Tench fish: description, recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Some of the most delicious fish dishes are made from tench. Tench fish is quite capricious in processing, it requires a lot of attention for cleaning and gutting. But ready-made dishes from it are compared with tender chicken meat. This fish is suitable for baking, cooking (including steaming), frying and even stuffing. So, today we will tell you how to properly clean and cook tench.

Description

The tench fish lives in fresh water, likes to burrow into mud and silt, where it finds food. It spends the winter there. The way of life is very similar to crucian carp. Carcasses grow slowly, they are inactive, mainly adhere to the zone near the coast. It is quite difficult to meet tench in the river, he does not like the active flow of water. As a rule, it is found in ponds, reservoirs or lakes, where there are overgrown areas of algae, reeds and other marsh vegetation. But not because of this way of life the name "lin" appeared. And because of the ability to shed when exposed to air: the fish changes color to dark in full color or partially in the form of single spots.

Golden Tench

It is interesting that there is a species that belongs to ornamental fish - golden tench. It is bright yellow in color, as if covered with gold. But such fish is not found in simple reservoirs, it is bred artificially and is not adapted to the external habitat. Weight reaches up to 7.5 kg.

The entire surface of the scales is covered with mucus, which is produced constantly. Fish can survive in water with low oxygen levels and even heavily polluted areas. The best environment for tench is acidified water.

Initial preparation

Almost every angler or cook knows how to clean tench fish. But, if you have never encountered this fish, it is difficult to immediately navigate. After all, dense scales and a lot of mucus are often found on its surface. How to get rid of it?

There are several ways:

• use a sharp chef's knife - under a stream of cool water, clean off the mucus with a knife from top to bottom;
• arrange a contrast shower of hot and cold water for the carcass - under such pressure, the mucus will begin to curl up and come off in parts.

Ling is a river fish, so small specimens have a lot of bones. They are cooked whole or used to create minced meat.

Then the skin is removed if a clean, boneless fillet is to be cut. But if steaks are needed, the skin is left. When frying or baking, the scales grab together and form a dense crispy crust.

The head, the insides of the peritoneum and fins must be removed when cutting. For small fish, you can use kitchenscissors instead of a knife.

Should I use marinade?

Ling is a tasty fish when cooked right. Since its meat has a characteristic smell of silt due to the habit of this fish to burrow into it in search of food. To eliminate such an aroma, marinades are used or the carcass is simply soaked in s alt water for about one hour. You can add a little acetic acid or freshly squeezed lemon juice.

For the same purpose, take citrus juice or spices when marinating pieces or whole carcasses.

But you can go the other way. Put the still live fish into a large cup of water or a poured bath. Tench will swim there for about 10-12 hours and naturally clean or filter their meat through their gills.

Options for fish marinades

Slightly sweet marinades with added sugar or natural bee honey are ideal for tench. But there are other options as well. So, these are the mixtures used for tench:

• lemon juice, sugar, s alt, ground pepper (juice can be taken from any citrus fruit to taste - orange, lime, kumquat, grapefruit);
• onion, mayonnaise sauce, garlic puree, sunflower oil, ground pepper - ideal if tench fish in the oven (in food foil) is cooked or grilled;
• sunflower or olive oil and a couple of pinches of spices for fish;
• vegetables chopped in a blender (necessarily with the presence of onions and garlic) with a quarter teaspoon of table vinegar 6%, apple or wine.

Spices and seasonings

Spices and seasonings for tench are those that are most often used for fish dishes. But keep in mind that the same flavor additive affects different fish in different ways. As a rule, when cooking they use:

• citrus juice or zest;
• white parsley roots, celery;
• fennel, cumin or dill seeds;
• rosemary;
• basil;
• marjoram;
• ground pepper (any - one type or mixture);
• sage;
• garlic and onion (fresh or dried);
• nutmeg.

For one dish, take a couple of three types of spices or seasonings, you should not overdo it.

In addition to natural spices, you can buy a mix "For fish" in the store in advance. Then you will definitely be sure that the flavors are used for their intended purpose.

Breading options

If you decide to bake fish in the oven or on the grill, then breading is not needed. And when frying in the usual way in a pan, it must be used. Select the following types:

• wheat flour only;
• a mixture of flour and s alt;
• a mixture of flour and sesame seeds.

All in the same wheat flour for a change, a small crumb of ground nuts is added.

Breading with additions is used when preparing tench steaks or fillets. When cooking a whole carcass of a small size, one flour will do.

Recipe for fried tench in a pan

To prepare this dish youyou will need the following products:

• tench carcass - 1 pc. (weighing about 300-500g);
• coarse s alt - a couple of pinches;
• lemon - 1 piece;
• ground pepper - a pinch;
• sunflower oil - 2 tbsp. l.;
• wheat flour - 2 tbsp. l.

How to cook tench fish? First, free his carcass from the mucus. Use the method of contrasting douches. Then cut open the belly and carefully pull out the insides. All actions must be performed carefully so as not to damage the gallbladder, otherwise the whole flesh of the fish will acquire a bitter taste. It won't be possible to fix it. Then cut off the head and remove the fins. Use a stable, non-slippery surface for cutting.

Further, rinse the carcass under running cold water to wash away dirt and traces of blood.

Prepare a container of 2-3 liters and immerse the carcass there. To it, squeeze the juice of half a lemon and pour water. Leave the line like this for a couple of hours.

After the specified time, drain the water, and rinse the carcass again under the tap with cool water. Put back into the bowl and add s alt, ground pepper and the juice of the second half of the lemon (about 30 ml). Rub the carcass with this mixture on all sides and leave for 40-50 minutes. Cover the bowl with a lid or plate for this period.

Now about the heat treatment. How to fry tench fish? On moderate heat without temperature jumps. Turn on the fire and put the pan with oil to heat up.

Bread the fish in flour on all sides. Put the carcass on a hot surface and do nottouch until a crispy crust appears on the bottom. Then turn over and turn off the heat. Close the lid and leave for a couple of minutes.

So fry the fish until done. The smaller the tench, the faster it will cook.

Baked fish in the oven with mushrooms

Bake tench fish. The description of the primary processing does not differ from the recipe for frying described above. Therefore, we will omit it in the story of the cooking process. We only note that the carcass has a head, and the gills are cut out with kitchen scissors.

Mushrooms for the recipe, choose as you wish - fresh or pickled.

You will need the following items:

• tench fish - 1-2 pieces;
• lemon - 1 piece;
• s alt - to taste;
• ground pepper or sweet paprika - a couple of pinches;
• fresh parsley - medium bunch;
• mushrooms - 200 g;
• cranberries - 10-15 pcs;
• honey - 1/3 tsp;
• breadcrumbs - 2 tbsp. l.;
• sunflower oil - 2 tbsp. l.

To prepare this dish, you need to follow the following procedure:

1. First, the initial preparation of the fish follows, then it is kept with the juice of half a lemon and washed.
2. To marinate fish, mix 2-3 tbsp. l. freshly squeezed lemon juice, ground pepper and s alt. Rub the line by hand and leave for half an hour.
3. Rinse the mushrooms well and cut into halves. If the mushrooms are small, leave them whole.
4. Marinatedbread the fish in breadcrumbs and place on a baking sheet. Cover it with a thick layer of food foil and grease with sunflower oil. Lay the mushrooms next to the fish. Cover the top with foil to prevent hot steam from escaping. You can put a little water between the foil and the sides of the pan to make the dish steam-cooked.
5. Place in the oven at 180°C for 40 minutes.
6. In the meantime, rinse and dry the greens. Shred.
7. Rinse the cranberries and put them together with honey in a small saucepan over moderate heat. It should caramelize a little. Stir the mixture so that it does not burn.
8. Put the finished fish on a dish, decorate with lemon slices, mushrooms, fresh herbs and cranberries.

Choose spicy greens for the recipe according to your preferences and taste guidelines. Instead of parsley, you can make a green salad of lettuce leaves, watercress and fresh tarragon for a side dish.

Ling in batter

For cooking, you need to take the following products:

• tench fish - 1 piece;
• Apple cider vinegar - 2 tbsp. l.;
• s alt - a couple of pinches;
• egg - 1 pc. (or just the yolk);
• wheat flour - 3 tbsp. l.;
• mayonnaise - 2 tbsp. l.;
• sunflower oil - 2-3 tbsp. l.

Follow the following cooking instructions:

1. For a battered tench fish recipe, you will have to cut it into a clean fillet. First, gut it and cut off the head. Soak in water with 1 tbsp. l. apple cider vinegar. Rinse the carcass and place on a cutting boardboard. Hold the tail and insert a knife under the skin and flesh. Lead them along the spine and cut the fillet with skin and costal bones. Flip the tench and do the same with the second fillet.
2. Remove the skin and cut the rib bones from both fillets.
3. Cut and marinate the pieces in the remaining apple cider vinegar and s alt.
4. Prepare the batter. In a bowl, mix mayonnaise, flour, egg and some s alt. Dip the pieces of fish in it and stir.
5. Heat a frying pan well with oil and lay out the pieces. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Turn over periodically - 2-3 times. The frying time for such small pieces is short - 3-4 minutes on each side over moderate heat.

The same recipe is suitable for battered fish steaks.

Batter options

For fish, you can choose another batter if you wish. Add additional ingredients to it, including spices, seasonings, herbs or something else. Batter options for fish dishes:

• cheese - grated cheese, egg, sour cream, flour, s alt, spices;
• beer - beer (preferably light), flour, s alt, egg yolks (the same batter is cooked on table white wine instead of beer);
• on the water - mineral water, flour, egg, s alt;
• with herbs - chopped spicy herbs (or dried), mayonnaise, egg, flour, s alt, spices;
• garlic - fresh garlic puree, mayonnaise, egg, breadcrumbs;
• saffron - natural Imeretian saffron or turmeric, water for seasoning infusion, s alt, sour cream, flour, egg yolks.

The mixture should bethick enough to completely envelop the pieces of product.

This is how tench fish is prepared. The recipes are not complicated, but it takes a lot of time for pre-processing and marinating.