting off the intestines from the anus with a long knife.

Using your fingers or a knife, lift the edge of the skin on the carcass and carefully remove it in the form of a stocking. The most difficult thing is to lift the initial layer of skin near the incision, then the skin comes off easily.

When the stocking reaches the fins, you should trim the fins with kitchen scissors.

When the stocking is removed to the tail, the spine is cut with scissors.

Meat is cut from the carcass for minced meat.

The remaining meat is scraped off from the leather stocking turned inside out and added to the minced meat. The stocking is ready for stuffing.

TIP: It will be easier to free the skin from the pulp if you freeze the fish.

An incision on the back or stomach

Clean the washed fish from scales and cut off the fins. Cut the back along the spine on both sides, cutting the ribs at the same time. Using kitchen scissors, bite through the spine and remove the spine. Remove the entrails and gills. Trim the meat from the skin, leaving a thin layer. Rinse the resulting “cover”, stuff it from the side of the hole on the back, bandage it, sew it up or fasten the seam with toothpicks.

Another option for this method: make an incision from the side of the abdomen and remove the bones. Stuff according to the recipe and sew up the belly.

How to remove pike skin with stockings

I’ll tell you how to remove the skin of a pike with a stocking without accidental cuts.

Let's do the preparatory operations: cut off the pike's head from the side of the belly of the carcass, but not completely. An area of ​​skin about three centimeters wide on the back of the pike should remain intact (photo 1).

Now we have the opportunity, from the side of the incomplete cut of the carcass, to trim the flesh under the skin in a circular manner, without violating the integrity of the skin between the head and back of the pike. That is, where it was not cut off.

We fold the trimmed skin like a stocking and remove it, pulling it towards the middle of the carcass. Next, we cut the skin around the next section of the fish and remove it, gradually pulling it together with the head even further from the cut of the carcass.

In the process of removing the skin of the pike with a stocking, use the tips of scissors to cut off the bones of all fins under the skin.

Gradually, turning the inside out, we should remove all the skin from the pike carcass, as a result of which the tail will be inside - in the middle between the pike's head on the skin and the beginning of the carcass.

The stages of removing the skin from a pike carcass with a stocking are shown in the photo (2, 3).

After removing the stocking of skin from the entire pike carcass at the tail, we cut the vertebral bone. The tail should remain on the skin removed by the stocking, which should be turned outward.

Set the stocking made from leather aside. We gut the pike carcass, wash it, and cut off the flesh from the bones.

This will be the main semi-finished product for preparing stuffed, baked fish as a whole.

How to cut fresh pike

It is unlikely that you can find at least one housewife who would love to clean fresh fish.
Most people consider this process labor-intensive and time-consuming. But if you approach it with knowledge of the matter, it turns out that it is not so difficult. In addition, pike has one big advantage - it is very easy to remove the skin. No matter what, but still a plus. So, you don’t need any special tools to clean pike. It’s enough to have what you have in any kitchen: a cutting board, a well-sharpened knife and the fish itself. It is advisable to also have a hard brush, but you can get by with just a knife.

First you need to rinse the fish under running cold water to remove the mucus. After this, holding the pike by the tail, rub it with a brush or gently scrape it with a knife to remove scales from the skin. By the way, if you have to clean frozen fish, it is better to first let it sit for an hour at room temperature and only then begin the cutting procedure.

Now you need to separate all the fins and cut off the tail, then make a shallow cut from the side of the abdomen. You need to start cutting from the side of the head and move towards the tail. The same cut should be made along the back of the pike. Using the tip of a knife, pry the skin in the area of ​​the tail and pull it off first on one side and then on the other. Almost everything is ready. All that remains is to cut off the pike's head, remove the internal organs and wash the belly from the inside. The pike carcass is ready for further work.

To get the fillet you need to make a deep cut with a knife on its back all the way to the ridge. Then carefully cut the meat from the bones on both sides of the cut. You will get two pieces of meat and the backbone itself with ribs. Fillet is exactly what you should use to prepare minced meat for cutlets. The ridge can be thrown away, or you can put it on the ear along with the head, fins and tail.

Well, a few words about the number of fillets obtained after cutting a whole pike. On average, about half the weight of a whole fish goes to waste (but not necessarily discarded). So from a pike weighing 2 kg you can get approximately 0.9-1 kg of minced pike.

How long does it take to fry a pike?

Pike, like most other types of fish, fry quite quickly. There is no need to overexpose it. Meat from being in the pan too much will become dry and lose its taste.

If we talk about specific numbers, then a lot depends on the recipe. However, for pan cooking, this time rarely exceeds 20 minutes (10 minutes on each side). Of course, we are talking about the total time, since during the frying process the pike needs to be turned over regularly. Pike cutlets take about the same amount of time to fry. Of course, unless otherwise specified in the recipe. But you can keep the pike in the slow cooker a little longer - about half an hour.

How to cook pike cutlets

When it comes to cutlets, the pieces of minced fish that are juicy on the inside and browned on the outside immediately come to mind. However, in practice, pike cutlets often turn out a little dry.

1. The first reason for this “trouble” is prolonged frying. As has already been said many times, pike meat is already not juicy enough, and if a dish made from it is also overcooked on the fire, the quality of the finished dish will not improve at all.
2. The second reason is the dryness of the meat itself. Fortunately, it is much easier to get rid of this shortcoming. It is enough to add ingredients to the cutlet mince that retain the juice inside. Traditional additions include bread soaked in milk or cream, as well as finely grated potatoes. However, other products can make pike cutlets juicy, as well as highlight their delicate taste, for example: carrots, lard and even minced pork.
3. And the last reason is the size of the whole pike. It is believed that the larger the fish, the juicier its meat. But this does not mean at all that you need to choose the biggest fish. Pike weighing 2-2.5 kg are considered optimal for filleting and subsequent preparation of minced meat.

Stuffing pike - stuffing a skin stocking with minced meat

Stuffing the pike, that is, stuffing the skin of the fish with minced meat, will be the last operation before heat treatment of the stuffed fish.

To prepare minced meat, pass the pike pulp through a meat grinder. Add other ingredients and spices that we like. Stir the minced meat (photo 4) to stuff the pike skin.

The next step will be to directly stuff the pike skin. But to do this, you should turn it with the scaled side out, if you have not already done this after removing the skin of the fish with a stocking.

Photo 5 shows the “civilized” way of stuffing pike skin with minced meat using a paper cooking bag.

Although pike can be stuffed in handfuls or using a spoon, gradually moving the minced meat into the lower part of the skin “stocking” until we stuff the whole fish with minced meat (photo 6).

How to easily clean a pike using boiling water and lemon - useful tips

To reduce the time spent cleaning fish and do everything quickly and easily, use these helpful tips.

1. Cleaning live pike is faster and more convenient. A frozen carcass must be cleaned immediately after the scales have thawed.
2. It is comfortable to work with rubber gloves and put on cotton gloves on top. This way, the risk of damage will be minimized, and the pike itself will not slide.
3. The knife must be sharpened well.
4. If the fish has a characteristic river smell, you can wipe it with lemon juice.
5. To speed up the process, the pike must be scalded with boiling water. You can also put it in a bowl and fill it with warm water and vinegar.

Preparing skin-stuffed pike

Recipe: fresh pike: 1.2-1.5 kg, 3 eggs, 350-400 g wheat bread, 1.2-1.5 glasses of milk, 15-20 pitted olives, half a bunch of parsley, dill, green Luke.

Garlic, vegetable oil, salt, pepper - to taste.

To cook whole stuffed pike in the oven according to the suggested recipe, cut up the fish - remove scales and remove the skin with a stocking. Prepare minced pike pulp for baked fish.

Preparation of minced meat for stuffing pike skin

Cut the bread into pieces, soak in milk, then pass through a blender along with the pike pulp.

Add 2 beaten eggs, finely chopped parsley, dill, onion, chopped garlic, thinly sliced ​​olives, salt and pepper. Mix the minced meat for stuffing the pike skin.

Stuff the pike with the prepared filling in any way; to give the whole look, sew the skin in the head area. To prepare baked pike, preheat the oven to 180-200 degrees.