How to cook fish soup from a pike head?

Fish soup is the most delicious dish cooked in nature, over a fire. It retains all the beneficial substances inherent in fish. Even if you cook soup from it using only the heads. Pike head soup is rightfully considered one of the most delicious, healthy and dietary first courses.

Therefore, when cutting pike, you should not throw away this part. It will serve as the main ingredient for a rich and quickly prepared broth.

How to choose pike for fish soup?

Before preparing pike fish soup, it is important to know a few rules for choosing fish. Four useful tips:

The main thing is to always buy only live fish. But if this is not possible, then it is important to immediately inspect the gills. If they are red, this indicates the freshness of the fish.
The eyes should not be cloudy. If there are spots, yellowness or different shades on the scales, the fish was defrosted and vice versa.
Before buying, you need to remember that fresh fish has a subtle marine smell. But the pungent aroma indicates that the pike is stale.
Tip: Press the fish with your fingers. If the hole does not fall into place, the carcass is stale. The meat should be elastic.

Pike cutlets

In terms of popularity, they confidently occupy second place after fish soup. Some housewives believe that pike meat is a little dry for cutlets. However, you can prepare juicy and tender cutlets if you follow the following recommendations:

Only fresh minced meat is used. It is unacceptable to leave it open for a long time. Keep refrigerated.
Pork lard, cut into small cubes, is added to the minced meat. If you don't have it, you can take butter.
Season the minced meat with squeezed white bread soaked in milk.
Small greens. Pepper in moderation so as not to kill the fishy spirit.

pike fillet – 600 g;
lard – 100 g;
onion – 1 piece;
chicken egg – 1 piece;
fresh milk - half a glass;
white bread – 100 g;
salt pepper;
green cilantro;
vegetable oil;
breadcrumbs for breading.

The white crumb is filled with milk.
Grind the pike fillet in a meat grinder. Cut the onion and lard into smaller pieces and add it to the minced meat along with the squeezed bread. Scroll again.
Salt and pepper the minced meat. Add finely chopped cilantro and beat in the egg. Mix all this well.
Form small patties and roll in breadcrumbs.
Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Fry the cutlets for no more than two minutes on each side.

How to prepare a pike head for soup?

The predator's head must be washed thoroughly. The gills should be cut out of it, otherwise the taste of the fish soup will be bitter. The eyes also need to be removed.

You need to cut out the gills more carefully, otherwise you can get hurt. After all, this predator has teeth on them too.

To safely remove the gills, you need to turn the pike on its back, holding its head in your hand. With the other hand, using a sharp, short knife, you need to cut the frenulum.

Let's celebrate! Then run the knife inside the head from below and on both sides. Thus, both the gills and the rather sharp teeth can be easily removed. The pike head is then considered prepared.

Pike balyk

Pike meat is a bit dry, but in properly cooked balyk it becomes juicy and tender.

more plump pike – 2 kg minimum;
bay leaf – 2 leaves;
salt – 6 tablespoons;
black pepper – 5 pcs.

Disassemble the pike as follows:

do not clean the scales;
make a cut along the belly and gut it;
cut off the head and all fins;
rinse the fish with cool water;
cut into portions.

The following is the process of salting fish:

chop the bay leaf, crush the pepper and sprinkle with salt, mix;
Pour a third of the resulting mixture into an enamel pan and place the steaks;
sprinkle the remaining salt on top and place under moderate pressure;
After 12 hours, turn the steaks over and wait 12 hours again.

After salting, you need to soak the steaks in cool water for a couple of hours.
Then lay it out on paper to dry, preferably with a slight draft present. During the drying process, the pieces must be turned over several times. After three days, the pike will become golden in color with a unique aroma. Served with chilled beer.

Secrets of making fish soup from a pike head

There are many secrets in preparing different dishes. This also affected pike fish soup.

Namely:

To achieve transparency of the broth and get a rich fish soup, it is recommended to take live or completely fresh fish. Frozen pike ukha will not be as tasty and aromatic. And the profit won’t be the same;
During the cooking process, the broth will have to be strained. You should take gauze. It may not be possible to strain thoroughly through a strainer;
to obtain a more noticeable sensation of fishy taste, it is better to simmer the broth in a cast iron cauldron;
some advise adding a little vodka (50 - 100 ml) and a pinch of sugar just before turning off;
the ear of their pike heads is served with white soft bread and fresh herbs, which should be finely chopped;
It is better not to choose fish that are too large. A few small ones will do instead. The ideal option is to throw in some small change along with the pike heads for fat.

Pike heads with garlic

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A tasty and spicy cold appetizer of pike heads with garlic, herbs and spices is easy to prepare and can become a decoration for a festive table. Step-by-step recipe with photos

After autumn fishing trips, fish heads often accumulate in the freezer, from which we mainly cook fish soup or fish soup. In addition, depending on the mood, we cook pike heads with garlic - this fish dish has fascinated me since childhood. Actually, this is an appetizer - a tasty and spicy cold appetizer that goes well with wine and a good mood.

I don’t think there is a person who doesn’t remember clerk Feofan from the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession” by L. Gaidai. “Twisted hare kidneys, pike heads with garlic, black, red caviar... yes, overseas caviar, eggplant.” Perhaps cooking pike heads at home is a tribute to memories, but the dish turns out excellent. Worth a try.

By the way, in M. Bulgakov’s comedy “Ivan Vasilyevich”, overseas caviar was not mentioned. There was mention of caviar and vodka - anise, zakaznaya, cardamom and whatever you want. If you haven’t made homemade soup from the heads and fish bones, it makes every sense to cook pike heads by boiling them in a thick broth, seasoning them with garlic, spices and herbs, and then, if you want, pour them with a thin layer of transparent jelly or leave them as is. By and large, the dish requires heads, garlic and a good mood.

It's amazing how the subtle taste of garlic combines with meat, vegetables, and fish. One of the most delicious fish dishes we prepare is pike perch satsivi, with cold sauce bazhe (bazhe) - cilantro, spice nuts and garlic. When we cook homemade jellied meat, garlic is always added to it. And the simplest homemade salad made from processed cheese - lots of garlic, but exclusively for medicinal purposes.

Pike heads with garlic are a tasty and logical conclusion to a successful autumn fishing for a toothy predator. Sometimes we don't even freeze the heads so we can prepare the dish the next day, at the same time as the pike caviar.

Pike heads with garlic are best prepared from pike weighing 3-4 kg. There is enough meat in the head and neck of this fish for a snack. An important point: before boiling the heads, you need to prepare a rich broth. For the broth you will need fish bones, fins, spines or, more simply, some low-value fish that gives a good fat. If you use enough fish for the broth, you may not need food grade gelatin for the jelly.

Pike head soup - recipes

Many dishes can be prepared from pike, or rather its head. The most famous and often prepared is fish soup in a pot. Of course, it is prepared outdoors after a successful fishing trip.

The classic recipe is used by many housewives in the kitchen. This soup is prepared quickly, without any tricks.

“Opekanaya” is a delicious fish soup that requires a lot of work to prepare. But both the fish soup and the meat itself will have an exquisite, unusual taste. You can add millet if you wish, then the broth will be more reminiscent of a classic soup. And, of course, it will be thicker and more satisfying.

Note! Fish soup “royally” is rightfully considered an expensive festive dish that requires patience, expense and time. But such fish soup can be placed on the table for dear guests.

Classic recipe

Before cooking fish soup, the pike head must be washed and the gills and eyes removed. The soup should be cooked over low heat.

Ingredients:

pike heads – 0.5 kg;
onion – 2 pcs. (small size);
potatoes – 3 pcs.;
water – 2 l.;
lemon – 1 small;
breadcrumbs - 1 tbsp;
sunflower oil – 1 tbsp;
a bunch of parsley, green onions;
laurel – 1 pc.;
salt, pepper, nutmeg (grated).

Preparation:

Dip the prepared heads into a container of water. After the water has boiled, skim off the foam. Then you need to cook for half an hour over low heat, adding a bay leaf, a whole onion and a tied bunch of parsley. Take everything out after half an hour, including the greens and onions. Remove meat from pike heads.

You will need vegetables: finely chopped onions, carrots - into rings or slices, potatoes - into strips. Saute the carrots and onions, place the sauté with breadcrumbs and potatoes in the fish soup. Add salt and cook for 15-20 minutes. Add meat and turn off heat. Squeeze a little lemon juice and add spices. Serve in a plate with a wedge of lemon.

Ear of pike heads – “Wardened”

By lightly frying the fish, you can give the fish soup an original taste.

Ingredients:

medium pike – 1 pc. (400 grams);
potatoes – 80 g;
carrots – 1 pc.;
onion – 1 pc.;
egg – 1 pc.;
flour – 1 tbsp;
butter – 25 g;
spices, salt to taste;
parsley – 2 stalks with leaves.

Preparation:

Cut the fish, removing the tail, fins, and eyes. Cut the meat 4 cm wide. After peeling, cut the vegetables into small cubes. Finely chop the greens. Place the vegetables, as well as the head of the pike, along with its fins and tail, in boiling water.

Add some salt. Turn down the heat and cook for 20 minutes. Cover the container with a lid. Afterwards, strain the broth. Then add spices, add salt to taste and lower the fish pieces along with the head. Boil over low heat for 5 minutes.

Mix the egg with a spoonful of flour and roll the pieces of cooked fish in the resulting batter. Then fry in oil, that is, bake. Because of this process, the dish received its name. Place the fried pieces in the ear for 5 minutes. and add greens. Turn off the heat and let it brew.

Pike head soup with millet

Cereals, such as semolina or millet, are often added to the soup. With millet, pike head fish soup will be more homemade and good for children.

Ingredients:

pike head – 1 pc.;
potatoes – 2 pcs. average;
carrots – 1 pc. small size;
millet – 200 g;
salt to taste;
bay leaf – 1 pc.;
water – 1.5 l.

Preparation:

Wash the potatoes, peel and cut into small cubes. Pour the prepared millet into a pan of boiling water. While the millet is boiling, grate the carrots on a coarse grater. Salt boiling water with millet, add vegetables.

Prepare the pike head - remove gills and eyes. Afterwards, put it in your ear. Cook for 15 minutes, remembering to stir. Add bay leaf and after 5 minutes turn off the heat.

Ukha "royally"

Preparing such a dish is not difficult, but it will take several hours. But all the time spent will more than pay off with an exquisite and special taste.

Ingredients:

domestic rooster (you can take a chicken) - up to 1.5 kg;
pike – 1 kg;
pike perch – 1 kg;
onion – 2 pcs.;
wheat onion - a bunch;
carrots – 2 pcs.;
garlic – 4 cloves;
vodka – 50 ml;
black pepper – 3 pcs.

Preparation:

Place the prepared rooster or chicken in a large container with cool water. Boil. After 5 minutes of cooking, the broth must be drained. Place the carcass in clean water and cook for at least three hours.

While the bird is cooking, you need to clean the fish. Separate the fins, head, and tail. All parts will be needed. Only the cut gills should be discarded. Rinse. Remove the cooked bird from the pan and put in the fins, head and tail of the pike.

Boil for half an hour. Pull it out. Add chopped pike. After 20 minutes of cooking, you also need to remove it. Then add pike perch and chopped vegetables with spices. Cook for up to 20 minutes. Remove the greens, add salt and add vodka. Cover with a lid and let sit for 15 minutes. Ukha “royally” is served with fresh finely chopped herbs.

Pike soup on fire

Many dishes can be prepared from pike. But especially fishermen consider fish soup cooked over a fire to be the most delicious.

Ingredients:

pike – 1.5 kg;
onion – 2 pcs. (average);
carrots – 1 pc. large size;
potatoes – 4 pcs.;
birch chips;
salt, pepper to taste;
bay leaf – 2-3 pcs.;
greens, lemon.

Preparation:

The fish needs to be prepared: remove the tail and also the head. Don't forget to separate the inner film from the meat. Place the whole onion and bay leaf into a pot of boiling water. Add black peppercorns.

After boiling for 5 minutes, remove all ingredients. They won't be needed anymore. Dip the cut potatoes into the fish soup. Boil for 15 minutes. Then put the rest of the chopped vegetables and pieces of pike into the pot.

Salt and pepper to taste. The fish meat should be cooked for 10 minutes. Then remove the pot, cover with a lid and place in a secluded place. Let the ear simmer for 7-8 minutes.

To give the dish something unusual, take birch chips, set it on fire and put it in a pot. This will make the soup “smoky”. A few drops of squeezed lemon will add some piquancy. It is better to choose pikes that are not too large. This will make the meat more tender.

Let's celebrate! Pike fish soup can be cooked in different ways.
But for a truly tasty and healthy dish you will need live or very fresh fish. When preparing any fish soup, you must remember to turn down the heat. It is better for the broth to simmer than to boil. It is important to serve the fish soup with herbs and bread. And remember - the most important thing in the ear is the broth, not the meat. Therefore, even fish heads can also make a decent dish.

Boiled pike soufflé

A similar dish is prepared from the fish pulp itself. But, given that there is enough meat left on the tails and heads after filleting, they can be used to prepare this recipe.

The following products will be required:

tails and heads (4 pieces each);
milk (125 ml);
flour (half 1 tbsp);
butter (1 tbsp);
raw eggs (2 pcs.).

Boil the fish, then let it cool.
Carefully select all the bones.
Grind the pulp.
Separately, fry the flour and fat in a frying pan, add hot milk, add salt and boil for 5 minutes.
For a thicker consistency, cook a little longer.
Add the yolks, butter, sauce to the pulp and beat with a blender until smooth.
Beat the remaining whites until thick foam and carefully fold into the soufflé.
Mix. Divide the resulting mass into molds and steam.
When serving, drizzle with melted butter.

Pike with carrots and onions

For cooking, pike caught by yourself in the morning is suitable.

Ingredients:

pike – 1 kg;
carrots – 2 pcs;
onions – 2 pcs;
flour – 200 g;
vegetable oil;
seasonings, salt, pepper.

Preparation:

Gut the fish and rinse well. Cut off the head, tail and gills.
Cut the pieces into equal thicknesses to ensure even baking.
Pepper and salt in advance. Let them be nourished. In the meantime, cut the vegetables into strips.
Before baking, you can fry the pieces of fish in a frying pan until they have an appetizing crust.
Place the cooked pike on the vegetables. Cover the fish with a layer of finely chopped carrots and onions. Season again. Add tomato paste if desired.
Simmer in the oven for 45 minutes over moderate heat. It's enough. Everything worked out as it should. Looks great on a plate. And what a smell!

Recipe 6: delicious Russian pike soup with vodka

The recipe for Russian national fish soup is used everywhere in real fishing conditions. But sometimes you can enjoy fish soup made from fish simply bought in a store and cooked at home.

Cleaned and gutted fish - 1.0–1.5 kg;
Potatoes - 4–5 pcs.;
Onions 2 medium onions;
1 carrot;
Laurel leaf – 2 pcs.;
Celery - 0.5 pcs. or 1 small;
50 gr. vodka;
Spices.

To cook a delicious clear broth in the form of pike soup at home and delight your guests with it, follow the detailed cooking instructions.

Before cooking, remove the gills from the head, rinse the entire pike and remove any remaining husks, if any.

Drop whole fish (or cut into small pieces) into boiling water.

Add whole onions, carrots and necessary spices.

Time it for 20 minutes. Collect the resulting foam and throw it away.

Then remove from the gas and strain through a strainer. Leave the clean broth, remove the boiled onions and carrots. Also set aside the fish pieces for a while.

Cut the potatoes into cubes.

Throw the vegetables into the broth simmering over low heat.

Boil until tender and add 50 g. vodka to “remove” the specific smell of pike from the dish.

Add the cooked fish and leave on the stove for a few minutes.

Now it's ready. The recipe may be subject to change. And next time try adding ingredients to your liking. If you want the fish to be boneless, then boil it longer (50 minutes), and fillet it, and then add clean fish meat.

Features of preparing fish soup at home

Ukha has been known since ancient times and does not lose its popularity. Previously, all soups were called this, but now this dish is prepared only with fish. Pike is rich in beneficial microelements, proteins, amino acids and fats. The presence of this fish in the diet saturates the body with essential minerals and protects against pathology of the endocrine system.

Fish selection

The quality of the main ingredient will affect the taste of the finished dish, so you should approach this issue responsibly

Experienced chefs advise paying attention to the following points:

the carcass should have the characteristic smell of the river;
bright red color on the gills indicates freshness;
when pressed under your fingers, you feel elastic, dense meat;
chilled fish gives a more aromatic broth, frozen fish has a slightly weaker taste - fresh pike would be ideal;
medium-sized carcasses make the broth richer;
the taste of the fish soup will be more interesting and richer if you add several small fish - perch, ruffe, roach.

In what container should you cook pike soup?

The fragrant and tasty fish soup is prepared in a clay pot, which is what was used in ancient times. Now such dishes are not available in every home, so you can take a cast iron cauldron. At home, it is better to cook in a metal or enamel pan. The material should not oxidize - this will spoil the taste of the finished dish and can cause a lot of trouble.

How to cook fish soup without spoiling it with spices?

It is better to cook soup with fresh pike only with salt, which allows you to feel the full aroma and fullness of taste. Seasonings interrupt the characteristic tenderness of the sweetish taste of the broth with freshly caught pike, so it is not recommended to add them. But a few peas of black pepper with bay leaves will add spicy notes to the aroma of the fish soup.

Products suitable for pike soup

It is believed that fish soup should be prepared only using water, fish, potatoes and onions. This is a classic version of the recipe that most people use. But additional ingredients will only make the dish more interesting, so don’t give them up. You can add to pike soup:

Rice, millet, pearl barley and semolina are ideal cereals;
garlic;
It is better to imagine greens in the form of parsley and dill;
carrot;
celery;
lemon;
tomato.

Serving fish soup

The dish is served mostly hot - the aroma fills the entire surrounding space. But pike soup can be eaten cold - the taste does not lose its quality characteristics. The broth can be served separately from the fish, which only makes it more interesting.

You can complement the pike fish soup with a salad of fresh vegetables.

Stuffed pike

This exquisite dish will become a festive table decoration and will delight your guests. What to stuff and how to cook it is everyone’s personal choice. One ancient method has been preserved - “Pike stuffed in sour cream.”

Ingredients:

pike 1.5 kg – 1 piece;
onions – 3 pcs;
fresh milk – 200 g;
white bread;
butter – 100 g;
sardines – 10 pcs;
nutmeg – 0.5 teaspoon;
chicken yolk – 2 pcs;
sour cream;
breadcrumbs;
lemon;
vinegar;
salt;
black pepper;
dill;
mustard;
horseradish;
parsley.

Preparation:

Clean the pike and rinse well. Cut the skin along the ridge and, very carefully, so as not to tear, tear off the whole skin from both sides, separating it from the meat.
Remove the backbone by cutting it under the gills. In this case, it is important that the head and the deflated skin remain connected at the top. Place this entire structure in a pan of water. Place the cut tail there.
Remove all bones from the meat. Place it in a large bowl. Add white bread soaked in milk and squeezed out, small diced onions and sardines. Melt the butter, crush the nutmeg, salt and pepper, add the yolks and dill with parsley.
Everything is thoroughly mixed, chopped, and pounded until a homogeneous mass is formed.
Place the pike head with skin on a cutting board and, shaping it into a fish, place the minced meat on the underside of the skin. Then cover the top side of the skin. The fish is sewn up and the tail is attached.
Grease the baking sheet with butter. Coat the fish thickly in breading, place a few pieces of butter on top of it and place in the oven.
When the predator turns brown, turn it over.
Before the ceremonial bringing to the table, pour sour cream over the pike and let it simmer for a short time. Place on a large plate, garnish with lemon slices and green berries. pour over the juice left over from frying.

It is worth noting that the fish will be much tastier when chilled. Served with horseradish or mustard.

What can you cook from pike heads?

There is an opinion that a pike head can only be used for a rich ear. But if you decide to please your loved ones, for example, with pike cutlets or a pie, you should not rush to throw away unnecessary heads.

Many remember a fragment of L. Gaidai’s film comedy “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession,” when S. Kramarov’s hero, clerk Feofan, appetizingly listed the dishes on the royal table, mentioning “pike heads with garlic.”

Pike heads with garlic:

pike heads – 5 pcs;
peeled walnuts - 1 tbsp;
garlic – 5 cloves;
onions – 2 pcs;
water, diluted by a quarter with 3% vinegar - 1 tbsp;
laurel;
seasonings for fish;
salt.

Preparation:

Rinse the heads thoroughly, cut out the gills (they give off bitterness). Rub them with crushed garlic, salt and seasonings. Leave for half an hour.
Divide one onion into four parts.
Boil water, salt it. Place the heads, onions, and add bay leaves and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes.

The sauce is prepared separately. For it you need:

crush the nuts;
Grind one clove of garlic with salt;
Cut the second onion smaller. Mix everything and place in a saucepan, pour in the prepared vinegar solution and boil over moderate heat for 10 minutes.

All that remains is to carefully place the heads on the dish and arrange the slices of boiled potatoes in a circle. Drizzle all this beauty with nut-garlic sauce.

In addition, we can recommend:

Jellied pike heads in double broth.
Pancake pies stuffed with pike heads.