How to cook river fish. How to cook river fish: secrets of cooking river fish, recipes Dishes from fresh river fish

in Russian cuisine it is one of the most important products.

How to determine the freshness of fish? The surface of fresh fish is covered with a thin layer of transparent mucus, the scales are bright and shiny. If the mucus is cloudy, the scales are pale and do not shine, then the fish is not fresh.

The meat of fresh fish should be elastic, the color of the gills should be from light pink to bright red. The abdomen of fresh fish should not be swollen.

Simple and fast way prepare small river fish, in particular crucian carp: clean (take out the insides, remove the scales), roll in flour. Heat the oil in a frying pan, place the fish in it along with thinly sliced ​​onions, lightly fry, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread a thin layer of sour cream, hold under the grill for 2-3 minutes, fill with sour cream completely and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

A very large fish, its weight reaches 50 kg. However, the smaller the catfish, the tastier it is. The so-called “channel catfish” are especially good - they have very thin skin and are very good to grill.

The main advantage of catfish is the absence of scales and bones between the muscles. Therefore, there is almost no need to clean it - just lightly scrape it with a knife. Often catfish, especially large ones, smell slightly of mud. Lemon juice will help get rid of this smell: pour it over the fish 10 minutes before cooking. Another way to solve the odor problem is to remove the skin from the catfish: hang the fish on a rope (it can be threaded through the eyes or gills), make a thin cut around the head with a sharp knife, grab the cut skin with a dry cloth and pull it off with a sharp movement from top to bottom, like a stocking.

This is a pond fish, a relative of the carp. As a rule, there are several types of carp on sale: common carp and mirror carp - with rare round scales on the skin or no scales at all.

Carp has tender meat, but many small bones. If you are going to make minced fish, you can grind the carp meat along with the bones - they will not be felt. Another way to cook carp: cut the fish along the entire length and fry in hot oil - the bones will seem to dissolve and you will be left with a tasty fillet.

- tasty and inexpensive fish. However, there is not a lot of meat in the perch, so you need to either fry it in a lot of oil or cook it into soup.

To make it easier to remove the scales, immerse the fish in boiling water for a few seconds and then scrape off the scales with a knife.

The fish is tasty, but its meat is not as tender as that of other river fish, and in addition, it often has a specific smell of mud. You can get rid of it by rubbing the fish 10-15 minutes before cooking with a slice of lemon. Pike, especially small pike, are good to fry, smoke, even make fish soup out of them. But the main pike dish, of course, is stuffed pike - a traditional Jewish dish.

Let's just say that you can cook almost any river or lake fish according to the recipes below, but today we will cook crucian carp. Crucian carp is the sweetest and most delicious river fish, which is sure to please everyone!

It is so appetizing and aromatic that when trying it, some even lick their hands with pleasure. How can you not lick it when every piece of the prepared fish delicacy is incredibly juicy and pleasant to the taste!

By the way, crucian carp are inexpensive and you can cook them every day, because there are a lot of options for preparing this small fish. But the most efficient and no less appetizing are fried crucian carp and crucian carp stuffed with vegetables and baked in the oven!

Even a schoolchild can cope with their creation, and we will help you properly prepare 1 kg of this river fish by scheduling step-by-step cooking master classes of 0.5 kg for each recipe.

1. Fried crucian carp breaded with corn flour

Those who try crucian carp breaded in corn once will never want to bread it in wheat flour again! This perfect duo of fish and cornmeal gives a truly phenomenal taste - let's try to replicate it:

— 2 crucian carp (0.5 kg);

- 100-120 g corn flour;

- 0.5 tsp salt;

- 50 ml vegetable oil.

First, you need to peel the scales from fresh crucian carp. This is easiest to do in a bowl or sink filled with water. In water, the scales are removed in one movement and do not scatter to the sides. When you reach the lower fins, it is best to cut out the part from the fins to the head from below - it is difficult to clean off.

Then the crucian carp must be gutted - cut its belly from the head to the second lower fins. Remove the innards, being careful not to crush the gallbladder, and rinse everything inside thoroughly. Remove the black film from the inner walls - this is what can give the fish bitterness.

Salt the crucian carp both outside and inside. If you purchased or caught small fish, then at this stage you need to cut it diagonally along the ribs with a little effort - you will cut the bones in half and they will be so fried that you won’t even feel them!

Bread each fish in cornmeal on all sides.

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and place the crucian carp on it. Fry for about 5-7 minutes over medium heat until golden brown.

Then turn over to the other side and fry for the same amount of time, but cover with a lid. This way, the crucian carp will be steamed from the inside, and their meat will not remain raw.

Serve fried crucian carp with lemon and green onions. Enjoy your meal!

2. Baked crucian carp with vegetables

Fish prepared in this way absorbs vegetable juice and is filled with an incredibly delicious aroma. Just a few steps in its preparation will allow you to enjoy an excellent fish dish that would cost an exorbitant amount in a restaurant!

You will need:

— 2 crucian carp (0.5 kg);

- 2 bell peppers;

- 1 large tomato;

- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil;

- 0.5 tsp salt.

In this recipe, first peel, rinse and cut the vegetables: tomatoes into quarters and peppers into strips.

Also clean the fish from scales and gut it, washing it on all sides.

Stuff the bellies of the crucian carp with vegetables, after salting the fish.

Place on a baking sheet, pour over vegetable oil and bake at 180-200C in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. You will know that the dish is ready by the smell that will waft in the kitchen!

Serve fish with herbs. Enjoy your meal!

Having calculated the cost of any of these recipes, you are unlikely to go to a restaurant to enjoy crucian carp:

— 2 crucian carp — 25 rubles;

- 100-120 g of corn flour - 5 rubles;

— 50 ml of vegetable oil and salt — 5 rubles.

A fish dinner for two will cost you only 35 rubles, and one fried crucian carp - in 18 RUR. This is an incredible saving!

How to cook river fish How to cook river fish, which usually has a lot of bones, and therefore cooking river fish is much more difficult than their relatives caught at sea. Nevertheless, you should not give up river fish: its meat is lean, very tasty and healthy. It is calorie-free and easily digestible. Doctors advise introducing it into the diet of people weakened after illness, as well as those who have problems with the heart and nervous system. Diseases such as ulcers with gastritis will not be contraindications for eating river fish, of course, in reasonable quantities, baked or boiled. HIDDEN THREAT River fish from the carp family such as asp, rudd, chub, tench, bream, crucian carp, roach, sabrefish, ide, bleak and carp can be affected by a parasite dangerous to humans (opisthorchid). It's quite difficult to get rid of it. Therefore, cook the fish for at least 20 minutes in boiling water, and fry in small pieces in a frying pan with a lid. It is not recommended to dry and salt fish of this family at home. SWEET IS THE Ruff, AND THERE ARE LOTS OF BONES There are a great many varieties of river fish, and it is not surprising that housewives are often at a loss when it comes to cooking. However, it is enough to learn a few basic principles, and then it will no longer matter which representative of freshwater is in front of you. So, when cutting a pike perch or perch, the dorsal fin is cut out first, shallow cuts are made on both sides, and then, grabbing it, the fin is torn out in the direction from the tail of the fish to the head, and then the fish is cleaned and gutted. The main thing is to remove the liver and gall bladder without damaging it. Otherwise, the bile will spill and the finished fish will taste bitter. If liquid does get on the meat, rub it with coarse salt. After this, the remaining entrails and gills need to be removed from the carcass, and the film that covers the vertebral bone is cut lengthwise. The gutted carcass is washed in cold water several times. If you need to remove scales from a perch or tench, you can immerse the fish in a container of hot water for a few seconds, and then with cold water and scrape off the scales with a knife. The situation is simpler with catfish. It has almost no scales, so it will be enough to make a few movements with a knife “against the grain.” Often catfish, especially large ones, smell like mud. (By the way, pike, bream, carp, and tench are also guilty of this). To get rid of the smell, you need to pour lemon juice on the fish 10 minutes before cooking. There is another problem with carp - it has very few scales, but a lot of small bones. It’s good if it’s used for minced meat - you can simply grind the cleaned carcass, they won’t be felt. If you are going to fry the carp, then you can make several cuts along the entire length and put the fish in oil in a hot frying pan - the bones will seem to dissolve, only the most tender fillet will remain. SEASONINGS AND SAUCES How to season river fish is a matter of taste. You can mix oils and herbs, dry spices and salt. Olive oil goes with any fish. After washing and wiping the carcass dry, grease it outside and inside, it will be more juicy and covered with a golden brown crust. Lemon will remove excess fat from the fish and rid it of the unpleasant smell of mud. If you stuff the carcass into slices, the meat will acquire a fresh, spicy flavor. Spicy herbs such as green dill, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, tarragon, parsley, dill and mint go well with fish. They are added to dressings and sauces, when stuffing fish they are mixed with butter, and they are also added to fish pastes. Aromatic salt will make the fish simply a delicious dish. It’s easy to make: mix coarse sea salt, a sprig of rosemary and the zest of half an orange in a mortar. It is also good to add lemon zest and three black peppercorns to the salt. The dish will acquire an exquisite taste if it is seasoned with salt mixed with a pinch of lavender flowers. THE CHOICE IS YOURS! Stale fish is usually immediately visible - it is very sticky and smells bad. But sometimes you have to choose the best one that doesn’t seem bad at first glance. You can safely take fish if: 1) the eyes can be transparent or black, clear, bright but not cloudy in color 2) the carcass is elastic and dense; when pressed with a finger, no dents should form 3) the scales should fit tightly to the skin and be shiny and smooth 4) the gills of the fish have a pinkish or red color 5) the tail of the fish should be slightly wet and elastic, a curved or dry tail indicates that the fish is not fresh SECRETS OF THE CHEF If you are not going to immediately cook freshly caught fish, you need to take care of its storage. To do this, you can wrap the fish in nettles or soak a cloth napkin in a saline solution and put it in the refrigerator. The carcass can be stored in this form for no more than a day. For long-term storage, it is better to freeze it. You need to defrost the fish slowly, avoiding exposure to hot air or water; first wipe the cutting board with a slice of lemon and then it will not smell like fish. Cut off heads, tails and fins can be used for broth. It is recommended to pepper and salt the fish no earlier than five minutes before cooking. To get rid of the unpleasant smell when frying fish, raw potatoes, cut into slices, added to the frying pan will absorb it. When cooking, it is recommended to add a little milk or three tablespoons of vodka to fish broth or fish soup; the pieces of fish will be softer and tastier, and the broth itself will be more aromatic. CRUCCIANS UNDER A FUR COAT - crucian carp -4 pcs. green apple - 2 pcs. Dijon mustard - 4 tsp salt olive oil herbs The core is removed from the peeled apples, grated and mixed with mustard. Add olive oil, salt and finely chopped parsley to the contents and mix everything. Clean the fish, place the whole fish in a prepared baking dish and pour over the apple-mustard “coat”. Baked at a temperature of 180 degrees. about 40 min. CATFISH STEAK - catfish fillet - 800 g egg - 1 pc. breadcrumbs - vegetable oil flour onions 150 grams potatoes - 1.2 kg. Cut the catfish fillet into pieces up to about 3 cm thick, beat lightly, giving a round shape, salt, pepper, moisten in lezon (raw egg mixed with water) and breaded in breadcrumbs. The catfish is fried in a heated frying pan with vegetable oil. Serve fried or boiled potatoes and fried onions as a side dish.

The most industrious ones should start, for example, with stuffed pike. Alas, you will have to tinker with this fish a lot before you get a great result. To get rid of the smell of mud, the pike needs to be thoroughly washed and left to sit for a quarter of an hour.

in cold salt water. Then the fish should be cleaned of scales, the tail fin should be cut off, the gills should be removed and the skin should be cut just below the head. Next, trim the skin under the fins and remove it, very carefully pulling it towards the tail. After this, use a sharp knife to remove the meat from the backbone, make minced meat from it, stuff the skin with it and tie it with kitchen thread. However, those who are not eager to bother with such a complex procedure can simply buy gutted fish and stuff it with ready-made chopped pike fillets.

Having mastered the wisdom of pike, we begin to prepare trout, which will take much less time to cut. We remove the fins and tail, make cuts along the vertebral bone and around the head, carefully pull out the head along with the bone and remove the fillet from the skin. Unlike pike, trout does not need a lot of spices: their excess kills the delicate taste of the meat and its aroma.

Those who prefer river fish caught by themselves should remember a few simple tips. To deliver

bring the catch home fresh, first remove the gills without damaging the scales, dry the catch in the sun for a couple of minutes, put it in a damp linen bag and cover the contents with nettles or sedges.

Large river fish can be salted - it turns out very tasty. First you need to fillet the catch (be sure to remove the bones) and cut it into pieces. If there are few bones, you don’t have to take them out. To salt 1 kg of fish you need 100 g of coarse salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix salt and sugar, add five peas of chopped allspice and a pinch of ground cinnamon. Then rub the fillet with the mixture, place the fish in a glass or enamel bowl and leave in a cool place for a couple of days. Tender, appetizing fillet is an excellent independent snack, as well as an ingredient in salads.

Double river fish soup

For 4 persons: perch, crucian carp, grayling - 0.5 kg, potatoes - 3 pcs., carrots - 3 pcs., onions - 1 pc., millet - 0.5 cups, salt - 1 tsp, allspice - 3 pcs., bay leaf - 3 pcs.

Clean the fish, gut it, rinse it. Place perch and crucian carp in a saucepan, add 1.5 liters of water, add salt, and put on fire. Cook for half an hour. Remove the fish (you won't need it anymore) and strain the broth. Put millet and carrots cut into rings in it, cook for 15 minutes. Add diced potatoes, whole peeled onion, pepper, bay leaf. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove the onion from the broth and place the grayling cut into large pieces into the pan. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Serve the soup hot.

Calorie content per serving 250 kcal

Cooking time 90 minutes

7 points

Pike perch rolls

For 4 persons: pike perch fillet - 600 g, champignons - 150 g, processed cheese - 1 pc., onion - 1 pc., bell pepper - 1 pc., soy sauce - 1 tbsp. l., lemons - 1 pc., vegetable oil, ground black pepper, salt

Wash the fillet, dry it, sprinkle with lemon juice, rub with salt and pepper, and leave to marinate for 15 minutes. Peel the onion and chop finely. Fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Add finely chopped mushrooms, chopped bell peppers, soy sauce. Fry for 3 minutes. Cool. Add processed cheese grated on a coarse grater and mix. Place the resulting filling on the fillet, roll it into rolls, and carefully tie it with thread so as not to damage the fillet. Place the rolls on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil, add 50 ml of salted water, and place in an oven preheated to 180 °C for 25 minutes.

Calorie content per serving 210 kcal

Cooking time 50 minutes

Difficulty level on a 10-point scale 7 points

Pie with pangasius and pickled cucumber

For 4 persons: pangasius fillet - 500 g, puff pastry yeast - 500 g, onion - 1 pc., eggs - 1 pc., vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l., pickled cucumbers - 1 pc., seasoning for fish, salt

Wash the fillet and dry. Grate the cucumber on a coarse grater and drain off excess liquid. Cut the onion into thin rings. Beat the egg. Defrost the dough, divide into three parts - two large and one small (for decoration). Roll out large parts. Grease a baking sheet with oil and place one layer of dough on it. On this layer - onion rings, on them - fish. Sprinkle it with salt and seasoning. Place another row of onion rings on top and a layer of grated cucumber on top. Cover with a second layer of dough, pinch the edges. Make thin sausages from a small piece of dough, and use them as a decorative net on top of the pie. Brush with beaten egg and place in oven preheated to 190°C for 45 minutes. Serve hot.

Calorie content per serving 350 kcal

Cooking time 90 minutes

Difficulty level on a 10-point scale 7 points

Carp in red wine

For 4 persons: carp - 2 kg, onion - 1 pc., vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l., butter - 50 g, flour - 2 tbsp. l., lemons - 1 pc., dill - 30 g, parsley - 30 g, cilantro - 30 g, semi-sweet red wine - 200 ml, ground black pepper, sugar, salt

Clean the carp, gut it, rinse it, make cuts all over the carcass, rub it with pepper and salt and put it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Fry the onions in butter until transparent, add wine, a pinch of sugar, cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Slice half a lemon. Roll the carp in flour, put lemon slices and herbs inside, fry in vegetable oil on both sides until golden brown. Place in a saucepan, add 0.5 cups of water, place fried onions on top, and place over medium heat. When the contents of the saucepan boil, reduce, cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Serve in a large dish, pour over the gravy in which the carp was boiled, and garnish with herbs.

Calorie content per serving 295 kcal

Cooking time 60 minutes

Difficulty level on a 10-point scale 7 points

Stuffed pike

For 4 persons: pike - 1 kg, white bread - 150 g, milk - 200 ml, eggs - 1 pc., onion - 1 pc., rice - 1 tbsp. l., mayonnaise - 100 g, vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l., dill - 30 g, parsley - 30 g, ground black pepper, salt

Clean the pike without cutting the belly or touching the fins. Separate the head (do not throw it away!), remove the gills. In place of the head, make cuts in a circle, separating the skin. After this, carefully, slowly, remove the skin. Cut the bone at the base of the tail. Gut the carcass. Soak the bread in milk. Finely chop the greens and boil the rice. Grind the fish in a blender. Add bread, onion, herbs, rice, egg, salt and pepper, and grind everything again in a blender. Stuff the pike skin with the resulting mass, without stuffing it too tightly so that it does not burst. Place the stuffed pike on foil greased with vegetable oil, put the head on, grease with mayonnaise, wrap in foil, put in the oven, preheated to 180 ° C, for an hour.

Calorie content per serving 360 kcal

Cooking time 90 minutes

Difficulty level on a 10-point scale 8 points

River perch in creamy onion sauce

For 4 persons: perch fillet - 4 pcs., small frozen fish - 200 g, onions - 3 pcs., 30% cream - 300 ml, eggs - 1 pc., parsley - 50 g, green onions - 50 g, dry white wine — 200 ml, butter — 50 g, carrots — 1 pc., bay leaf — 5 pcs., black peppercorns — 7 pcs., ground black pepper, salt

Wash the perch fillet and cut into portions. Defrost small fish, rinse well, add 700 g of cold water, bring to a boil, add bay leaves and peppercorns and boil over medium heat for 25 minutes. Remove the fish, pepper and bay leaf (they will no longer be needed), strain the broth and cool. Peel the onion and chop finely. Peel the carrots, wash them, cut into slices. Finely chop the green onions. Beat the egg yolk. Melt half the butter in a saucepan. Put onion and perch fillet there, salt and pepper. Pour fish broth there and add white wine. Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove the fish, wrap in foil and leave to cool. Add cream to the mixture in the saucepan and stir. Cook the resulting sauce for 10 minutes over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Before the end of cooking, add the egg yolk and green onions. Cook for another 3 minutes. Add the other half of the butter, stir, remove from heat. Pour the fillet generously with creamy onion sauce. Serve the dish warm.

Calorie content per serving 355 kcal

Cooking time 70 minutes

Difficulty level on a 10-point scale 8 points

Grilled catfish

For 6 persons: catfish fillet - 2 kg, vegetable oil - 50 ml, lemons - 1 pc., salt - 1 tsp, ground white pepper

Cut the catfish fillet into pieces about 3 cm thick and place in a pan. Add salt. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon, pepper, and add 50 g of sunflower oil. Mix everything carefully and put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. After this, place the catfish pieces on the grill grate. Fry each on both sides until done. You can serve with fresh herbs and lemon slices.

Calorie content per serving 178 kcal

Cooking time 40 minutes

Difficulty level on a 10-point scale 5 points

Crucian cutlets

For 4 persons: crucian carp - 1 kg, lard - 100 g, eggs - 1 pc., onion - 1 pc., white bread - 200 g, milk - 50 ml, salt - 0.5 tsp, vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. . l., flour - 3 tbsp. l., ground black pepper

Clean and gut the fish. Cut off tails and heads, rinse in cold water. Place the crucian carp in a saucepan, add a small amount of water, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain the water, cool the fish, remove all bones, disassembling the fish with your hands. Add finely chopped onion, lard, bread soaked in milk, egg yolk, salt and pepper to the fish. Mix everything well in a blender. Place the finished minced meat in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Form small cutlets, roll in flour, fry in a hot frying pan in vegetable oil. Can be served with herbs, olives and a slice of lemon.

Calorie content per serving 290 kcal

Cooking time 50 minutes

Difficulty level on a 10-point scale 7 points

Photo: Thinkstock.com/Gettyimages.ru

It’s in the store that we buy the fish that we like, but when fishing we don’t have to choose much... it’s just the kind of fish that we catch. This time my husband brought small fish. Some were sent to salt, and others decided to be fried. Small river fish scare many people away because they are very bony. There is a way to fix this and end up with delicious fried fish.

How to cook small river fish

Ingredients:

• small river fish fresh
• vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. The fish must be cleaned, the gills pulled out, gutted, washed under running water, if suddenly it turns out to be caviar, then the caviar can be put back into the abdomen.
2. And now the most interesting thing - you need to chop the fish carcass on both sides, i.e. Make fairly frequent transverse cuts with a sharp knife, reaching the spine, but not cutting through the carcass. We cut the entire tail, and the rest of the part up to the head, only the back; the part where the ribs are located does not need to be cut. Thanks to such a fine cut, the bones are crushed, and after cooking they will not be felt at all.
3. The fish must be salted and left for a while. During this time we will prepare for frying.
4. Pour flour onto a wide plate. Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan and put on fire. As soon as the oil is hot, reduce the heat a little. Dip the fish on both sides in flour, place in hot oil, quickly fry on one side, then turn over to the other side. Small fish, and even chopped ones, cook quite quickly, but I still cover it with a lid for about 5 minutes. Then fry without a lid so that it turns out with a crispy crust. Place the finished fish on a plate.

Now you know how to cook small fish without feeling the bones. And even if you don’t have your own fisherman, you can safely buy small river fish, because during the meal we will only have to remove the ribs and spine and enjoy its taste.

Bon appetit!

P.S. You can make some kind of vegetable salad with the fish, for example,