How to quickly clean fish from scales: useful tips

Thursday, as you know, is considered a fish day. A few dozen years ago that day, fish dishes were served in cafeterias and buffets. This is due to healthy eating standards - fish should be in the diet at least once a week. Modern housewives monitor the health of their families and also try to adhere to the rules of healthy eating. But often one thought about a long cleaning of fish, a dirty kitchen and flying scales can discourage all culinary zeal. And for dinner again anything is served, but not a fish dish.

Is the devil so terrible as he is painted? Is it really so difficult to clean the fish? Is there really no way to help us clean our fish quickly and without problems? Is it necessary to wash the entire kitchen after cleaning the fish from the scales scattered in all directions? This is not true! Let's try to figure everything out in order.

The classic way to clean fish

1. In general, it is easier to clean the fish if it is fresh. Therefore, if your fiancé came from fishing, it is better to clean all the catch immediately and only then put the fish in the freezer for storage. It’s even better to clean the fish immediately near the pond - so there is minimal risk of staining the kitchen.
2. If the fish glides very much in your hands, sprinkle it with salt. This will facilitate the cleaning process.
3. Carefully cut off all the fins except the tail. Without a tail, cleaning fish will be much more difficult. The fins are cut so as not to get hurt - in some species of fish these fins are quite sharp.
4. The next step is to clean the fish from the scales. To do this, take a large sharp knife. The larger the knife, the easier it is to clean. Put the fish on a cutting board, grab the tail with one hand. With the second hand with a knife, rid the fish of the scales by dragging them from the tail to the head, that is, against the location of the scales.
5. If the scales fly all over the kitchen, you can draw some water into the sink and lower the fish into the water. Clean the scales under water to prevent them from flying apart.
6. When all the scales have been cleaned, rinse the fish with water. The next step is gutting. To do this, take a thin knife, which should be very sharp. Spread the fish belly from the head to the lower back fin. Carefully remove the guts of the fish and try to peel off the thin film that covers the belly from the inside. When removing the insides, be careful with the gall bladder of the fish - do not damage it. Otherwise, the fish may acquire an unpleasant bitter taste.
7. When gutting, pay attention to the contents of the abdomen. Sometimes there may be caviar that does not need to be thrown out in any case.
8. If according to the culinary recipe it is planned to cook the whole fish (with the head), then you need to remove its gills.
9. Do not forget to rinse the fish again after cleaning.
10. If you are not going to bake the whole fish, but want to fry it in pieces, then it must be cut. First, the head and tail are cut off. The remainder is cut into small slices. Then the meaty part of the fish is cut, then with a sharp blow of a knife it is necessary to break the spine of the fish in the place of the cut. Then the rest of the fish is cut.
11. If you need a fish fillet, do not cut it across the slices. You need to take the fish by the tail and with a sharp knife cut the flesh along the carcass, as close as possible to the ridge. You will get two halves - on one spine and ribs, and on the second only ribs. After this, the ribs and large bones are easily removed. Then the fillet is cut in portions - into pieces of the desired size.
12. If you plan to cook fish cakes, along with the bones you need to clean the fish and the skin.

After that, the fish can be sent to the pan, into the oven or pan.

How to clean different types of fish

Cleaning fish depends on its type. Some types of fish can not be cleaned at all, for example, salmon or goby. They are fried along with the scales, because it is quite soft and small.

Other fish species are cleaned by completely removing their skin, such as catfish, burbot, eel. To do this, make a small incision at the head of the fish and tighten the skin in one motion.

Some fish (e.g. crucian carp) are very easy to clean with their fingers. To do this, you just need to rinse the crucian thoroughly with a stream of water. And if you sprinkle small fish of any kind with salt - the scales will depart without any problems.

Pike, perch and pike perch can be boiled with boiling water. To do this, clean fish should be lowered into boiling water for a while. Blanching time depends on the size and freshness of the fish and can vary from 30 seconds to three minutes. It is very important not to digest the carcass, otherwise the scales will go away along with the boiled meat.

If you decide to cook a tench, then it must first be thoroughly washed with mud and mucus. If this does not help, put the washed fish in the sink and pour boiling water over it. You will immediately see how the mucus begins to coagulate, like egg white. After that, you just need to rinse the fish. Some believe that you do not need to remove the scales from the tench, they say, it is so thin that it simply dissolves in the ear. If the smallest particles bother you, you can lower the tench in boiling water for a minute and remove the scales along with the skin.

If the river fish smells of mud, and you are afraid that after cooking the smell remains, you need to leave the washed carcass of the fish in salt water for a couple of hours. And before cooking, pour the fish with lemon juice. And then you get only a pleasant appetizing aroma of cooked fish.

How to clean fish quickly and easily

We have collected some more tips for you so that cleaning your fish is really quick and comfortable.

1. Some clean fish with a grater. This is very convenient, in addition, the scales do not fly off half a meter. Take an ordinary grater, and preferably four-sided - it is easier to hold in your hands. Gently grate the fish against the location of the scales.
2. If the fish is not needed right now, it can be pre-salted. Just sprinkle the carcass with salt, place in a plastic container and leave in the refrigerator until morning. In the morning, the scales will go away with the skin.
3. You can pre-freeze the fish. This will facilitate the cleaning process. Leave the fish in the freezer for a day, and then take it out. In an hour, when the scales have already melted, and the fish itself will still be frozen, it will be very easy to clean.
4. Most table sets have a special knife for cleaning fish. Its jagged edges do everything for you - it’s a pleasure to clean fish in this way.
5. In hardware stores today there is a huge amount of newfangled devices for quick and safe cleaning of fish. This is a cutting board with a special clip that secures the fish's tail. And a universal fish scaler, which is a plane with sharp notches.
6. In camping conditions, when there is no knife at hand, the fish can easily be cleaned with a metal spoon or fork.
7. If with any kind of cleaning, the scales fly around the kitchen, you can use a plastic bag. Put the fish there and clean right in it. After that, the bag can be discarded along with the cleaned scales.
8. In camping conditions, you can attach fish to the board for easy cleaning with a regular nail or awl.
9. To make fish of any kind easier to clean, a stick or a toothpick is inserted into its mouth so that the fish's mouth is fully open.
10. For quick cleaning, stretch the fish “to a crunch” first. To do this, secure it with a nail or a clip in the tail area, and with your other hand pull the carcass by the eyes. After a characteristic crunch, it will be much easier to clean the fish.
11. If there is nothing at hand that would help clean the fish, you can use a piece of tin, a small bar and a nail. Make a hole in the tin with a nail so that all the notches look one way. Nail the tin with the flat side to the bar and get a ready-made tool for cleaning fish.
12. Fish can be cleaned with a piece of wood and several beer lids. Nail the lids to the tree so that the sharp part looks out. Fish is cleaned with such a tool quickly, easily and efficiently.

Our simple tips will help you do complex things easily.

Cleaning fish is a rather unpleasant task, perhaps one of the most unpleasant processes in all cooking. However, do not give up delicious fish dishes because of this. Clean your fish easily, quickly and comfortably!

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