Semi-finished products from fish: types and composition. Storage of semi-finished fish products

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

Currently, modern technological processes and food production industries make life much easier for cooks and housewives. The time spent on cooking should be minimal, and the taste of the dish should be perfect. Isn't that the same principle you follow when preparing your own dinner?

Semi-finished products are food products that make cooking much easier for us, making the process simpler and faster in time. Today we will talk about semi-finished fish products.

They are one of the most sought after product groups by buyers. How are they produced, how should they be stored properly, and what can be prepared from such semi-finished products in your kitchen? Let's figure it out.

Fish semi-finished products

Any semi-finished fish product is a culinary "product" that is at the stage of intermediate readiness. Semi-finished fish products are mainly carcasses cut in a special way, devoid of bones and inedible parts. Also tosemi-finished fish products include cutlet and knel mass, small-sized and portioned products.

Simple and complex semi-finished fish products can be combined into one huge list. The main demand, of course, is fish, devoid of bones and divided into fillets, which are convenient to cook. Cutlets, dumplings, minced fish, zrazy, etc. are in great demand by culinary specialists.

Key features

As you know, any food product has its own culinary advantages and disadvantages, production technological pros and cons. The same applies to semi-finished products.

• Plus for producers - such products will always be in great food demand.
• Cooking complex semi-finished products from fish or meat significantly reduces the total cooking time, which is a big plus for busy housewives.
• Convenience foods are always available regardless of the season.
• Culinary trends also have no effect on such products.
• For producers, a great advantage of these products is that they are free to choose: to create an assortment of semi-finished fish products of a complex or simpler type at the production site. Each manufacturer can choose for himself a technological process that will only bring profit.

Defrosting fish

Fish to be used later for cookingsemi-finished products, subjected to mechanical processing. For production, frozen fish is most often used. Before proceeding with processing, it must be thawed. This is done in two ways. First, the fish can be defrosted in the air. Secondly, in special voluminous water baths.

As a rule, air defrosting is used for fish in large briquettes. It is placed in the air, covered with a special protective film in order to reduce the amount of evaporation and juice flowing out. The use of plastic film helps to avoid weight loss, which will certainly accompany the process with this type of defrosting of fish.

Water is usually used to defrost individual fish carcasses. The fish is placed on special metal lattices in the form of baskets. The incoming water washes the carcasses, helping to defrost them, and then flows into the sewer pipe. The duration of the defrosting process will depend on the amount of fish (in kg). Temperature measurements are taken several times during the entire process. As soon as it is about -1 degrees, the carcass is defrosted - you can proceed to further work with it.

If we compare the two methods, then the second one is used by manufacturers much more often. First, the maximum possible amount of nutrients remains in the fish. Secondly, the process takes less time. And thirdly, when defrosting in air, the product loses up to ten percent of its mass, which does not happen in the case of water.

Schemeprocessing

After the fish is defrosted, it is cleaned of scales, fins are removed, the head is separated and all the insides are removed. As soon as all these important measures are completed, the fish carcasses are washed under running water and placed on special grids. In production, careful processing of fish is very important. Cooking semi-finished products in this case is much easier, faster and better.

Types of semi-finished products

Depending on how semi-finished fish products will be used, they can all be divided into several groups.

• For cooking. Whole fish or individual links (pieces) are used. Portion pieces for cooking can be with or without bones. To prevent deformation during cooking, each fish piece is pierced or cut in several places.
• For poaching. As a rule, this method of cooking fish is most often used for big holidays and gala banquets. The fish is poached (warmed up) in water or in sauce. Here, semi-finished fish products are used in the form of a whole carcass or individual pieces without skin and bones. Small incisions are also made on the skin.
• For frying. This is the main preparation of semi-finished fish. Links, whole fish, portioned pieces, boneless and skinless fillets can be used here.
• Also, s alted fish, as well as separately marinated pieces, can also be classified as semi-finished fish.

Breading

Preparation of semi-finished fish products using breading guarantees not only a golden crust and a pleasant crispytaste, but also the maximum preservation of all useful substances and juices.

The type of fish breading will directly depend on the type of frying. The most commonly used flour breading. For this, flour of the highest grade is used, most often wheat. There is also red and white breading. Red is dried wheat bread, ground to a dry mass. White is black, as a rule, already stale bread, ground with a sieve to the state of crushed peas.

There are also special preparations of semi-finished products from meat and fish. Signature dishes are semi-finished products that are breaded with crushed almonds, corn flakes and coconut flakes. In order for the breading to have a better grip with the product, the fish is first dipped in the egg mixture. Eggs can be mixed with milk, water or pure.

Types of breading semi-finished products

Types of semi-finished fish products may differ not only in the processing method, but also in the breading method. There is a simple and double breading method.

Simple breading is most often used for regular frying, which is subjected to semi-finished fish products. Portioned pieces or a whole carcass of fish are seasoned with s alt, ground pepper is added, rolled in flour or a breadcrumbs mixture. If a large batch of semi-finished products is being prepared, then the flour is mixed with s alt and the pieces are immediately rolled in such a mixture that the salinity is uniform.

Double breading is used in cases where further deep-frying will occur. Here, howas a rule, two types of breading and egg composition are used. First, the pieces are rolled in flour, then dipped in the egg mixture, and then rolled a second time in red or white breading.

Frying semi-finished products

In addition to those intended for regular frying, there are semi-finished products for deep-frying, on a grill, on a skewer, etc.

Fish for grilling (on the grill), as a rule, is taken whole. Also used portioned pieces, free from bones and skins. Previously, the pieces can be marinated in lemon juice with the addition of spices, s alt, red or black ground pepper, herbs.

Skewer-frying semi-finished fish products are links of sturgeon and other valuable fish species. Portioned slices are cut (in order to preserve juiciness after cooking), s alted, peppered, spices and dried herbs are added. In some cases, marinate. Then put on skewers.

Quelles and cutlets

Knel and cutlet mass also belongs to fish semi-finished products. Most often, fish is used for cooking, which contains a minimum amount of bones. It can be grayling and pike, pike perch and pink salmon, silver hake or catfish. To begin with, the fish is processed, the fillet is separated and the mass is already prepared from it for making cutlets or dumplings.

Cutlet mass can be used both for the preparation of semi-finished fish products, and immediately packaged for sale. In the cutlet mass, products such as milk, chicken egg, wheatbread.

What can be cooked from it

• Cutlets.
• Zrazy.
• Meatballs.
• Fish rolls.
• Bitochki.
• Fish bread.
• Body.

Knel mass differs from cutlet mass in that during its preparation a looser and more delicate structure is achieved. Fish for this type of semi-finished product is passed through a special very fine grate in a meat grinder. Bread soaked in milk and a raw chicken egg are also added. More expensive versions of quenelles use high quality cream instead of milk.

The most popular types of semi-finished fish

Fish semi-finished products are a very popular product in the modern grocery market. Since fish contains a large amount of substances useful for our body, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, etc., it will never be left out of the kitchen.

Particularly popular are:

• Even neat pieces of deboned fish or fish fillets.
• Special cutting of fish - gutted, boneless, skin, head and viscera carcass.
• Crushed fish meat (cutlet semi-finished products).
• Semi-finished molded product. This includes not only cutlets, zrazy and meatballs, but also fish sticks.
• And, of course, everyone's favorite and most often used steaks for picnics and holidays in nature. These are pieces of fish, having a thickness of one to three centimeters. They are very convenient for grilling.

Storage of semi-finished fish

Many housewives are interested in such a question as the storage of semi-finished fish products. It seems to most that fish can be stored in the freezer for any number of hours, days, months. Of course, no one argues that semi-finished fish products will not deteriorate in any way, because they are covered with a thick layer of ice. But it should be understood that such a long freezing will only lead to the fact that you will eat a completely bland and vitamin-free product.

The longest shelf life of fish products in the freezer is six months. Moreover, fish fillets can be stored there only from three to four months, minced fish and even less - from two to three months. Fish dumplings have the shortest shelf life - one month.

A whole fish carcass, head and entrails removed, will keep for five to six months. If you store semi-finished fish at a temperature of 0 degrees, then the shelf life will be only 24 hours. But remember: the faster you eat a fresh fish product, the tastier and he althier it will be.

Tip 1: if you want to slightly extend the shelf life of semi-finished fish, then you can s alt them a little before sending them to the freezer. Just keep this in mind when you start cooking them. The second time you do not need to s alt the dish.

Tip 2: As soon as you bring the fish product home, immediately get rid of the layer of plastic wrap in which it is packaged. Under such "armor" semi-finished productsthey are perfectly transported, but they are completely deprived of air access. Long-term storage in a plastic bag is also not recommended. It is better to purchase special "breathable" containers and place the fish in them, and then send it to the refrigerator or freezer for storage.