How to butcher fish? How to cut fish for frying?

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

Fish is one of the most popular foods used by primitive people. It was then that the basic rules for its processing were laid. When embarking on such a process, it is necessary to clearly understand how to cut the fish in order to obtain a product suitable for further processing as a result. Subsequently, it can be used to prepare a variety of dishes.

Sequence of actions

Every housewife should know how to butcher fish, because it is one of the most valuable food products. It must be included in your daily diet. Those who do not know how to properly deal with seafood risk, as a result of inept actions, to get only a shapeless mass that can only be used in the form of minced meat. So how to butcher the fish?

In most cases, the whole process consists of several stages:

1. Removal of scales. This is done with a sharp knife or a special scraper, held in the right hand. At the same time, the left one should firmly press the head of the fish to the table. Movements start from the tail and gradually move along the carcass todirection opposite to the growth of scales.
2. Removing fins. Abdominal growths can simply be cut off with kitchen scissors. To extract the dorsal fin, you first need to make two longitudinal cuts along it.
3. Evisceration. There are two ways to act here: through the gills or the belly. The first option is used if the fish will subsequently be cooked whole. Near the gills, you need to make an incision and pull out all the contents of the abdominal cavity through it. If fillet or pieces are required, then you need to make an even cut from the anus to the head, and then carefully remove the insides.
4. Removing the film that is near the spine.
5. Sanitation. The carcass prepared for further work should be washed well under running water.

After that, the fish can be cut into pieces and cooked in any convenient way.

Features of the original product

Mistresses very rarely manage to process a fresh product. Usually, before getting on the table, he already has time to go through some preparation. Fish sold in stores can be: live, frozen or s alted. The difference between the initial states of the products significantly affects the way they are processed. Therefore, it is better to figure out in advance how to cut fish of different qualities. With a living individual, everything is clear. Working with it is described a little higher. In the case of a frozen product, you must first bring it to its normal state. That is, the fish must thaw. This is best done at room temperature. So that the surface does not dry out, the carcassyou can wrap it in paper or put it in cold water with a little s alt added to it. Warm water should not be used for such purposes. This will cause the meat to become flabby and tasteless. After thawing, the fish will return to its original state, and its cutting will be similar to the previous version. S alted fish needs to be soaked. This process is usually carried out in stages. First, you need to put a whole fish in cold water for 40 minutes. Only after that you can start processing. After that, the semi-finished products must be soaked several more times, periodically changing the water. Sometimes it takes a whole day.

Popular convenience food

Recently, fillets are used more and more often for cooking fish dishes. It's easy to get it. You just need to understand how to butcher the fish. The photo in this case is very convenient, as it helps to see with your own eyes how the product should look at each intermediate stage. First of all, the carcass must be freed from scales, scraping it off with deft movements from tail to head. Then you need to cut off the fins so that they do not interfere with further work.

The next step is to remove the insides and remove the black film inside the belly. The head can also be removed. For a fillet, it is clearly not needed. Now comes the most important moment. It is necessary, starting from the head, to make a longitudinal incision along the entire carcass so that the knife slides directly along the ridge. It turns out one piece of fillet. The remaining body must be turned over and a similar cut made so that the ridge is at the bottom. Nowready-made fillets can be washed and safely used for cooking your favorite dishes.

Working with a valuable product

Among all the variety, red fish is the most popular. It has been highly valued since ancient times for its excellent taste and special beneficial properties. Salmon and sturgeon fish that belong to this species are divided into three classes:

1. Caspian and Black Sea sturgeon (stellate sturgeon, sterlet, bester, beluga, as well as Amur, Siberian, Danube and Russian sturgeon).
2. White Sea and B altic salmon (trout, salmon, Finnish salmon and sucker), as well as Pacific specimens (pink salmon, sockeye salmon, chum salmon, sim and chinook salmon).
3. White-pink and white salmon (taimen, nelma, coho salmon and white salmon).

In order not to spoil the precious product, you must clearly understand how to properly cut red fish. It is clear that any wrong movements can completely ruin the product. Most often, such valuable meat is used in the form of a fillet.

It is boiled, s alted, smoked and even fried. And such a semi-finished product is prepared as follows:

1. First, as usual, you need to remove the scales. Sometimes fish are already sold in stores without it.
2. If there are entrails, the carcass must be gutted.
3. The remaining body is divided into four parts.
4. Now you need to remove the head by making two cuts. The first goes at an angle closer to the head and cuts the spine, and for the second, the knife turns in the opposite direction.
5. The next step is to remove the fin on the back. Bytwo cuts are made on both sides of it, and then the middle is simply squeezed out with the fingers.
6. Cut the fillet from each piece with a special thin knife.
7. Peel off the skin with gentle movements of the blade.

The remaining clean meat can be used for its intended purpose.

Preparing food for frying

For each method of cooking fish, there is a variant of its preparation. With daily use, people rarely s alt or smoke such foods. Most often they are fried or simply boiled. It is also delicious and very fast. This raises the question of how to properly cut fish for frying. Here, in principle, there are no particular difficulties. Keeping the already known sequence, you must first clean the skin from scales, if any. Then you need to cut off the head and remove all the fins. This is done if fillets are planned for frying. And so you can limit yourself to cutting large protrusions with scissors. Then you need to cut the belly and take out all the insides along with the black film that covers the internal cavity. The cleaned carcass remains only cut into pieces.

The knife must be sharp so that the meat is not crushed during processing. The thickness of each piece should be no more than two centimeters so that the product can be well-fried and not remain raw inside.

Cutting the finished product

One of the options for cooking fish is smoking. Depending on the conditions and the technology used, it can be hot or cold. Received inAs a result, the product must also be able to prepare for eating. And for this you should know how to cut smoked fish. Each method has its own subtleties.

The following processing options are used for cold smoking:

• whole fish (uncut);
• gilled;
• gutted carcass with and without head;
• sidebar;
• layer or semi-layer;
• fillet;
• back;
• tesha;
• slices;
• pieces.

For hot smoking, in addition to whole and gutted carcasses, fillets, pieces and rolls are used. After that, the prepared fish meat is supplied for further processing. Before serving, the product can be divided into portioned pieces or all the bones and skin can be removed altogether, leaving only juicy aromatic meat. Although for some people it is this process that gives great pleasure. In addition, the product may lose its presentation, which is highly undesirable.