How to skin a pike: the secrets of culinary skills

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

In order to cook a delicious pike dish, you must first properly process the carcass itself. As a rule, clean meat is used for cooking. Therefore, you need to know in advance how to remove the skin from a pike. This is a hard and labor intensive business. Here, every hostess has her own secrets.

How to get a clean filet

Pike is a predatory freshwater fish that lives in the river and sea basins of the northern hemisphere. Its meat contains a huge amount of vitamins and various minerals that have a beneficial effect on the human body. The fillet of this fish is most often used in cooking. Therefore, every housewife should know how to remove the skin from a pike. This can be done in different ways. Everything will depend on what specific dish is planned to be prepared from it. Before you figure out how to skin a pike, a fresh carcass must first be prepared. To do this, you need it:

• carefully rinse from mucus and other contaminants;
• remove scales;
• remove the head andcut gills;
• gut, removing all the insides;
• treat the carcass again under running water.

Only after that you can start the main work. Before you remove the skin from the pike, you need to do a few mandatory steps:

1. Carefully cut off the fins on the belly.
2. Using a thin and sharp knife, make an incision at the head to the ridge. It is necessary to ensure that the hole does not turn out through.
3. Turning the blade 90 degrees, slide it along the entire ridge to the very tail, thereby separating the fillet from the bone.
4. Do the same on the other side.
5. Now, in the same way, you need to cut clean meat, pressing the knife close to the skin. You must act slowly. Otherwise, you can leave a part of the skin on the fillet, which will then be much more difficult to remove.

The result is pure meat. And after that, the skin can simply be thrown away.

Valuable semi-finished product

Experts say that fish skin is a fairly durable and wear-resistant product. Some peoples of the North even use it to make clothes. In cooking, this property has also found its application. Sometimes the skin is used as a baking sleeve. To do this, it must remain intact and intact. In this case, you will need to master the technique of how to remove the skin from a pike with a stocking.

Here the hostess will need special skill and skill:

1. First,as usual, the carcass must be washed and cleaned of unnecessary scales.
2. Then you should make an incision along the gills, without separating the head. A novice hostess will have to try very hard here. Although for the first time, to facilitate the work, the head can be cut off.
3. Next, you need to pull out all the insides and rinse the prepared carcass well with water.
4. Now the most difficult stage begins - the separation of the skin. To make it lag behind better, lightly tap the flat part of the knife blade over the entire surface of the fish.
5. On the very edge with the tip of a knife, make small cuts deep into.
6. Pry off the edge of the skin and pull it down towards the tail. Small additional cuts can be made in areas where the meat is particularly strong.

The skin is sometimes cut off at the end. But some prefer to leave it with the tail. This will give effect to the future dish.

Features of cooking pike cutlets

They say that very tasty meatballs are obtained from pike. To be convinced of this, you must try to cook such a dish yourself. Here, the most important thing is the preparation for the work of the main component. Most often, this is pure meat with the addition of a small amount of lard. With its help, 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, cutlets become simply "rubber". How to remove the skin from a pike for cutlets? To do this, you may need a sharp knife and ordinary locksmith pliers. Having done everythingpreparatory actions, you need to grab the very edge of the pliers with sharp movements and tear off pieces of the skin with sharp movements.

After that, the fillet should be cut off from the cleaned carcass, and the bones should be set aside. They usually make a good rich ear. Those who are not used to working with such tools can do the same with their hands. True, it is not so easy to hold slippery skin with your fingers. But after a few attempts, it can be learned.

Special training

Stuffed pike is one of the most popular options for cooking this fish. How to skin a pike for stuffing?

Most often in this case they do the following:

1. First, the fish must be cleaned of scales and various growths.
2. Then it must be thoroughly washed on the outside with a brush and rinsed with water.
3. Use kitchen scissors to remove all fins (side and tail).
4. Remove the gills with a sharp knife. This must be done very carefully so as not to cut your hands on sharp pike teeth.
5. Cutting the central cartilage, separate the head. In this case, you must try not to damage the skin. She will connect the head to the rest of the carcass.
6. Extract all the insides without ripping open the belly. You can do this with a spoon or fork.
7. Applying circular incisions from the inside, gradually tighten the skin to the tail.
8. Chop the cartilage at the bottom and separate the meat along with the spine.
9. Cut fillets.

After this "bag"from the skin must be thoroughly washed from the inside, then to fill it with minced meat.