Do pike have scales. How to fillet a pike: recommendations. A few important rules
Pike is a low-fat fish, so it can be classified as a dietary food. Particularly useful and tasty are dishes from fish caught in late autumn. Pike weighing no more than 4 kg has the greatest nutritional value. The meat of an old fish weighing more than 8 kg is hard and inedible, it smells like a swamp. Pike is used for frying, stuffing, making broths, soups, cutlets, it is salted, smoked and marinated.
Fresh pike is covered with a layer of mucus. It needs to be removed, to do this, rinse the fish under running water. To prevent the pike from slipping out, you can put rubber gloves on your hands, and on top - cotton construction gloves, which can then be thrown away or washed. Wearing gloves will reduce the risk of being cut by the fins, gills or teeth of the fish.
Pike can be cut in 2 ways. Lay the fish on a cutting board. Cut off the dorsal and ventral fins, tail. Make a shallow incision along the belly from head to tail. Make an incision in the back. Grab the skin from the side of the tail, helping with a knife. Hold the carcass with your left hand, and with your right hand pull the skin and remove it. Cut off the head, cut the abdomen, remove the insides.
Carefully cut the abdomen and pull out the contents, otherwise the gallbladder may be damaged. In this case, a green liquid will flow out. If it gets on the meat, the dish will be bitter. To prevent this from happening, rinse the fish well under running cold water. Make a deep incision on the back of the carcass, it should reach the ridge. Separate the meat from the bones on both sides of the incision. You should get 2 pieces of fillet and a backbone with thick bones.
Cutting pike in the second way is as follows. Cut off the fins and tail. Cut the abdomen, remove the insides. Make 2 transverse deep incisions at the head to the ridge, but do not cut off the head.
Position the fish with the belly away from you. With your left hand, hold the pike by the head, with your right hand, turn the blade along the table in the opposite direction from the hand that holds the fish. Carefully cut the pike along the spine. If the knife at some point rests and does not go further, slightly change the angle of the blade. You should get a fillet with a skin.
Turn the pike over, position it with its back away from you. The fish should lie back on the cutting board. Holding the pike by the head, separate the meat from the ridge with a knife. Rinse the resulting fillet under a stream of cool water to wash away dirt and blood clots. Cut the ribs off the fillets.
Remove the skin. To do this, place the fish on a cutting board, skin side down, with the tail toward you. At the tail, cut the meat to the skin, and then, holding the skin with your left hand, lead the knife along the board, cutting off the fillet. The fillet can be cooked whole or made into minced meat for cutlets. It is recommended not to throw away the head (without gills), fins and spine, but to use it for cooking fish soup.
The dense and hard scales of the pike are quite difficult to clean. This will require a sharp knife and limited space. If you do this on the kitchen table, then you should be prepared for the fact that pike scales will scatter throughout the room. It is better, of course, to clean the fish in the yard of a private house, but in extreme cases, a deep wash is also suitable.
Cleaned from 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, the scalp is incised on the left side up to the ridge. It is necessary to cut on the left, since the gallbladder is located on the right, which can burst when it is used. Next, a horizontal incision is made at the anus, and the intestines are cut.
Now the head must be finally cut off, without touching the gallbladder, and separated from the carcass along with the intestines. Then the fish is cut along the abdomen, finally cleaned of films and washed. Now the pike can be cut into fillets.
How to skin and fillet a pike
For cutting pike into fillets, you will need a special sharp knife for fish. It is very convenient to use it. It is enough to attach the knife tightly to the ridge and draw it horizontally along. Similar actions must be repeated on the other side of the carcass. As a result, it will be possible to get two halves of the fillet with the skin. Ridge with leftover meat can be used in the preparation of fish broth.
How to quickly skin a pike? Again with a knife. It needs to be pressed as tightly as possible to the skin and just hold it along. There may be some meat left on the skin, but it will be no more than if you remove the skin with your hands.
How to skin a pike with a stocking: 2 ways
It is much more difficult to remove the skin from a pike for stuffing. In this case, it is important not to tear or damage it. At correct execution actions should get a stocking, which will later be filled with minced meat.
Consider 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 pry off by hand at the incision site, and then with the help of fingers it is separated from the meat by at least 5 cm on each side. Now, when part of the skin has already been separated, it is necessary to start turning the skin inside out, like a stocking. The fins are cut with scissors inside in such a way that the skin is not damaged, and the tail spine can be cut off or broken. The head is also cooked along with the rest of the fish, so the gills are removed from it, washed and cleaned.
The second way to skin a pike is to get rid of the skin as quickly as possible. But it is quite difficult to do it yourself, since a 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 skin a pike for head stuffing
The methods described above are more suitable for beginners, since professionals separate the skin right from the head without cutting it off. Then when stuffing the fish will turn out whole. How to skin a pike in this case?
When preparing the fish, its head is not cut off completely, but remains hanging from the back on the skin. Further, the insides are removed from the body, the head is cleaned and washed, as in the previous methods. How to skin a pike has also been described above. By the way, after removing the stocking, it must be turned out again in the opposite direction.
Preparing stuffing for stuffing
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 a second time, fried onions and carrots are added to it, as well as a raw egg, salt and pepper to taste.
If the filling seems not enough, you can add a couple of slices of bread soaked in milk to the minced meat. It must 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 the golden mean in which the fish will look as appetizing as possible. To do this, it is important to put so much minced meat so that the skin does not burst during cooking and does not hang down, which happens when there is too little filling.
If cuts are formed during skin removal, they must be sewn up with threads, otherwise the minced meat will come out. Before sending the dish to 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.
Pike, along with carp, is a freshwater fish. It is valued for its incredibly tasty meat. Some people refuse to cook it due to lack of skinning skills and do not know how to butcher a pike. It is especially important not to damage the entire roast carcass. There are available and simple ways butchering freshwater fish that does not require much time and effort.
Cleaning and cutting pike carcasses
The pike has rather dense and hard scales, which can be quite difficult to clean in the usual way. In order not to damage the fish, it is important to know how to skin a pike. To remove the scales from the fish, you will need a sharp knife and a place for cutting, which can be used as a deep washing sink.
After removing the scales, wash the fish and dry it with paper towels. After that, you can start removing the insides. At the beginning of this procedure, an incision is made starting from the bones behind the gills on the left side of the head to the spine. The incision should be made carefully so as not to damage the gallbladder. After that, an incision is made in a horizontal direction at the anus and the intestines are removed.
Only then can the head be completely removed, especially carefully cutting it off near the gallbladder. The head is separated from the body along with the intestines. The carcass is cut along the belly, the films are removed and washed. In this state, it is ready for filleting.
The method of cutting the carcass into fillets
A special sharp knife will help to beautifully cut the carcass into fillets. It is applied to the ridge of the fish and carried along horizontally. The same action is carried out on the other side of the carcass. Divide the carcass into two halves. Backbone with leftover meat is usually used to make broth.
From the fillet parts, it remains only to remove the skin. How to remove the skin from a pike in this case, inexperienced fishing enthusiasts often do not know.
This can be done with the same knife. It is pressed very tightly against the skin and carried along the sirloin. There may be some meat left on the skin, which is quite natural.
Removing skin from fish stocking
There are several ways to remove the skin from a pike. You can find a lot of advice on this, including how to skin a pike with a stocking. For many, this method is the easiest and most convenient. This process is carried out in several stages:
In some cases, you have to butcher the fish right after catching it in nature. In this case, you can clean it in a similar way, and bake it entirely on a fire. To do this, the carcass is coated with clay and laid on coals.
Pike dishes
Fish dishes often become a decoration of the festive table. You can cook many delicious and original dishes from pike. One of these recipes is stuffed pike.
The recipe for its preparation is quite simple and you can take the most affordable products: fish (2 pieces), onions (1 piece), carrots (1 piece), white bread, chicken egg (1 piece), spices to taste. The dish is prepared in several stages:
Bake the fish in a preheated oven at 180 degrees, about 40-50 minutes. To prevent the dish from falling apart before serving, it is necessary to leave the fish on a baking sheet so that it cools naturally.
Cutlets made from the meat of this fish can be no less tasty. They are incredibly tender and delicious. For cooking, available products are taken: pike fillet (500 grams), lard (100 grams), white bread (2-3 slices), milk (100 grams), onion (1 head), egg (1 piece).
Breadcrumbs are necessary for deboning cutlets before frying. Spices are added to minced meat according to taste and desire. Sunflower oil is needed for frying. Preparation takes place in several stages:
Ready cutlets are laid out on a preheated pan. Fry them for a few minutes until golden brown. For better steaming of cutlets, you can cover the pan with a lid for a few minutes.
Compared to other inhabitants of water bodies, pike is one of the most delicious freshwater fish. To decorate the festive table, you can cook a wide variety of pike dishes.
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First, rinse the fish under cold running water and dry with paper towels. After that, the prepared pike is placed on a board (best of all, when the board is glass or ceramic, because a wooden board absorbs strongly the smells of fish and it will be very problematic to eliminate them). With the help of a sharp knife or an additional device designed for cleaning from scales, holding the fish by the tail, make translational movements and thus clean it from scales. Then, in order to properly clean the pike, you need to perform the following actions:
Either with certain kitchen scissors or some other large scissors, the fins are removed. It is necessary to remove both the lateral and caudal fins, and not leaving the fin in place, which is located on the spine of the fish.
After lifting the gill cover, you need to remove the pike gills located under it. This process takes place using a small but sharp knife. The gills are removed by detaching them from their attachment near the bone. To completely remove the gills, cut the cartilage located between the belly and fish head. Warning the housewives, you need to focus on the extremely sharp teeth of the pike, which in case of careless work on extracting the gills can cut your fingers.
In order to reliably deal with the question of how to clean a pike, you need to learn how to remove the insides without steaming the whole belly of the fish. To perform the extraction of the insides of a pike, it is necessary to cut off the head of the fish from the body in the lower part, using a fork and a spoon, remove all the insides outward. After that, you can remove the skin from the fish and divide it into fillet parts.
You can also clean the pike with a “stocking”. This is the name of the method, the description of which is given below.
With a sharp knife, make an incision near the head, without damaging the bone of the spine and without touching the insides!
As a result of how the incision will be made, break the vertebrae connecting the head of the pike.
Pull carefully, in which case all the insides will come out after the head, gently rinse the pike from the inside.
Similarly, remove the remaining fins (holes after the fins should be covered with a thread before stuffing). Thoroughly beat the pike carcass with a spatula or the side base of a knife (this is done in order to better separate the skin).
With the help of a knife, we begin to remove the skin. We pry off the incised skin with our fingers, then remove it completely. Going to the tail, cut the spine without harming the skin. Now the stocking of the skin has been removed from the pike. Remove the fillet from the backbone. Remove the gills from the pike head. Rinse carefully. The pike is ready for stuffing.
Pike fillet is considered delicious meat, from which you can cook a lot of dishes, including the most tender meatballs. But in order not to leave bones, not everyone knows. And this knowledge is necessary not only for young housewives, but also for men who understand a lot about food and cooking.
The pike differs from its counterparts in sharp teeth, which can be hurt if careless handling. But with a few simple guidelines, this can be avoided. Pike cleaning should be carried out in several stages, only with this approach you can get a high-quality cleaned fillet.
Do they clean the pike?
From pike, you can cook both delicious main courses, a quality snack, and a wonderful fish soup. Many inexperienced housewives entering into family life sometimes ask the question do you need to clean the pike to cook the ear, or is it enough to rinse and clean it from the insides?
We can say with confidence: for the preparation of any dish, it is necessary to carefully clean the pike, not only from the bones, but also from the entrails and scales. Before you start cleaning, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Tip 1. Pike should be cleaned immediately after catching or buying, otherwise, after some time it will be problematic to do this.
Tip 2. To clean the carcass, you must use sharp, large and comfortable knives so as not to get hurt, and quickly get rid of the fins, head and tail.
Tip 3. If after cleaning the fish and washing it, the river smell is not eliminated from the pike, you should squeeze out fresh lemon juice and sprinkle the carcass with it.
Tip 4. The fish should be cleaned with gloves so that the smell is not absorbed into the skin of the hands.
Tip 5. The cutting board must be wrapped with foil or film, you do not have to wash it from the fishy smell.
How to clean a pike from scales?
Before the main cleaning of the pike, it must be cleaned of scales. This can be done in two different ways:
- scrape it off with a special scraper;
- remove, together with the skin, without scraping.
Wash the carcass under running water about mucus and debris, place it on a prepared board, pick up a scraper or a sharp wide knife, and moving against the growth of the scales, gradually scrape it off. When cleaning, the fish must be firmly held by the head. First, you should clean one side, then, turning it over to the other side, proceed to the other side.
This process is best done on the balcony or in the yard to avoid long cleaning after cleaning. At the end, it is necessary to wash the carcass and proceed to further cutting.
How to clean a pike for cutlets?
After cleaning the carcass from scales, it is necessary to start cutting it into fillets. It should be noted that the pike contains many small and medium bones. Therefore, you need to know how to properly clean the pike so that the fillet does not contain bones. This must be done in several steps.
Step 1. Lay the fish on a cutting board, carefully remove the dorsal, caudal and lateral fins in turn. Holding the base of the fin. you need to cut against the natural growth of the scales.
Step 2. The next step is to rip open the belly of the pike and scrape out all the insides. Insert the tip of the knife into the area near the head and carefully cut open the abdomen. Carefully, so as not to damage the gallbladder, and prevent bile from spreading, remove the insides out. Next, you need to remove the white film to get rid of the blood.
Step 3. At the end of cleaning, cut off the head and thoroughly rinse the carcass under running water and proceed to cutting or put in the freezer.
To cut fish for cutlets, you should know how to quickly clean a pike. This method also involves separating the bones from the fillet.
Step 1. First you need to remove the skin from the cleaned carcass.
Step 2. Divide the fish in half, into two parts: one with a ridge, the other without it. With the tip of a knife, carefully separate the backbone from the meat, and remove it.
Step 3. Use tweezers or fingers to remove small bones so that they do not get stuck in the throat.
Knowing the technology of cleaning and cooking pike, it will not be difficult to prepare culinary masterpieces from it, and delight loved ones!
