How to cook pike deliciously and simply

What are the benefits of pike meat?

Pike is considered to be the queen of rivers and lakes. And it’s not in vain. This predatory fish lives in fresh water, is widespread in our open spaces and is widely used in cooking. Pike meat is beneficial because it contains a large amount of:

minerals (iron, fluorine, zinc, iodine, molybdenum);
vitamins (PP, E, C, B, A);
easily digestible protein;
low fat content in meat (1%).

Low calorie content is another distinctive feature of this type of fish. Thanks to her, the product is widely used in dietary and therapeutic nutrition menus. But pike is not only a very healthy fish, but also tasty. It is used in all kinds of culinary recipes and prepared in a variety of ways.

Preparing pike for cooking

Regardless of what you cook from this valuable meat, the fish must be properly cut and prepared for further work.

This is done as follows:

Clean off the luster. Fresh fish is covered with a slimy layer and is quite slippery. This makes it very difficult to clean. To make it easier to hold, generously rub the fish carcass with coarse sea salt. It will stop slipping in your hands, and you can easily remove the scales from it.
Rip open the belly and remove the entrails. The incision should be made with a sharp knife from the anus to the head. Note the dark film inside. Underneath there is another part of the unnecessary entrails. They should also be removed.
Rinse the carcass thoroughly, especially from the inside.
Allow excess water to drain or remove excess water with napkins or a towel.
If you plan to cook the head, remove the gills from it. They are not suitable for food and can spoil the taste of the finished dish.
Depending on the type of dish, cut the meat:

For frying, stewing, baking - remove the head, tip of the tail and fins with culinary scissors. Cut the meat into pieces of the required thickness;
To prepare soup or fish soup, soak in water for 20-30 minutes to remove any remaining blood and make the broth clear;
To prepare minced fish, remove the head and fins, cut the fillet along the ridge, remove the remaining bones with culinary tweezers.

Pike breaded with nut crumbs

This version of fried fish has an incredible taste and aroma. The pike pieces turn out very juicy and tender. So, what products are needed and how to prepare a delicious snack?

Products for preparing breaded pike:

Pike weighing about 0.9-1 kilograms;
Egg - 1 piece;
Breadcrumbs - 2 tablespoons;
Walnuts and peanuts – 30 grams each;
Flour - 2 tablespoons;
Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon;
Lemon zest - 0.5 teaspoon;
Salt and ground black pepper - to taste;
Vegetable oil - for frying.

Pike breaded with nut crumbs

Step-by-step preparation:

Prepare everything in advance by measuring out all your bulk ingredients.
Clean the pike from scales and gut it. Rinse it thoroughly outside and inside. Cut into pieces that are convenient to fry. Place them in a bowl, pepper and salt. Here in a bowl, sprinkle with lemon zest and sprinkle with lemon juice. It will take about 15 minutes to marinate.
Fry walnuts and peanuts in a frying pan without oil. Dry until the peanut skins begin to peel off well.
Grind the peanuts and walnuts into crumbs. Add breadcrumbs to them. Mix everything and add a little salt.
Break the egg into a bowl and beat it thoroughly with a fork.
Take a piece of fish and roll it in flour. Dip into the egg mixture along with the flour dusting and roll in the nut mixture and breadcrumbs.
Fry the breaded fish in a hot frying pan with vegetable oil. Fry on both sides. Readiness can be determined by the golden color of the fish.
Transfer the finished pieces to a plate. Serve as an appetizer or with a side dish. Rice or potatoes can serve as a side dish.

A breading made from a mixture of nuts and breadcrumbs fights off the unpleasant smell of mud, which is inherent in river fish and in particular pike.

1. Stewed in sour cream and cream sauce

Ingredients:

Pike – 2 kg (fillet or portioned pieces);
White onion – 2 pcs.;
Sour cream 15% – 0.5 liters;
Cheese of any hard variety – 300 gr.;
Salt, ground pepper - to taste;
Butter – 50 gr.

Cooking process:

Cut the prepared fish or fillet into portions. Bread each one in flour and fry in a frying pan at a very high temperature using refined vegetable oil. The goal of the process is to get a golden crust, and not to bring the meat to readiness.

Place the slices in a deep bowl, sprinkle each layer with spices, grated cheese, onion half rings and add a piece of butter. Pour in sour cream and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Dry pike meat will be saturated with fat, the taste of sour cream and spices. It will become juicy and aromatic. Serve it with fresh herbs.

Pike fillet in batter

Batter recipes are very diverse both in the ingredient composition and in the method and time of preparation. We invite you to pay attention to one of the simplest recipes that will allow you to cook pike tasty and quickly. Liquid beer batter is especially good for freshwater white fish, including perch and walleye. To prepare it you need to take:

125 g all purpose flour;
1 egg;
3 cloves garlic (chopped);
½ tsp. ground black pepper;
350 ml beer (light or dark - at your discretion).

Mix all ingredients for the batter thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is formed. Dry the fish fillet and cut into identical portions. Carefully dip them in the batter and place them in heated vegetable oil. Fry on each side for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.

Pike fillet cutlets

Ingredients:

Pike meat – 1 kg;
Pork fat (lard) – 300 gr.;
Half a loaf of bread;
Large chicken egg – 1 pc.;
Milk 50 gr.;
Bulbs – 3 pcs.;
Mixture of peppers, salt - at your discretion;
Breadcrumbs;
Vegetable refining oil.

Cooking process:

We grind pike meat (peeled from skin and bones), onion, lard and a loaf soaked in milk in a meat grinder. Break the egg and spices into the resulting minced meat and mix well. We make round cutlets measuring 50-70 g. each, roll in breadcrumbs and fry in vegetable oil until fully cooked.

Stuffed pike

Stuffed pike
It's easy to prepare at home. The classic recipe assumes the following ingredients: rice (2 tablespoons ready-made), white bread (100 g), milk (200 ml), onion (150 g), egg (1 pc.), greens.

First, boil the rice with the addition of a small amount of vegetable oil. Peel and rinse the onion, chop finely and add salt. Clean the pike from scales so as not to damage the skin, remove the gills from the head. Make cuts near the fins. Carefully remove the skin so that it is separated from the insides. Remove the giblets.

Place the bones in a saucepan and cook the broth. It should boil for 40 minutes. During the cooking process, you need to remove the foam. Pour milk over the bread and leave to soak for 15 minutes. Peel the onion and grate it. Fry in vegetable oil until a transparent color appears.

Grind the fish fillet through a meat grinder. Combine the minced meat with the loaf, vegetables, and boiled rice. Separate the yolks from the whites and place in the minced meat. Add salt and spices. Beat the egg whites and gradually add them to the filling.

The resulting composition needs to be filled with the skin of the carcass. If an incision was made along the abdomen, it should be sutured. Place carrots and beets on a baking sheet, place the carcass on top, pour in broth. Cover with foil and place in a well-heated oven for 20 minutes. When the time is up, you need to remove the foil and bake the pike for another 20 minutes until golden brown.

You can stuff fish without rice. Some recipes suggest using mushrooms and potatoes instead.

Fish soup from pike or fish soup

Ingredients for 3 liters of soup:

Potatoes – 4 pcs.;
Medium-sized carrots – 1 pc.;
Celery (root) – 50 gr.;
Onion (large) – 1 pc.;
Millet groats – 50 gr.;
Spices for fish soup, bay leaf, salt - to taste;
Fresh greens.

Cooking process:

Cut the potatoes into medium cubes and send them to boil. We wash the millet and pour it there. Finely grate the prepared carrots, cut into strips, diced onions, and celery root and place in a saucepan with soup.

If the vegetables and cereals are almost ready, add well-washed and soaked pike, cut into pieces, into the soup and cook for 7 - 10 minutes. If you use the fish's head, don't forget to take out the gills. Add spices and salt. Serve with fresh herbs.

Fried pike in flour with mustard sauce

The dish has a spicy taste. It is lean and everyone who tries it really likes it.

You will need:

1 pike
Salt, ground pepper - to taste
Flour for breading
1.5 tbsp. spoons – olive oil
3 tbsp. spoons - vegetable oil
1 tbsp. spoon – mustard with grains
1 tbsp. spoon – lemon juice

How to cook:

Heh from pike fillet

Ingredients:

Pike meat (fillet) – 2 kg;
Carrots - 2 pcs.;
Large onion – 3 pcs.;
Fresh herbs (dill, parsley) – 1 bunch;
Bell pepper – 1 pc.;
Garlic – 2 cloves;
Apple cider vinegar – 6 tablespoons;
Vegetable oil – 50 ml;
Pepper mixture – 0.5 teaspoon;
Ground coriander – 1 teaspoon;
Salt - half a teaspoon.

Cooking process:

Cut the fish meat into thin slices and marinate. For the marinade, mix vinegar, vegetable oil, garlic and spices. We send the heh to infuse in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. At this time you need to prepare the vegetables. Grate the carrots on a Korean grater, cut the onion into strips, chop the greens, cut the bell pepper into cubes.

Add fresh vegetables to the fish and mix everything well. Leave to infuse in a cool place for another 2-3 hours. A signal that the dish is ready will be a change in the color of the pike meat; it should become almost white, and the vegetables should be saturated with spices and the aroma of the fish.

Pike appetizers

You can make fish heh for any holiday table. For this you will need a pike. Onions, carrots, vinegar, pepper and other seasonings. He involves the use of pickled products that have not undergone heat treatment. Clean the fish from entrails and bones, cut off the head and tail, cut into pieces 1 cm wide.

Salt the pieces, pour vinegar with garlic. Stir the mixture and leave in the refrigerator for 1.5 hours. The marinating period can be increased if you are not sure about the quality.

To prepare a light snack, you can mix pike with steamed vegetables and season everything with lemon juice.

Cut the carrots into strips, add to the fish, stir. Heh needs to be refrigerated for another 1.5 hours. The dish is considered ready when the fish turns white. The final touch is to fry the onion rings and add it to the fish. To ensure that this ingredient is well soaked, place the appetizer in the refrigerator for another 60 minutes.

Simple fish salad

To prepare a regular fish salad you will need fish fillet, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, processed cheese, mustard, cream. Step by step recipe:

Place lettuce leaves, sliced tomatoes and onions on a plate.

Cut the processed cheese and eggs into cubes, combine these two ingredients, and place on a plate.
Boil the fillet in a double boiler, divide it into pieces with your hands, and add to the salad.
Mix olive oil with lemon juice, mustard and cream, shake in a shaker.
Pour the resulting sauce over the salad.

Stuffed with vegetables in the oven

Ingredients:

Onions – 1 pc.;
Carrots – 1 pc.;
Fresh mushrooms (any kind will do) – 300 gr.;
Pork lard – 100 g;
Juice of half a lemon;
Pepper mixture;
Salt.

Cooking method:

It is best to remove the skin from the pike entirely (with a stocking) and stuff it with stuffing and chopped fish meat. To do this, you need to cut the ridge and carefully pull it out from the tail to the head, being careful not to damage the skin. If you doubt that you will succeed, you can fill the belly cavity with minced meat and bake.

For the filling, clean and wash the vegetables. Grate the carrots, cut the mushrooms into cubes, cut the onion into half rings and fry everything in vegetable oil. Fish meat cooks quite quickly and raw vegetables may not have time to soften and release their juice and flavor to the fish. Add lard, cut into small cubes, to the resulting mass; it will add juiciness to the finished dish.

Pour lemon juice over the prepared fish, rub with salt and pepper. Fill the belly with the filling and place it on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil. Let it brew for 30 minutes and put it in the oven. Depending on the size, bake for 30 - 40 minutes at a temperature of 150 degrees.

Fish in Russian

An excellent dish for a holiday table or just for dinner with your family.

For 600 grams of pike fillet you will need:

How to choose the right fish

How to cook pike deliciously? The best dishes are made from freshly caught fish. For those who don’t have the opportunity to find one, we learn how to choose one for sale based on 4 main characteristics:

Smell. It should be neutral or with a slight river shade. The presence of the smell of oil indicates that the carcass was rubbed in order to preserve it longer. If it smells like chlorine or ammonia, avoid purchasing it altogether.
Appearance . The meat looks juicy and not dried out or dehydrated. There are no foreign shades on the skin. The color is light and uniform.
Gills. They should be bright red. If they are dark in color or have an unpleasant odor, the fish is not fresh.
Eyes . In fresh fish they are transparent and convex. If you see sunken, red and cloudy fish, this fish has been sitting on the counter for a long time.

Prepare your dishes with pleasure and love. They will certainly turn out incredibly tasty and incredibly healthy.