How to peel pike for minced meat. How to fillet pike quickly and correctly. Skin Removal Technology

Useful properties of pike

Pike is a freshwater fish from the pike family. It grows up to 150 cm in length, its weight is from 2 to 35 kg. It is valued for its satiety and low calorie content. It is best to choose fish weighing 2–2.5 kg for the table, as its meat is tender and juicy.
The most popular dish is stuffed pike.

This fish has many beneficial properties.

1. It has low calorie content: 100 g of meat contains only 84 calories and up to 3% fat.
2. Is a natural antiseptic. Natural antiseptics are much healthier than chemical ones, as they help cope with various infectious diseases and strengthen the immune system.
3. Contains many vitamins, macro- and microelements.

Pike is a healthy and tasty fish that is available to everyone

Content of vitamins, macro- and microelements in 100 g of pike meat - table

Pike recipes

Pike has been valued for its nutritional value since ancient times, and dishes made from it were a real decoration for any celebration. Currently, many recipes for its preparation are known. It is not only fried, but also baked whole, and also stuffed with various cereals, which turns out tasty and nutritious.

Stuffed pike

Pike is prepared quite simply, but for this you need to stock up on additional ingredients. For example:

• Pike – 2 carcasses.
• One onion.
• One carrot.
• Loaf.
• One egg.
• Dill.
• Salt.
• Pepper.
• Olive oil.

Cooking technology:

1. The fish is cleaned of scales and entrails. In this case, you should cut off the head and get rid of the gills, after which the fish is thoroughly washed. After this, the pike is skinned using a “stocking”, with the tail and fins removed.
2. The stuffing filling is prepared from another pike fillet. To do this, take a loaf and cut off several fragments from it and soften it in warm water. The fish fillet is ground in a meat grinder with the addition of a soaked loaf.
3. Then the onion is peeled and finely chopped. Take a carrot, peel it and rub it on a fine grater. Onions and carrots are lightly fried in olive oil, then salted and peppered.
4. All ingredients are placed in a deep bowl and mixed, with the addition of eggs and chopped dill.
5. Mix all this thoroughly and stuff the prepared carcass of another fish with it. The filling is not packed very tightly. The edges of the abdomen should be secured either with toothpicks or sewn up with simple (not artificial) thread.
6. You can bake the head of the pike along with the body, but it must also be wrapped in foil.
7. The baking dish is covered with paper, and a little oil is poured on top. The stuffed fish is placed on the paper and sprinkled with oil.
8. The fish is cooked in the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, for about 40-50 minutes.
9. After this, the oven turns off. At the same time, there is no need to rush to transfer the stuffed pike to another surface. It needs time to cool down, otherwise it will fall apart.

Pike cutlets

The most delicious recipe for tender pike cutlets. To cook, you need to prepare the following ingredients:

• 500 grams of pike meat.
• 100 grams of lard.
• 2-3 slices of white bread.
• 100 ml milk.
• One onion.
• One egg.
• Breadcrumbs.
• Greenery.
• Salt.
• Spices.
• Vegetable oil.

Technological stages of preparation:

1. Lard and fish meat (fillets) are passed through a meat grinder. The presence of lard will make the cutlets more juicy and tender. As a last resort, if there is no lard, you can add vegetable oil to the minced meat.
2. Onions and carrots can also be minced or finely chopped.
3. White bread is crushed in milk and left for a while so that the bread is saturated with milk.
4. All ingredients are placed in a deep container and mixed with the addition of eggs, salt and spices, as well as herbs. After this, everything is thoroughly mixed again, and balls are formed from the minced meat.
5. Future cutlets are sprinkled on all sides with breadcrumbs and fried on all sides until golden brown.
6. To keep the cutlets soft and juicy, it is advisable to cover the frying pan with a lid.

Pike is considered the most delicious freshwater fish, the meat of which contains quite a lot of easily digestible protein, which is so necessary for the human body. In addition to vitamins and microelements, pike is valued for its minimal amount of fat, which makes its meat dietary. Properly cooked pike is not only tasty, but also healthy, but you can cook a delicious fish soup from its head, tail and fins.

Ingredients: 1 large pike weighing 1.5-2 kg; 3 onions; 0.25 loaves of white bread; 2 eggs; 2 teaspoons ground pepper; 2 teaspoons granulated sugar; 1 teaspoon of salt (for minced meat), the rest of the salt to taste; 1 large beet; 1 large carrot

Preparation: 1. Peel the pike from scales, without gutting, cut crosswise into large pieces 4-5 cm wide.

Then remove the entrails and carefully cut out the flesh and bones, leaving the skin and a layer of subcutaneous meat intact, at least 0.5 cm, to form “rings”. Clean the head in the same way so that it looks like a cavity.

Leave the tail whole.

2. Pass the pulp through a meat grinder along with onions, bread, hard-boiled eggs; Add salt, sugar, pepper to the resulting mass and stuff the “rings” and the head with it.

Skin removal methods

The choice of skinning option depends on what kind of dish you plan to make. The simplest methods are used before preparing cutlets, fried or baked fillets.

Option 1:

1. Lightly freeze the fish by keeping it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Remove scales.

After this, the offal is taken out, the fillet parts are cut off from the spine, and small bones are pulled out with tweezers.

If you plan to bake or fry the fillet without skin, then it can be removed directly with the scales after removing the entrails and fins, after first cutting it on the back along the ridge and on the belly in the same direction.

A large carcass can be divided into parts to make it easier to remove the meat from the backbone.

Option 2:

1. Place the fish in a sink or bowl and pour boiling water over both sides.
2. Remove the scales with the blunt side of a knife (they come off easily).

Then the entrails and skin are removed, and the cut fish is used to prepare minced meat for cutlets, omelettes or meatballs. The spine, head (without gill arches), skin with remaining meat can be used to cook broth.

Recipe for the most tender pike cutlets:

1. Place 100 g of finely chopped white bread or rolls in a cup, add 100 ml of warm milk, leave for 15 minutes.
2. Peel and wash 2 onions and 2 cloves of garlic.
3. Grind 1 kg of fillet in a meat grinder.
4. Disassemble the meat grinder and remove any clogged bones.
5. Re-twist the minced fish, adding onion, garlic and soaked bread.
6. Add 2 eggs, 5 tsp. softened butter, salt and black pepper (to taste).
7. Stir the minced meat.
8. Form cutlets by dredging them in the breading mixture.
9. Fry in olive oil, turning.

You can check the degree of readiness by piercing the cutlet with a wooden toothpick: the juice that comes out should be clear. Before serving, sprinkle with finely chopped fresh dill and basil.

One of the main advantages of stuffed fish is its beautiful natural shape and juicy, aromatic filling. Therefore, for stuffing, you need to peel the skin off the pike so as not to damage it.

With the simplest method of skinning, it remains intact only on the belly. Sequencing:

1. Clean off the scales.
2. The head is cut off.
3. They take out the giblets.
4. Place the fish on the board with its back up.
5. Cut lengthwise, reaching the spine.
6. Take out the ridge and lay the carcass to the sides.
7. Remove the meat from the backbone and skin, prepare the minced meat.

The stuffing is spread on the skin, the skin is wrapped to form a carcass, sewn up on the back, and the cleaned head is attached. The fish is pierced with a needle or toothpick in several places so that it does not tear during the baking process. Cook in the oven at 180 °C for 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the fish).

The threads are removed before serving the dish.

This method is suitable for beginner cooks. To remove the skin entirely, without cuts, another technology is used, which requires skills and takes more time.

Fish stuffing process

When stuffing pike, it is important to find that golden mean that will make the fish look as appetizing as possible. To do this, it is important to put in enough minced meat so that the skin does not burst during cooking and does not hang down, which happens in cases where there is too little filling.

If cuts are formed during skin removal, they must be sewn up with thread, otherwise the minced meat will come out. Before putting the dish in the oven, the skin must be pierced in 2-3 places with a toothpick so that it does not burst. Pike is cooked for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.

Pike is a predatory fish with quite tasty meat. To cook pike, you can find a large number of different recipes, especially on the Internet.

Some of them are designed to remove the skin from the fish. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to do this quickly and correctly

This operation requires attention and caution, as there is a possibility of damage to the fish carcass.

This is especially important when the pike needs to be cooked whole

How to fillet pike without skin and bones quickly, easily and simply

An acquaintance from the local Nizhny Novgorod fish farm “Zarya” showed how to properly fillet a pike. There he separates different fish from bones and skin automatically.

What tools will be useful

In order to clean and fillet the pike you will need some kitchen tools.

a sharp knife (how to properly sharpen and straighten a knife sharper than a razor can be read here) - this is very important, kitchen scissors, a brush, gloves, a cutting board (preferably a special cutting board - for example, such as here), dishes to put, a roll of paper towels and sometimes pliers (they are needed to pick up the skin).

Freshly caught pike is best filleted quickly, simply and easily.

Cleaning and filleting pike - step-by-step process

If you want to keep the skin, then remove the scales from the fish (here are ways to get rid of scales). Or you can remove the skin at the final stage.

First of all, you need to remove the gills with scissors. Be careful with the sharp teeth of the toothy one - work with gloves.

Next, you should carefully gut the pike - remove the insides down to the black film.

We wash the fish under the tap using a brush. We collect excess moisture with paper towels.

We place the pike with its back facing away from us, make a cut to the ridge below the head and run the knife to the tail (photo at the very beginning of the post) - you get the first part of the fillet. We do the same with the other side - the second part of the fillet.

All that was left of the pike was a head with a ridge and a tail. You shouldn’t throw them away - these leftovers are “sweet” for a rich fish soup.

The following operation must be performed with each fillet: carefully remove the layer of bones and remove the skin. With a sharp knife this won't be difficult.

All! This is how we easily and quickly filleted pike in just a couple of minutes. Now all that’s left to do is cook the pike. This is another story - who likes what: cutlets (about them in my next publications), fried or in the ear.

The correct and easy way to clean, gut and cut fresh fish

If it is possible to clean the fish outside and not in the apartment, it is better to do this, because there will be no problems with cleaning the kitchen due to scales and splashes. When cleaning pike in the kitchen, you will need to perform a number of other steps, regardless of whether the pike you are using is frozen or fresh.

1. Remove all kitchen utensils from the table where you will be cutting fish, and cover the stove and furniture with plastic wrap or newspapers.
2. Empty the sink of dishes and clean it. You will need to soak and wash the pike in it. A large bowl will also work.
3. Prepare a large glass or plastic cutting board. Wooden is not suitable, as odors are absorbed into it. To prevent the kitchen board from moving on the table, you need to place a damp cloth under it.
4. It is necessary to use a pre-sharpened narrow knife or a special tool for cleaning fish.
5. To comply with safety rules, wear gloves - they will protect your hands from damage and allow you to more firmly hold slippery fish during the cleaning process.
6. Pour salt into a small box. You will need it to powder the tail. Thanks to this, it will not slip out during operation.

How to remove mucus, clean and gut fresh and live pike

When cleaning fish, you need to be careful, as you can get hurt on its teeth or gills.

1. Wash the pike well under the tap to remove mucus.
2. Fill half a sink or bowl with water and place the fish in it.
3. Pour boiling water over the carcass. Not all at once, but gradually. First, clean one side, and then the other.
4. When cleaning, hold the fish by the tail and remove the scales in the direction from the tail to the head using a knife or a special device.
5. Remove fins with scissors or a knife.
6. Cut the cartilage located between the stomach and head, make an incision on the stomach. You need to put the fish with its head towards you and use a knife to make a puncture near the head, cut the cut line all the way to the tail. The puncture should be shallow so as not to cause damage to the internal organs, otherwise the abdominal cavity will be stained with the contents of the viscera.
7. Carefully remove the giblets and remove the gills using a knife.
8. If the fish is very large, the liver can be carefully separated from the gall bladder and prepared from it into fried liver with onions and bacon, salads and other dishes.
9. As a last resort, remove the air bubble and blood clots underneath it. This is a white film that is located along the ridge.
10. Thoroughly rinse the inside and outside of the pike.

How to fillet and mince fish

Most housewives know that pike fillets make amazing minced fish for cutlets and juicy battered dishes

To make them really tasty, you should pay attention to the procedure when cutting pike into fillets.

1. Remove the head from the carcass.
2. Place the fish with its back to itself, make a neat cut along the ridge. Perform these steps several times until the cut reaches the ribs, being careful not to damage the bones of the ribs, and do not cut the fillet along with the bones.
3. Raise the knife and carefully cut the fillet from the pike ribs.
4. If necessary, remove the fin and pull out the bones using tweezers.
5. Lastly, remove the skin. The piece is placed meat side up, after which a knife is inserted between the fillet and the skin and the skin is carefully cut off at an angle. You need to hold the skin with your hands.

It’s not always possible to enjoy fresh pike, and then you have to deal with frozen fish. To properly clean it of scales and remove the skin, you will need:

• cutting board;
• forceps;
• sharp knife.

1. Use a sharp knife to cut off all the fins.
2. Make a deep cut in the head area. Then you need to cut the belly and back from head to tail.
3. Using pliers, pick up the edge of the skin and remove it from the fish.
4. Remove the head of the fish.
5. Clean out the insides.
6. Cleaned fish is cut into pieces 5 cm wide.
7. The pulp is carefully separated from the ridge.

legkovmeste.ru

Fish with a smell: how to remove the smell

Sprinkle each row generously with salt. Cover the dish with a lid. When the fish releases juice, place a weight on top and place the container in a cool place. After standing in a warm summer, the fish, although it will be well salted, will begin to emit a specific smell. If you want to avoid it when salting in a barrel, you need to cover the fish with nettles, which protects the fish from an unpleasant odor.

HERRING IN VINEGAR

Peel the herring and cut it into halves. Cut the onion into rings. Place all this in a ceramic bowl, pour in a weak solution of vinegar (1 part vinegar to 5 parts water).

FROZEN HERRING Slightly salted

Slowly defrost the herring (it sits in the refrigerator for a day and gradually defrosts), gut it, and cut off the head.

Mix salt and sugar in a 3:1 ratio. You can add to the mixture: crushed dill seeds, cumin and any other spices that suit your taste for fish.

Rub the fish with this mixture; inside you can put a bay leaf and a clove stick (not

more). Place the fish under pressure and put it in the refrigerator for a day.

Fish is a very healthy product, enriched with calcium and other microelements necessary for bone tissue, but its smell is also quite strong. Both raw and cooked fish can transfer the smell to other food products, household items, hands and clothing. Many people wonder how to get rid of this smell so that it remains only in one plate or in one dish. This is quite difficult to do, but there are still proven methods.

How to cook fish? First of all, having bought fresh fish, herring, sprat or smoked mackerel, you need to pack it in several plastic bags, and also place it in a separate bag (package). For cutting and cooking, it is recommended to use a specially designated cutting board and separate utensils. This way the smell will not spread further.

How to remove the smell from the kitchen after cooking fish? Now you need to figure out how to eliminate the smell, especially of sea fish from the kitchen and kitchen utensils. To prevent the aroma from being absorbed into carpets, towels and other things after frying, you need to pour salt into a hot frying pan, warm it up a little and leave until it cools completely. This way the smell can be eliminated to a greater extent. But after this procedure, the lemon or orange zest also needs to be heated in a frying pan, or, as an alternative, boil water with vinegar and lemon juice. After this, ventilate the kitchen, and the smell after cooking the fish will completely disappear.

How to fillet pike

It is great luck for a fisherman to catch a pike. The meat of this fish is very tasty, not greasy and quite healthy - it’s a pleasure to cook. Many are stopped by ignorance or inability to clean and cut it. But believe me, cutting a pike is quite simple if you know a few tricks and secrets.

We have already shown how to prepare pike for stuffing, and now, with a few nuances, we will tell you how to fillet pike.

• Total cooking time – 0 hours 30 minutes
• Active cooking time – 0 hours 30 minutes
• Cost - very economical
• Calorie content per 100 g – 82 kcal
• Number of servings – 6 servings

how to fillet pike

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Fresh pike is covered with a thin layer of mucus. In order to make it more convenient to process the fish carcass, you will first have to rinse it thoroughly under running water. So it won’t slip out, and it’s more pleasant to work, right?

If your fish is still whole (not gutted), then next you should remove all the insides. To do this, you need to carefully, without going too deep, cut its abdomen from the tail to the head. And then take out all the contents, trying not to damage the gall sac - by the way, it is located closer to the head. Then, again, rinse the fish carcass from the inside, thoroughly removing blood clots and films.

Now you have to scrape off the scales. Those. separate it from the fish against the direction of “growth” with a sharp knife (or a special fish knife, if one is available), starting from the tail and gradually moving towards the head. As soon as you finish cleaning, don’t be lazy and again wash the fish from the remnants of stuck scales.

Next, cut off the pelvic fins and head. To do this, in order to save more meat on the fillet, we first make deep cuts under the gills, and then easily separate the head itself.

From the head, fins and spinal bone with tail (we will separate them a little later) you can easily cook fish broth later. Just don’t forget to cut out the gills from the head and take out the eyes. If this is not done, the broth will turn out cloudy.

Well, we already have a beautiful cleaned fish carcass in front of us. Now you can proceed to the last stage - separating the fillet from the spine.

Turning the fish onto its back, open it and carefully cut off the rib bones from the ridge. Next, with a sharp knife, cut through the flesh along the entire spine to the back and cut off.

Then we cut off the spine itself from the second half of the carcass in the same way. Now you can cut off the remaining fins and rib bones. I just pull out these bones with tweezers - I got the hang of it, this way more meat is preserved.

I also use tweezers to remove the thin internal bones from the fillet. They can be easily felt when stroking with your fingers.

These are the two beautiful fillets with skin that we end up with.

If in the future you plan to simply fry or boil the fish, then you can leave the skin. Well, if you want to grind it into mince, then it’s better to remove the skin. This is very simple to do - placing the fillet skin side down, cut off the flesh as close to the skin as possible.

Cut the resulting fillet into portions and continue cooking according to the recipe you have chosen.

Cleaning and cutting of pike carcass

Pike has rather dense and hard scales, which can be quite difficult to clean using the usual method. To avoid damaging the fish, it is important to know how to skin a pike. To remove scales from fish, you will need a sharp knife and a cutting area, which can be a deep sink.

After removing the scales, you need to wash the fish and dry it with paper towels. After this, you can begin to remove the insides. To begin this procedure, an incision is made starting from the bones behind the gills on the left side of the head to the spine. The incision should be made carefully so as not to damage the gallbladder. After this, an incision is made in a horizontal direction at the anus and the intestines are removed.

Only after this can the head be completely removed, especially carefully cutting it off near the gallbladder. The head is separated from the body along with the intestines. The carcass is cut along the belly, the films are removed and washed. In this state it is ready for filleting.

Pike dishes

Fish dishes often become a decoration for the holiday table. You can prepare many delicious and original dishes from pike. One such recipe is stuffed pike.

The recipe for its preparation is quite simple and you can take the most affordable products: fish (2 pieces), onions (1 piece), carrots (1 piece), white bread, chicken egg (1 piece), spices to taste. The dish is prepared in several stages:

• First of all, the pike is cut and cleaned. It should be cut using any of the previously described methods. How to remove the skin from fish for stuffing is up to everyone to decide for themselves. After cutting, the carcass is washed, dried and filleted.
• Start preparing the filling. It is prepared from one half of the fish fillet and white bread, previously soaked in water. All this is ground through a meat grinder.
• The carrots are grated, the onions are finely chopped with a knife. These ingredients are sauteed in olive oil with the addition of ground pepper and salt.
• Next, all the ingredients are mixed in a large container, into which a raw egg is subsequently driven. You can add chopped dill.
• All this is mixed into a homogeneous mass. A whole pike carcass is stuffed with this content. Stuffing is carried out in compliance with the rules. The filling is placed in a dense layer. To prevent the filling from falling out during the cooking process, the belly is secured with toothpicks.
• You can bake the head along with the carcass, but first you need to wrap it in foil so as not to burn it.
• Cover the baking sheet with parchment and pour in the oil. Place the carcass on a baking sheet and brush with oil.

Bake the fish in a preheated oven at 180 degrees, about 40-50 minutes. To prevent the dish from falling apart before serving, you need to leave the fish on the baking sheet to cool naturally.

Cutlets made from the meat of this fish can be no less tasty. They turn out unusually tender and tasty. For cooking, available products are taken: pike fillet (500 grams), lard (100 grams), white bread (2-3 slices), milk (100 grams), onion (1 head), egg (1 piece).

Breadcrumbs are needed to coat the cutlets before frying. Spices are added to the minced meat according to taste and desire. For frying you need sunflower oil. Preparation takes place in several stages:

• The fish is cleaned and filleted, which is subsequently passed through a meat grinder. The lard is also passed through a meat grinder and added to the minced meat. If you don't have it, you can take a little olive oil and add it to the minced meat.
• Carrots and onions are finely cut with a knife.
• The bread is pre-soaked in milk.
• All ingredients are mixed in a deep bowl. Add herbs and spices to the finished minced meat as desired, and beat in an egg. The ingredients are thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous mass is obtained and balls of small diameter are formed.
• Roll them in toasted breadcrumbs and slightly flatten on both sides.

Place the finished cutlets on a preheated frying pan. Fry them for a few minutes until golden brown. For better steaming of the cutlets, you can cover the pan with a lid for a few minutes.

Compared to other inhabitants of reservoirs, pike is one of the most delicious freshwater fish. To decorate the holiday table, you can prepare a wide variety of pike dishes.

Attention, TODAY only!

Method of cutting a carcass into fillets

A special sharp knife will help you fillet the carcass beautifully. It is applied to the ridge of the fish and drawn horizontally along it. The same action is carried out on the other side of the carcass. Divide the carcass into two halves. The backbone with leftover meat is usually used to make broth.

All that remains is to remove the skin from the fillet parts. In this case, inexperienced fishing enthusiasts often do not know how to remove the skin from a pike.

This can be done using the same knife. It is pressed very tightly to the skin and passed along the loin. There may be some meat left on the skin , which is quite natural.

Preparing pike perch fillet

Pike perch can be cooked not only in pieces or stuffing. It is also suitable for frying. In this case, it is best to use its fillet. You can prepare it yourself. This will require the same tool described above and a little patience. The following recommendations will help in this matter:

You can remove the meat from the bones immediately after the scales have been removed and the fins have been cut off. In this process, it is better to use a special fillet knife, since it is longer and has a narrow cutting part. First of all, the head and tail are cut off, all the insides are removed.

Usually the whole process doesn’t take much time once you get used to it. From the head along the back, one deep cut is made directly along the ridge. It is important not to grab a lot of meat in order to preserve the integrity of the fillet as much as possible. The pulp is carefully separated from the bones. This must be done carefully. Small cuts with a knife will help make the process easier. By moving gradually, you can completely separate one half

After which similar actions are carried out with the second one. To do this, the fish is turned over to the other side. The skin is separated from the meat by hand, usually without any difficulties. If it is difficult to grasp the tip of the skin, you can make a small thin cut. After this, the skin will simply move away from the pulp.

The result is two pieces of fillet, from which housewives prepare a lot of tasty, and most importantly, healthy dishes for themselves and their loved ones. Pike perch can become a signature dish on the table if you learn how to clean it correctly and quickly.

Fish cleaning

Serving carp to the table

Let the broth cool. We pull out the gauze bag with the bones by the thread. Place some of the vegetables on a platter. Place the carp on top. Carefully remove the threads. Let's lean the head and tail against the carcass. Pour the strained broth over the fish. And put it in the refrigerator. And after a few hours we serve it. Carp stuffed in Jewish style, the photo of which looks very original, will be a signature dish and will amaze the guests. For convenience, you can cut the fish into portions. But this should be done in front of the amazed guests.

How to cut fresh pike

It is unlikely that you can find at least one housewife who would love to clean fresh fish. Most people consider this process labor-intensive and time-consuming. But if you approach it with knowledge of the matter, it turns out that it is not so difficult. In addition, pike has one big advantage - it is very easy to remove the skin. No matter what, but still a plus. So, you don’t need any special tools to clean pike. It’s enough to have what you have in any kitchen: a cutting board, a well-sharpened knife and the fish itself. It is advisable to also have a hard brush, but you can get by with just a knife.

First you need to rinse the fish under running cold water to remove the mucus. After this, holding the pike by the tail, rub it with a brush or gently scrape it with a knife to remove scales from the skin. By the way, if you have to clean frozen fish, it is better to first let it sit for an hour at room temperature and only then begin the cutting procedure.

Now you need to separate all the fins and cut off the tail, then make a shallow cut from the side of the abdomen. You need to start cutting from the side of the head and move towards the tail. The same cut should be made along the back of the pike. Using the tip of a knife, pry the skin in the area of ​​the tail and pull it off first on one side and then on the other. Almost everything is ready. All that remains is to cut off the pike's head, remove the internal organs and wash the belly from the inside. The pike carcass is ready for further work.

To get the fillet you need to make a deep cut with a knife on its back all the way to the ridge. Then carefully cut the meat from the bones on both sides of the cut. You will get two pieces of meat and the backbone itself with ribs. Fillet is exactly what you should use to prepare minced meat for cutlets. The ridge can be thrown away, or you can put it on the ear along with the head, fins and tail.

Well, a few words about the number of fillets obtained after cutting a whole pike. On average, about half the weight of a whole fish goes to waste (but not necessarily discarded). So from a pike weighing 2 kg you can get approximately 0.9-1 kg of minced pike.

How long does it take to fry a pike?

Pike, like most other types of fish, fry quite quickly. There is no need to overexpose it. Meat from being in the pan too much will become dry and lose its taste.

If we talk about specific numbers, then a lot depends on the recipe. However, for pan cooking, this time rarely exceeds 20 minutes (10 minutes on each side). Of course, we are talking about the total time, since during the frying process the pike needs to be turned over regularly. Pike cutlets take about the same amount of time to fry. Of course, unless otherwise specified in the recipe. But you can keep the pike in the slow cooker a little longer - about half an hour.

How to cook pike cutlets

When it comes to cutlets, the pieces of minced fish that are juicy on the inside and browned on the outside immediately come to mind. However, in practice, pike cutlets often turn out a little dry.

1. The first reason for this “trouble” is prolonged frying. As has already been said many times, pike meat is already not juicy enough, and if a dish made from it is also overcooked on the fire, the quality of the finished dish will not improve at all.
2. The second reason is the dryness of the meat itself. Fortunately, it is much easier to get rid of this shortcoming. It is enough to add ingredients to the cutlet mince that retain the juice inside. Traditional additions include bread soaked in milk or cream, as well as finely grated potatoes. However, other products can make pike cutlets juicy, as well as highlight their delicate taste, for example: carrots, lard and even minced pork.
3. And the last reason is the size of the whole pike. It is believed that the larger the fish, the juicier its meat. But this does not mean at all that you need to choose the biggest fish. Pike weighing 2-2.5 kg are considered optimal for filleting and subsequent preparation of minced meat.

Stuffed pike

It might be useful to read: