How to properly clean flounder before frying and whether it is necessary to clean it

Flounder is a fish whose habitat is the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It has an unusual body shape, which is directly related to the peculiarities of its residence at the very bottom.

Flounder meat has a sweetish taste and delicate texture. It is easy to prepare, which allows you to regularly delight your loved ones with delicious and healthy dishes created on its basis.

Experienced chefs advise using the following cooking methods:

frying in a pan or grill;
stewing;
pickling;
baking.

It is not recommended to cook fish soup and soups from flounder meat, because it has a specific aroma that not everyone will like. To give the right shade of fishy taste, it is recommended to serve flounder with spicy sauces and side dishes in the form of mushrooms, rice and potatoes.

You cannot cook flounder over high heat, otherwise the meat will quickly boil, turning into porridge.

In what form is it better to buy flounder?

The stores offer a large selection of flounder; it is sold in the following forms:

fresh;
frozen;
smoked;
cooled.

It is preferable to purchase recently caught fish, which is properly cooled; it retains a large number of useful properties. If it is not available, you should prefer a fresh frozen specimen.

It is very important that the selected carcass is free of stains or damage of various types, as well as thick glazing with ice (this indicates repeated freezing).

How to properly clean flounder

Kitchen appliances and equipment: 3 bowls; frying pan; kitchen scissors; kitchen board; paper towels; knife.

Ingredients

Flounder (large)	1 PC.
Flour	50 g
Lemon	1/2 pcs.
Breadcrumbs	50 g
Egg	1 PC.
Salt	taste
Pepper	taste
Vegetable oil	50 ml

Tips for choosing ingredients

Fresh flounder should have clear, bright eyes and pink gills. The consistency of the fish is elastic; when pressed with your fingers, it immediately returns to its shape. Unfortunately, such flounder is very rarely found on sale; it is mainly sold frozen.
When buying frozen fish, be sure to pay attention to its shelf life - it should not be more than three months. Choose carcasses that are shiny, without white spots and large ice crystals. Pierce the frozen fish with a thin knife heated over the fire - there should be no unpleasant odor.

Step-by-step preparation

Cleaning the fish

Defrost frozen flounder outdoors or in the refrigerator. Under no circumstances should you put it in hot water to speed up the defrosting process, as this will cause the fish to lose most of its nutrients.
Cut off the lower fin with scissors. In this case, you can slightly grab soft tissue. We also cut off the dorsal fin.
Using a sharp knife, cut off the head of the flounder, making a V-shaped cut, and remove it along with the entrails.
Using tongs, grab the skin of the flounder in the head area and, using a knife, peel it off. To make it easier to do this, we cut the skin with scissors in several places.
Turn the flounder over and remove the skin from the abdominal part. We trim the tail, as well as the bottom of the fish (without meat), with kitchen scissors. Using a knife, remove the remaining entrails.
Dry the fish with a paper towel. There is no need to wash it.

Cleaning Tips

To defrost fish faster, place it in a tight bag, tie it and place it in a bowl of cold water.
When removing the skin, do not pull it too hard so that it comes off along with the meat.
It is very important to remove the insides of the fish carefully so as not to crush the gall bladder, because in this case the fish will taste bitter after cooking. If this does happen, wash the area of the bile spill with cold water, rub with salt and leave for 10-15 minutes. After this, rinse off the salt and cook as usual.
You can cut the flounder into clean fillets (without skin and bones); to do this, after removing the skin and cutting off the fins, you need to carefully cut the flesh from the central bone with a sharp knife.
If you have flounder with yellow stripes, then the skin of such fish does not need to be removed. It is enough to clean the small scales on its skin and cut off the fins.

Frying fish

Cut the flounder diagonally into long but narrow pieces. This form of cutting contributes to its excellent frying.
Place the chopped fish on a plate along with the caviar. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with lemon juice and leave to marinate for 20-30 minutes.
Break the egg into a bowl, add salt and beat it with a fork.
Read also: How to cook fish in dough: the most delicious recipes
Bread the fish pieces in flour.
Breaded in egg and breadcrumbs.
Fry the flounder in a heated frying pan with vegetable oil on both sides until golden brown.

Serving the dish

We serve the finished fish with a side dish of cereals or pasta; you can also steam or bake vegetables with it. Fried flounder goes well with fresh vegetables, as well as with various salads. Prepare a mayonnaise-based sauce for it - with garlic or pickled cucumbers. No gourmet can resist this combination!

Recipe video

In this video you will learn how to clean flounder before frying and how to properly bread it. I invite you to watch!

Removing the skin from flounder

In order to prevent the appearance of iodine odor during the cooking process of flounder, it is important to properly remove the skin from it. The process looks like this step by step:

Turn the fish with its tail towards you so that the dark part is at the top.
Make a horizontal cut, starting from the tail line around the entire carcass, under the skin.
Place the tip of the knife under the skin and use gentle movements to separate it from the flesh.
Insert your thumb into the space between the flesh and the skin and slowly peel away the latter.
Continue the impact while holding the individual by the tail.
After removing all the skin, rinse the meat under running water.

How to properly gut and cut flounder?

Flounder is not like all other fish due to the structural features of its body. Its internal organs are located under the gills.

First you need to remove the fin from the back using sharp scissors.
Then, on both sides of the head, you need to make an incision similar to the letter V.
Gently pull the head, and the gills and giblets will be removed.
Afterwards you need to remove the remains and rinse the fish thoroughly under running water.

How to clean a whole fish by removing the head

On supermarket shelves you can often find already prepared carcasses that do not have scales, heads or entrails. It is easier to work with such fish, but it also costs more. In addition, its freshness is quite difficult to assess. It is much safer to purchase a whole flounder and independently prepare it for further heat treatment.

To clean the fish yourself and remove its head:

wash the flounder;
put it with the dark part up;
use special scissors to remove the fins and tail;
remove the spines from the fish;
make a V-shaped cut on both sides of the head;
separate the head along with the entrails connected to it;
act carefully so as not to cut the gallbladder (its contents will irrevocably spoil the taste of the future dish).

How to scale and remove skin from flounder

In the process of preparing flounder, the most labor-intensive is the preparatory stage - that is, its cleaning and cutting.

Fish scales can be cleaned quite easily with a regular knife or scraper. To make cleaning the flounder easier, you can pour boiling water over it, after which the scales will come off easier.

To prevent your hands from slipping on the mucus, you need to rub the fish with salt and then rinse thoroughly with water.

When cleaning flounder, follow these guidelines:

So that you don’t have to collect scales all over the kitchen later, clean the fish in a deep container.
Clean the dark side of the flounder first.
Hold the head of the fish with your hand and carefully clean off the scales.
Then start cleaning the other, light side.
After cleaning, rinse the fish with running water.

After scraping off the scales, we cut off the fins.
But most often the skin from the flounder is removed along with the scales:

Cut off the head of the fish. You should try to do this by capturing the insides located close to the head. They need to be carefully removed, and the fish should be washed thoroughly afterwards.
Cut off the fins and tail with scissors.
We cut the skin along the edges, along the entire carcass, and at the tail, so that it is easier to separate it later.
We pry the skin off the tail with a knife and slowly remove it, separating it from the meat.
Turn the fish over to the other side and do the same.

Most often, the skin and scales are removed from the flounder.

Video: how to skin flounder

Cleaning and cutting fresh flounder

To easily and correctly cut fresh flounder, it makes sense to purchase a large carcass.

Thaw the carcass (if necessary).
Rinse the fish.
Cut the belly in the area of the right fin and remove all the contents.
Rinse the carcass under cool running water.
Cut off the fins and head using scissors.
Separate the skin using an incision made along the central part of the back.
Remove the skin by prying it off with a sharp knife on both sides.
Cut down the middle of the back.
Lift the fillet and remove it from the bones (ribs and backbone).

How to clean flounder - filleting

In most cases, the carcass is first filleted and then cooked. This cutting option involves cooking flounder in small pieces.

Dry the washed fish with paper towels. Use a knife to cut off the fins. If there are any gills left, remove them.

Advice. Use a thinning knife that is sharp. It will make cutting meat much more convenient for you.

Make a cut across the caudal fin. At the same time, do not cut it off completely, but only cut it to the ridge.

Insert the knife under the skin and move it towards the head as shown in the picture. Try to move the knife along the spine so as not to damage the meat.

Gradually begin to separate the meat from the skeleton. Start cutting it from where you inserted the knife.

Hold the top of the fish with one hand and cut the fillet with the other. Move towards the head. It is important not to rush, otherwise you may tear the meat.

Cut the fillet from the head and trim around the stomach. This is what you should get.

Turn the fish over to the light side, and repeat all previous filleting steps.

The second part of the meat will contain the fins and their muscles. Trim the edges; they are unsuitable for cooking.

If you want to cook flounder without skin, then it must be removed. Place the fillet on a table or cutting board, meat side up. Lightly pry the skin with a knife, position it perpendicular to the fillet and move towards the head. Hold the meat with your other hand.

You can cut the finished fillet into pieces or cook it whole.

Cleaning frozen fish

Cleaning frozen carcasses has some features:

remove the flounder from the freezer and leave it in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours to defrost gradually;
rinse in cold water (no need to remove scales);
carefully, so as not to damage the soft tissues, cut off the fins;
cut off the head and remove the entrails;
use a knife to pry the skin and pull it towards you (it can be removed from a frozen carcass without any problems).

Cut the fish into pieces, separate from the bones or leave whole, depending on the type of further cooking you choose.

Fish cutting

In stores you can easily find already cleaned and cut up flounder, which you can immediately cook without any tricks. However, in this case, you will not be able to fully control the freshness of the product, and the cost of the cut carcass will be higher.

I myself believed that cutting and cleaning this delicacy was a long and difficult task, so buying a ready-made product seemed more logical. In fact, there is nothing difficult in cutting fresh fish, so there is no point in depriving yourself of the pleasure of eating it.

Fresh fish

Here are step-by-step instructions for the cutting procedure.

Before cutting, rinse the flounder thoroughly with tap water. Place it on a special cutting board with the dark side up. Using scissors, cut off the tail and fins, and remove the spines if there are any.

Make a V-shaped cut on both sides of the head.

Separate the head from the body. Carefully remove the internal organs from the resulting hole.

Make a cut along the center of the back and separate the skin from the meat by prying it up with a knife.

Attention! During gutting, be careful not to puncture the gall bladder and thereby spoil the taste of the dish.

Next, you can cook the fish whole without deboning it, or remove the fillet with a knife and cut it into pieces.

Frozen fish

Cutting a frozen carcass is no different from working with a freshly caught one, except for one thing: before cutting the fish, it must be thawed. To do this, just transfer the flounder from the freezer to the refrigerator for 3-4 hours, and then let it lie for half an hour at room temperature and rinse thoroughly in running water.

I advise you to watch a visual video with step-by-step cutting.

Preparing fillets for frying

For frying, it is preferable to take flounder fillet, so the fish will cook quickly and efficiently. To get even fillet pieces, choose a medium or large size in the store.

Making fillet is easy:

cut the fish, removing fins, scales and skin;
remove the head and remove the entrails;
on the dark side of the fish, make a longitudinal cut in the direction from the tail to the head;
cut the fish on the sides, using a knife blade to reach the bones;
insert the knife into the cut made and, using short movements, separate the flesh, sliding over the bones (lift the separated pieces of meat with your hand);
turn the flounder over to the light side and repeat the manipulations.

How to cut?

Cutting fish seems like a long process; filleting the carcass into portioned steaks takes only a few minutes. Most of the fillets can be baked in the oven. Let's look at a detailed step-by-step algorithm: how to cut flounder into clean fillets.

Rinse the gutted fish in cold water and dry with a towel;

Use a thinning knife to make a cut across the tail;

run the knife under the skin of the fish and move it towards the flounder’s head along the ridge;

Gradually, with these movements, separate the meat from the skin;

in the head area, separate the meat from it and trim around the abdominal cavity;

place the fish on the light part, repeat the procedure;

To remove the skin, you need to pry the skin with the tip of a knife, hold the skin with one hand, and remove the skin with the other;

Before frying the fish, the head, tail and side fins are usually removed; the flounder carcass retains its skin. The body can be divided into two halves and the vertebral bones removed.

Making diagonal cuts on the skin will speed up the cooking process.

Features of cleaning before baking

Flounder scales are designed to protect the fish’s body from other inhabitants of the seabed. Before cooking fish, you should either remove the skin or remove the scales.

Any method of preparing fish requires removing the protective layer of flounder so that the finished dish does not have an unpleasant odor. Before baking fish, you should clean it in sequence:

Rinse the specimen under running water.
Remove a layer of scales from the skin. Cut off the head of the fish, making side cuts in the neck area. At the same time, remove the insides.
Trim the fins off the flounder.

The carcass is ready for baking; now it can be cooked as is or skinned and cut into fillets.

Step-by-step cutting

The taste of the dish directly depends on how to properly clean the flounder.

To begin, the fish must be rinsed in cold water and placed on a cutting board, dark side up;
Scrape off the scales a little, moving slowly from the tail to the head;
Using kitchen scissors, cut off the upper and lower fins, as well as the tail;
An arched incision must be made along the head and removed along with the giblets;
Clean thoroughly under running water;
The last step is to remove the skin. See below for a detailed analysis.

In this form, the cutting can be considered complete, and the carcass is ready for cooking.