How to quickly clean and dress fresh pike before cooking

In order to prepare tasty and healthy fish dishes, you need to know how to clean a pike so as not to litter the entire kitchen with small scales and not hurt your hands. Having the necessary knowledge and skills, this is not difficult to do. There are just a few features that how to quickly clean fish from scales and cut up the carcass to prepare a particular dish.

Preparatory work

In warm weather, if possible, it is better to clean fish outside, where there are no problems from scales flying to the sides and splashes. In the kitchen, before cleaning the pike, you need to prepare the place and the necessary supplies in advance so that you do not have to wash your hands several times during the work.

1. Absolutely all utensils and accessories must be removed from the cutting table and the nearby gas stove; it is better to cover the stove and nearby furniture with paper or polyethylene.
2. Empty the sink completely, prepare a stopper so that you can fill the sink with water (or use a larger container).
3. Prepare a cutting board of sufficient size. It is desirable that it be made of plastic or glass. A fishy smell is absorbed into the wood, which will be difficult to get rid of later.
4. To prevent the board from sliding on the tabletop while working, you can place a damp cloth or an old towel under it.
5. You will need a cutting knife, preferably with a wide blade.You can clean the pike with the same knife, but it is more convenient to use a special cleaner, which you can buy at a hardware store. It is best if it comes with a container for scales.
6. Wearing work gloves on your hands (at least on the left one) will make it more comfortable to hold the fish and reduce the likelihood of getting hurt.
7. You can prepare a couple of pinches of coarse salt. If you sprinkle it on the tail of a pike, it will not slip out of your hands while working.

It is advisable to carry out these preparatory work when cutting any fish that has not been scaled.

How to properly clean a pike

Pike does not have such sharp spines on its fins as perch, ruffe or pike perch. But this is a predatory fish. In her mouth there are several rows of needle-sharp teeth curved inward, which can seriously injure you. You must be careful when removing the gills, as they also have sharp spines.

With certain skills, you can quickly clean a pike:

• First, you need to rinse the fish well to remove any adhering dirt and mucus from it.
• To avoid making a mess in the kitchen, it is better to clean the pike under water. To do this, fill the sink or a suitable wide dish halfway, immerse the fish in it and clean it under water.
• Holding the fish by the tail, using a knife with a wide blade, using prying movements against the scales, clean the pike from all sides. In this case, the knife should move at an acute angle to the body of the fish. In this case, the scales practically do not fly apart, but lie on the knife blade. Even better is to use a special cleaner.
• Next you should remove the fins. This can be done with a knife, cutting them in the direction from the tail to the head, or with kitchen scissors.
• Cut the cartilage between the head and the belly, after which the belly should be carefully opened.To do this, holding the pike with its head towards you, use the sharp tip of a knife to pierce the skin near the head (a deep puncture should not be made, as this can damage the gallbladder) and, holding the blade at a slight angle, cut the belly to the anus, trying to go as little as possible inside. If everything is done correctly, the contents of the entrails will not stain the abdominal cavity. In addition, if there is caviar inside the fish, it will also not be damaged and can be used to prepare delicious delicacies.
• Remove the giblets from the anus to the head. Having reached the head, you must try to separate the gills, cutting them with the tip of a knife near the head and lateral cartilages. After which the giblets are freely removed from the carcass along with the gills.
• A large pike needs to have its liver examined. If the gallbladder is not damaged, then the liver can be separated and used for food.
• At the last stage, the air bubble (the white film along the ridge) and the blood clots underneath it should be removed.
• All that remains is to rinse the belly and rinse the outside of the pike itself.

As can be seen from the description, there is nothing complicated in cleaning pike.

It should be taken into account that fresh pike is cleaned better than one that has been left in the air for some time. Frozen fish should be cleaned as soon as the scales and skin are thawed, without waiting for the pike to completely thaw.

Separate the fillet

Pike meat makes excellent minced fish. In addition, pieces of this fish can be baked in batter. In both cases you will need a clean fillet. It should be noted that cutting up a pike and separating the bones is not difficult. If you have the skills, you can do this very quickly - in a couple of minutes. Moreover, other types of fish are cut similarly. The operating procedure is as follows:

1. The head can be separated from the body to make it more convenient to work, although this is not necessary.
2. The carcass should be placed on its side with its back facing you and, holding the carcass, use a sharp knife to make an incision along the spine, going around the dorsal fin from above (then the spinal bones will be below the knife blade).
3. With a few light movements, the knife blade should be buried in the upper half of the carcass until the ribs are felt underneath. You should work carefully so as not to cut them.
4. Positioning the plane of the knife parallel to the ribs, remove the pulp from them.
5. After separating the fillet in the upper half, lift it with your hand and, placing the blade parallel to the plane of the table and perpendicular to the ridge, cut off the flesh from the tail.
6. Turn the carcass over and remove the fillet from the second half in the same way.

There is no need to throw away your head and spine. They are useful for preparing fish soup, fish soup or broth.

There are quite a lot of small bones in pike, but they can be easily gotten rid of. When preparing minced meat, grind the meat twice in a meat grinder, then mix with onion, add salt and let stand for a few minutes. There will be no bones in the cooked cutlets.

If you plan to cook the fillet in pieces, then a few minutes before cooking they should be sprinkled with lemon juice and salt. Salt and juice will dissolve small seeds.

Pike has virtually no fat, but at the same time it is rich in protein. The meat of this fish is not only very healthy, but also very tasty. Pike has a specific smell, quite pungent, especially if the predator is caught in the lake. For this reason, many people do not cook it. But the smell of mud is easy to get rid of. It is enough to sprinkle the cut carcass with lemon juice and in a few minutes it will disappear.

If everything is done correctly and carefully, then delicious dishes prepared from pike can surprise and delight family members and guests.

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