Pike

a brief description of

Pike feels good in water bodies with a high level of acidity. If there is a lack of oxygen in the water, the fish may die as a result of respiratory depression.

What does it look like?

The appearance of the pike is quite interesting: the shape of the body is torpedo-shaped, the mouth is wide, and the head is large and elongated, the lower jaw is pushed forward. Body color can be different and depends on the waters in which the pike lives, as well as how much vegetation there is. The scales can be grayish-yellow, grayish-green and grayish-brown. The dorsal part is darker, and the sides have spots of olive or brown color, forming transverse stripes. Paired fins are orange in color, and unpaired fins are gray-yellow or brown with spots. You can also meet silver pike.

How many teeth does a river pike have? This fish has approximately 300 large teeth, and a huge number of small ones. The teeth, which are located on the lower jaw, are different in size and are used to catch food. The points of small teeth are directed into the pharynx and can sometimes reach the mucous membrane.

What is noteworthy is that the teeth of the lower jaw can change. If a tooth becomes unusable, it is replaced by the one next to it. © https://ydoo.info/product/shchuka.htmlInitially, the latter is quite soft and weak. However, gradually the tooth begins to take root and becomes strong. All teeth are not replaced at once. Some pikes have teeth that change over a period of time. Then the fish stops hunting for large individuals, because the prey can easily escape.

Dimensions and weight

Pike can grow to large sizes. The size of a large pike reaches up to 1.5 meters, and its body weight is 35 kilograms. However, in most cases, the bait catches fish 50-70 centimeters long and weighing no more than 3 kilograms.

How long does it take for a pike to grow? Fish grow throughout their life. With a body length of 1 meter, the mass of an individual can reach 7 kilograms. However, to achieve such parameters, the fish will need 5 years. Therefore, it can be argued that by the size of a pike you can find out its age.

Pike grows only during warm periods. In the cold season, the fish hardly gains weight.

Is this a sea, lake or river fish?

Pike is both a lake and river fish. However, it can also be found in desalinated parts of the sea (for example, in the bays of the Baltic Sea).

Where does he live?

Pike lives in freshwater bodies of Eurasia and North America and can be found in both still water and rivers.

The fish prefers to be near:

shores;
vegetation;
snags, flooded trees;
sandy bottom;
pit, brow.

Pike do not like rocky bottoms or mountain rivers with cold water. Here the fish will not be able to hide to catch its prey.

How bony is a pike?

Pike is a bony fish. It contains many small but very sharp bones. Therefore, in cooking, pike is mainly used as minced meat for cutlets.

Is this a fatty fish?

Pike meat is a low-fat variety. Its fat content is about 4%. Therefore, pike meat is a low-calorie product.

What does it taste like?

The meat of this fish is dense, but quite juicy. Sometimes the taste of pike may taste like mud.

What does it smell like?

The fish has a faint smell of river and algae. However, since pike is a river fish, it often smells like mud and silt.

Product Description

Pike is one of the most common and well-known river fish. Pike meat is dense, it has an easily recognizable taste and aroma, slightly reminiscent of mud. Many people don’t like pike for this.

In Rus', pike was classified as “black”, that is, third-rate fish, since it requires either complex culinary processing or techniques aimed at softening the meat and muffling the smell. By the way, small-sized pike is tastier and better: fish weighing over 4 kilograms are suitable mainly for quenelles and mousses - and also as an object of bragging for the fisherman.

Pike can be found in almost any river or in almost every lake not isolated from rivers. The usual weight of this fish is 5-6 kg, but there are specimens over one and a half meters long and weighing up to 35 kg.

Pike meat contains many useful vitamins and microelements (a lot of potassium, magnesium and phosphorus, B vitamins). It is beneficial for the health of the skin and mucous membranes, nervous and digestive systems, regulates blood sugar, is an antioxidant, and has a positive effect on metabolism in the body. Pike meat is useful for thyroid disease. Regular consumption of pike meat will significantly reduce the risk of heart arrhythmia.

There are no contraindications for consuming pike meat.

Types and varieties

Strange as it may seem, all pikes (fish of the Esocidae family) belong to the order Salmonidae. It must be said that there are not so many species of pike.

Our common pike (Esocidae lucius) is found in the fresh waters of Eurasia and America, the Amur pike (Esocidae reicherti) - in the Amur and Sakhalin, respectively.

Several more species of pike can be caught in the waters of North America and Canada, where they have always been a common food of the Indians.

How to cook

The most popular recipes with pike are whole stuffed pike; aspic; pike baked in the oven; pike cutlets. To stuff a pike, remove the skin from it, separate the meat from the backbone, mix the meat with vegetables (cereals, mushrooms, etc.), and then carefully stuff the skin with this minced meat.

Pike has a specific taste and smell, which traditionally they try to muffle during cooking. One of the serious “mufflers” is acid, which is why pike is often either served with a sour sauce, or acidified before cooking, or cooked in an acidic environment (for example, with sauerkraut, sour cream).

The meat of large fish (more than 4 kilograms) is usually used for mousses and cutlets. The best part of a big fish is close to the head. One of the advantages of pike meat is its significant stickiness; therefore, cutlets can be made unusually tender and airy by adding significant amounts of light ingredients (milk or cream mixed with white bread crumbs or ready-made couscous) without compromising the structure.

Season

Pike is caught almost all year round, and in different seasons it bites with varying degrees of activity and on different baits. The golden time for winter ice fishing is March , the main pike season is August (pike can be caught everywhere, with any bait in any quantity), as well as September and October (active fishing for large pike).

How to select and store

When buying fresh pike, you should smell it: fresh fish smells like river water and algae. Fresh fish have bright, bulging eyes. The gills of fresh fish are bright red (in old fish they are faded or brick-colored). Fresh pike is firm to the touch. It has smooth, shiny and slightly moist scales. There are no brown spots on the carcass of fresh fish, which indicate the beginning of the decomposition process. The carcass of fresh fish should be covered with a thin layer of transparent mucus. The tail of a fresh pike does not curve upward. Finally, the fresh fish looks as if it were alive, except that it is not jumping on the counter.

Most of these rules (except perhaps the last one) also apply when buying chilled fish lying on ice. When pressing on the back of a chilled pike, there should be no hole left. A hole that does not disappear for a long time indicates that the fish was repeatedly frozen and thawed.

Chilled pike fillets should be firm. If the fillet is left on the skin, it should look the same as fresh fish - elastic and shiny.

It is better to avoid buying pre-marinated fish: seasonings hide the shortcomings of the fish fillet.

Fans of fresh pike know that this fish does not like the freezer too much: after lying in the freezer, the pike loses some of its taste and smell. However, you can also buy frozen pike fillets in stores, which are suitable for fish cutlets and also for frying. Frozen fish should only be purchased in sealed packaging, otherwise the fish will dry out quickly.

The washed and gutted fish should be placed in layers in a container and closed. Can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 2-3 days.

You can also store fresh and chilled pike in the freezer (however, as was said, the taste and aroma of the fish are partially lost in the freezer). Fish can be stored in the freezer for no more than 3 months. It is best to defrost fish in the refrigerator, but never in water, as this will spoil its taste and texture.

Types of pike

Pike has many varieties that are distributed throughout the globe. However, according to official data, there are approximately 6 species of this fish in total, which are somewhat different in appearance.

The following types of pike are distinguished:

Aquitaine. This type of fish was bred quite recently - in 2014. The individual is found in fresh water bodies of France.
American. Also called redfin pike. The head is short, the body length is 45 centimeters, and the weight is 1.5 kilograms. The fish lives only 10 years.
Amurskaya. Swims in the reservoirs of Sakhalin and in the Amur basin. The scales are golden or silver. The upper part of the body is dotted with spots. The fish can reach 115 cm in length and weigh approximately 20 kg.
Ordinary. The body is about 1.5 meters long, weight no more than 10 kilograms. Found in rivers, lakes and other fresh water bodies. The scales can be yellow-gray, brown and gray-green. The abdomen is light.
Black. Also called striped. Distributed in water bodies of North America. The length of the body is 60 centimeters, and the weight is 4 kilograms. The head is short above the eyes and has dark stripes on the sides. Eats crustaceans and invertebrates.
South. Found exclusively in fresh water bodies of Italy. The appearance is the same as that of the common pike.

Grass and bottom pike also stand out. The latter prefers to swim almost at the bottom of rivers or in the pits of reservoirs where there are no channels. Her body is short and thick. The grass pike, unlike the bottom one, weighs little and is found near coastal zones, where there is a lot of vegetation. The body is thin and elongated. With a length of 1 meter, grass pike weighs only 3 kilograms, and the mass of bottom fish can reach almost 10 kilograms.

Verkhoglator fish

The rivers and lakes of the Far East are home to numerous wonderful species of fish.
So, in Lake Khanka, the Amur River, the Ussuri River and many lakes in the floodplains of these rivers, such a supergazer fish is found. The fish is indeed very interesting, no matter how you look at it. It is unusual and exotic for a fisherman from the European part. The Verkhoglyad grows to a decent size, is very strong and makes an impressive trophy. So, let's take a closer look at the topgazer fish. A group of fishermen revealed the name of the secret bait during interrogation. Category: regional news.

Many fishermen from the European part of our country, when they see a topgazer, will immediately say: what are you soaring to us, it’s a saber fish! Indeed, when I first saw this fish, I thought the same thing. Apparently, the leopard and the common saberfish, which are familiar to us, are relatives. But, if you take and directly compare these two fish, there are plenty of differences (small differences in body shape, size and location of fins). Also, the topgazer grows to a very respectable size. It can be up to a meter long and weigh about 10 kg! I would say that there is something in this fish from the asp. In general, down to the family (cyprinid) they are relatives. And the clans are already different (Schekhon, Asp, Sungariki).

How is it different from other fish?

Pike is often confused with many river representatives. However, this fish still differs from other individuals in some respects.

From musky fish

The muskellunge, like the common pike, belongs to the pike family, but is found only in the waters of North America. In addition, this is a very large fish, the body length of which can reach 180 centimeters and weight – 31 kilograms. The color of the musky's scales is a mixture of brown, green and silver. Unlike pike, dark spots predominate on its light body, and its fins are better defined.

Muskeongs live for almost 20 years.

From pike perch

The difference between pike and pike perch is primarily that the latter belongs to the perch family.

Pike perch is always found at depth, near logs or stones. The teeth of this fish are much larger, sharper and stronger than those of pike. The dorsal fin is quite large and sharp. The shade of the scales is gray-green and not as bright as that of pike.

Pike likes to hunt in the daytime, and pike perch at night, since the fish sees well in the dark. The pike perch has a narrow throat, so it chooses narrow-bodied fish as food.

How to choose?

To choose the right pike, you need to consider:

Smell. Fresh fish smells like algae. An old specimen will smell like mud.
Eyes and gills. The eyes should be protruding and not cloudy. The gills are a rich red hue. If the fish is stale, the gills will be brick or faded in color.
Scales and tail. The scales should be moist and shiny. The tail is without curves.
Skin. The skin of the pike should be dense, without brown spots. If any appear, it means that the fish has begun to decompose. The surface of the skin should be covered with a thin mucous layer.

When purchasing chilled pike, you need to press on the carcass. If the depression quickly returns to its previous shape, it means the fish is fresh. If the pit does not disappear for a long time, then the product has been defrosted and frozen several times. The chilled fillet should also be elastic and the meat dense.

In this video you can get general tips on choosing fish in the store.

How to store?

In order for the fish to remain fresh for a long time, you need to know how to properly store pike while fishing, as well as at home in the refrigerator and freezer.

Conditions

To store pike in the refrigerator compartment, fresh fish must be cleaned and gutted. After this, the pike needs to be washed and divided into portions or left whole.

The uncleaned product should be placed in a container and stored on the last shelf of the refrigerator at a temperature of -5 degrees. You can also store pike in the refrigerator compartment in a plastic container. In this case, sprinkle the fish with ice cubes and cover with a towel.

In addition, pike can be frozen whole, in the form of fillets or minced meat. Before sending it to the freezer compartment, the carcass must be cleaned and the insides removed. In its entirety, the cleaned pike is placed in a bag and frozen. If the fillet is frozen, the meat must be separated from the skin and bones, cut into pieces and placed in a bag. When freezing minced meat, you need to do exactly the same as with fillet. Only in this case the meat still needs to be twisted through a meat grinder or chopped in a blender.

How to store pike while fishing? To ensure that the caught fish still remains fresh upon returning home, you can use several methods:

Aquarium with aerator. The container is filled with water from the reservoir, where the caught fish is then placed and stored until arriving home.
In the boat. Fill the boat with water and put the catch there. In this case, it is imperative to place nettles on top of the fish, which will keep the catch fresh for a long time.
Kukan. The device is made of a strong cord with metal attachments on which the catch will be strung. The end of the kukan is attached to the tree. As a result, the fish will remain in the water as long as necessary.
Zadok. Used only for small individuals. First, the fish must be placed in a cage, and then lowered into water for further storage. In such a device, the fish falls asleep, but still remains alive.
Thermal container. Cooling elements are attached to the bottom and walls of the container, which lower the temperature.

Each of the proposed options will ensure the freshness of the fish for a long period of time.

Term

Pike can be stored in the refrigerator in a plastic container for no more than 3 days. If the fish is unpeeled, the shelf life of the product is reduced to 1 day.

How long can pike be stored in the freezer? At a temperature of -18 degrees, fillets and minced meat are stored for approximately 12 months; in general, the fish remains edible for no more than 6 months.

The correct and easy way to clean, gut and cut fresh fish

If it is possible to clean the fish outside and not in the apartment, it is better to do this, because there will be no problems with cleaning the kitchen due to scales and splashes. When cleaning pike in the kitchen, you will need to perform a number of other steps, regardless of whether the pike you are using is frozen or fresh.

Remove all kitchen utensils from the table where you will be cutting fish, and cover the stove and furniture with plastic wrap or newspapers.
Empty the sink of dishes and clean it. You will need to soak and wash the pike in it. A large bowl will also work.
Prepare a large glass or plastic cutting board. Wooden is not suitable, as odors are absorbed into it. To prevent the kitchen board from moving on the table, you need to place a damp cloth under it.
It is necessary to use a pre-sharpened narrow knife or a special tool for cleaning fish.
To comply with safety rules, wear gloves - they will protect your hands from damage and allow you to more firmly hold slippery fish during the cleaning process.
Pour salt into a small box. You will need it to powder the tail. Thanks to this, it will not slip out during operation.

Delicious recipe! Pancakes with meat recipe from Yulia Vysotskaya

Tools for cleaning and cutting pike must be prepared in advance

How to remove mucus, clean and gut fresh and live pike

When cleaning fish, you need to be careful, as you can get hurt on its teeth or gills.

Wash the pike well under the tap to remove mucus.
Fill half a sink or bowl with water and place the fish in it.
Pour boiling water over the carcass. Not all at once, but gradually. First, clean one side, and then the other.

If you carefully pour boiling water over the pike, this will make the process of removing the scales easier.

You need to remove the scales from the pike in the direction from the tail to the head.

It is convenient to cut off all the fins of a pike with a knife or scissors.

Cut the cartilage located between the stomach and head, make an incision on the stomach. You need to put the fish with its head towards you and use a knife to make a puncture near the head, cut the cut line all the way to the tail. The puncture should be shallow so as not to cause damage to the internal organs, otherwise the abdominal cavity will be stained with the contents of the viscera.

To clean the abdominal cavity of a pike, you need to make a cut with a knife from head to tail.

You can carefully remove the entrails from the pike using a narrow and long knife.

How to fillet and mince fish

Most housewives know that pike fillets make amazing minced fish for cutlets and juicy battered dishes. To make them really tasty, you should pay attention to the procedure when cutting pike into fillets.

Remove the head from the carcass.
Place the fish with its back to itself, make a neat cut along the ridge. Perform these steps several times until the cut reaches the ribs, being careful not to damage the bones of the ribs, and do not cut the fillet along with the bones.
Raise the knife and carefully cut the fillet from the pike ribs.
If necessary, remove the fin and pull out the bones using tweezers.
Lastly, remove the skin. The piece is placed meat side up, after which a knife is inserted between the fillet and the skin and the skin is carefully cut off at an angle. You need to hold the skin with your hands.

To properly fillet a pike, work must begin with a cut on the ridge

How to prepare?

Before cooking, the pike must be prepared. To do this, the carcass is cleaned, mucus and entrails are removed, and the gills are cut off.

How to quickly remove scales?

To quickly and easily remove scales from pike in an apartment, it is necessary that the fish be fresh or alive, since scales are more difficult to remove from a frozen carcass.

How to clean frozen pike from scales? To do this, you will need to secure the head of the fish with something so that it does not slip during cleaning. Next, holding the tail, you need to cut off the skin with scales in a thin layer with a sharp knife. You need to move from the tail to the head.

Boiling water

To properly clean a pike from scales with boiling water, you need to hold the carcass by the tail. The fish is doused with boiling water, first on one side and then on the other. This will make it easier for the scales to come away from the skin.

After thermal exposure, the fish must be cleaned in the same way as described above.

With a knife

It is necessary to clean the scales with a knife from the tail part against their growth, holding the fish by the tail.

Under no circumstances should you put your fingers into the fish's mouth, as there are sharp teeth there that can seriously injure you.

To prevent the scales from scattering around the room, the fish can be placed in water. This way you can easily clean fresh pike at home.

Stocking

To remove the skin from a pike along with its scales, you can use a method called “stocking”:

To begin with, the carcass should be cleaned of scales and washed under running water.
Then make cuts near the gills. The place that connects the back and head must be left intact. Gut the fish and wash it.
Pry the skin near the head and pull all the way to the tail.

If the skin is difficult to separate from the meat in some places, it can be lightly trimmed with a knife.

How to remove mucus from pike?

To get rid of mucus, the pike must be thoroughly rinsed under running water. For the best effect, the water should be warm or hot.

How to cut gills?

It is necessary to cut out the gills with extreme caution, as they have sharp spines that can cause injury.

You need to cut off the gills using a narrow and long knife. To do this, you will need to carefully protrude the holes located above the gills and trim them. You can also remove the gills with scissors.

How to gut and cut?

To properly and quickly gut and then cut up fresh pike, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

After cleaning the scales, you need to rip open the abdominal part, removing the insides and black film.
In this case, it is necessary to act extremely carefully, without touching the gallbladder. If it breaks, the meat will taste bitter. If the bubble does break, the fillet should be thoroughly rinsed under water.
Then you need to remove the gills and blood clots inside the carcass.
Upon completion of gutting, the fish must be thoroughly rinsed with water.

After removing the entrails, you need to fillet the pike. In principle, this is not difficult to do. However, the cutting of the carcass is carried out differently depending on what is planned to be prepared from the pike in the future (for example, cutlets, steaks).

How to cut boneless pike:

Cut off the head.
Place the fish on its side and make a longitudinal cut on the back along the spine line. In this case, the dorsal fin should be under the blade.
Deepen the knife under the fillet, reaching the ribs. Next, you need to go along the length of the cut again without cutting the bone.
Using a knife, separate the fillet from the rib bones on both sides. You need to cut the meat, moving from the head to the tail (due to this, the fillet comes off much easier and faster).
You can pick out bones from pike fillets either with your fingers or with tweezers if the bones are too small.

If you cut pike in this way, the fillet is suitable for frying steaks, as well as for preparing minced meat for cutlets.

How to cut pike for stuffing? To remove scales, in this case you cannot use boiling water or freeze the fish. It is better to use a sharp knife or scraper to clean the fish. The fins are removed at the cleaning stage or directly during skinning. After this, it is necessary to make an incision slightly below the gills and remove the insides along with the film. In this case, you need to try not to damage the abdominal area. After removing the insides, the carcass should be thoroughly washed inside and out. After this, you can start stuffing the pike.

How to get rid of the smell of mud and silt?

If your pike smells like mud or silt, you can get rid of such odors in several ways:

Mix 3 tablespoons of salt in a liter of water and place the fish there for 3 hours.
In a liter of water, dilute 3 tablespoons of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar. Instead of vinegar, you can use lemon juice. Dip the pike in the resulting solution for a couple of hours.
You can also rub the surface of the carcass with lemon.

There is another proven method for eliminating the unpleasant smell of mud. To do this, the fish should be cleaned, washed, cut into pieces and placed in a container. Sprinkle the steaks with chopped bay leaves and cover completely with warm water. In this form, the pike should lie for 60 minutes. After this, the liquid must be drained. There is no need to rinse the carcass.

How to defrost fish?

Frozen pike must be transferred from the freezer to the refrigerator compartment on the lowest shelf. The fish will defrost overnight. This method is considered the most correct, although it takes a lot of time.

If waiting 8–10 hours is not possible, you can put the carcass in a bag, tie it, put it in a container and place it under a stream of cold water. In about a couple of hours the fish will defrost. However, this method is not entirely water-efficient. To avoid wasting water resources, the fish, wrapped in a bag, is placed in a bowl of cold water. But in this case, the fluid will have to be changed every 20 minutes.

Pike is not suitable for defrosting in the microwave.

How to marinate?

To cook pike deliciously, you need to know how to marinate it properly. Each cooking method has its own nuances.

How to marinate pike for baking in the oven? The cleaned and cut into pieces carcass should be poured with the juice of half a lemon and sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste. Place a couple of lemon slices and a dried thyme sprig on top and inside of each piece of fish. Wrap the pieces in foil and place in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.

How to marinate pike for frying in a frying pan:

To do this, you can use lemon juice or soy sauce, into which pieces of fish are dipped and marinated for 30 minutes. If you use soy sauce, then you do not need to salt the steaks.
You can also sprinkle the carcass with salt and pepper to taste and leave for 20 minutes to marinate.
Mix lemon juice with 80 ml of olive oil, salt and spices for fish at your discretion. Lubricate the surface of the fish with the resulting mixture and place the carcass in the refrigerator compartment for 30 minutes.

How to marinate pike for barbecue on the grill? In a large bowl, combine 650 grams of chopped zucchini, 150 grams of sun-dried tomatoes, a couple of chopped garlic cloves, 100 grams of onion sliced into rings, freshly squeezed orange juice, a couple of chopped rosemary sprigs, 20 grams of honey and 60 milliliters of olive oil. Place the fish pieces into the resulting marinade and mix. The pike is marinated for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

How to marinate pike for hot smoking:

Mix a tablespoon of salt with black and allspice, dried dill and Provençal herbs (spices are taken in ½ tsp each). The amount of ingredients for the marinade is indicated for 1 kg of fish.
Thoroughly rub the carcass with the mixture both inside and outside.
Place the workpiece in a bag and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

How to marinate pike for cold smoking? Stir approximately 12 grams of salt in a liter of water and place the fish in it. The liquid should completely cover the carcass. The pike is marinated in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

How and what to stuff?

You can stuff pike with cream cheese, eggs and fresh mushrooms. Often, stewed vegetables are placed inside the carcass along with pieces of lard and white loaf pulp. Lard makes it possible to saturate the fish with fat, and the skin remains juicy.

How to properly stuff pike? It is most convenient to do this from the side of the ridge. The scales must be cleaned from the head. Make a couple of cuts along the spine. Carefully push the meat away, pulling the backbone along with the fins and entrails towards you. Then the fish is stuffed with prepared products.

Stuffing frozen pike will not work. To do this, the fish will have to be defrosted.

How to make minced pike?

To make minced pike, the fish is first cleaned, gutted and filleted. The meat, of course, should be removed from the bones, and then twisted through a meat grinder or chopped with a blender.

It is advisable to mince the minced fish through a meat grinder a couple of times. This is necessary in order to completely eliminate small bones that may have been missed when removing bones from the fillet. This will make the minced meat more tender and juicy.

If onions are added to the twisted meat, the minced meat will have to be twisted again along with the onion.

Cleaning fresh pike from scales

There are several ways to clean pike without problems. The following tips will help you quickly clean it at home with the least amount of effort and time.

Lemon and boiling water

To speed up the process of cleaning fish from scales, you can use the following recommendations:

Fresh pike is the fastest and easiest to clean. With frozen specimens, the situation is somewhat more complicated: you must first wait until the scales thaw, and only then start cleaning.
Rubber gloves are suitable for work, over which it is recommended to wear cotton gloves to avoid slipping and injure your hands.
If the pike has a specific river smell, you need to rub it with lemon juice.
Using boiling water when cleaning this fish also helps to get rid of the top scaly layer effortlessly. You can pour boiling water over one half of the fish first. After it is cleaned, do the same with the other half. A sink or deep bowl is suitable for this operation. The second option is to soak the fish in a bowl of warm water and vinegar.

Such simple tips will help the housewife quickly clean the pike and begin preparing the dish.

Fish cleaning

To master the skill of how to quickly clean a pike from scales, a video will come to the rescue and visually present the whole process. The sequence of actions when cleaning pike is as follows:

First of all, the fish should be washed well.
As already mentioned, a wide, sharp knife or scraper should be used to remove scales. Holding the pike by the tail, you need to use prying movements to move the scales in the direction from the tail to the head. The knife should be held at a slight angle so that the small husks remain on the knife blade and do not fly apart.
Using scissors or the same knife, trim the fins of the fish.
Then it is necessary to cut the cartilage located between the head and abdomen. You need to place the fish with its head towards you and make a puncture with a knife near the head, after which, moving towards the tail, gradually cut the abdominal cavity. This must be done extremely carefully so as not to damage the internal organs of the fish.
The entrails should be removed and the gills removed using a knife (usually a long and narrow knife is used for this purpose).
At the very end, the air bubble should be removed, and the white film that runs along the entire ridge should be removed.
Finally, the cut pike carcass must be thoroughly washed both from the inside and from the outside.

By acquiring new skills on how to clean pike from scales, this process will seem completely uncomplicated.

Cooking methods

Pike dishes are highly valued in cooking because they are tasty, juicy and aromatic. There are many ways to prepare fish, from baking in an oven, frying in a frying pan, boiling in a saucepan to smoking, drying and salting.

How to bake the whole thing in the oven?

To bake a whole pike in the oven, you will need:

Thoroughly rub the cleaned carcass with fish spices, sprinkle with lemon juice (30 ml) and leave in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Mix 20 grams of chopped fresh parsley with 10 grams of dried and add to 120 grams of sour cream. Lubricate the fish with the resulting mixture.
Grease the foil with vegetable oil, place the workpiece on it and completely wrap the fish.
Place the baking sheet with the fish into a preheated oven. Bake the pike at 200 degrees until fully cooked.

How long does it take to bake pike in foil? The fish will be ready in 30 minutes. However, in order for the surface of the pike to become golden brown, you need to remove the foil and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

How long does it take to bake stuffed pike in the oven? Everything will depend on the size of the fish. A carcass weighing 1 kilogram will be baked for 60 minutes.

How to fry in a frying pan?

To give the dish a more refined and unusual taste, you can fry fresh pike in flour, batter or sour cream.

How to properly fry pike in pieces:

Cut a kilogram of cleaned carcass into portions no more than 2 cm wide.
Mix 100 grams of flour with a teaspoon of salt. Roll each piece in flour.
Place the fish in a hot frying pan with oil. Fry over medium heat on both sides until golden brown.

How to fry pike fillet so that it is juicy? About a few minutes before cooking, you can add a few pieces of butter to the pan. This will give the steaks juiciness. You can also fry pieces of fish without flour, but at the end add sour cream and simmer a little.

To fry frozen pike, the fish must first be thawed, but only halfway, and then you can start frying.

How to stew in a slow cooker?

To stew pike in a slow cooker, you will need:

Pour 80 ml of vegetable oil into the bowl of the device and add chopped onions. Fry it on the “Fry” mode until translucent.
Then add fish pieces to the vegetable, add salt and continue frying for another 10 minutes.
Dilute 30 grams of tomato paste in 350 ml of water and pour into a container, add 3 allspice peas and 6 pieces of black pepper. Mix everything. Close the multicooker and turn on the “Stew” program.

Stewed pike will be ready in 30 minutes. It is served both cold and hot.

How to steam?

To steam pike, you will need to clean the fish, gut it and divide it into portions.

Place the pike in a steamer bowl along with chopped onions (a couple of pieces) and carrots (a piece). Season the ingredients with salt and pepper to taste. Fish should be under vegetables. However, if the pieces are large, then they can be laid out in layers, alternating with vegetables.

How long to steam pike? The fish is cooked for 50 minutes.

How to cook?

To cook pike in a pan, you will need to cut the fish, remove the entrails and cut into pieces. Then the blanks are sent to a container, where chopped onions and carrots are also added. The ingredients are salted and completely filled with water. It is also permissible to add a little spice to taste.

Cook the fish over medium heat, constantly skimming off the foam. In 30 minutes the pike will be cooked.

How to pickle fresh pike?

To pickle fresh pike you will need:

Clean the carcass, gut it and wash it. After this, the fish is divided into pieces.
The top of the workpiece should be thoroughly rubbed with salt. Add black pepper and spices to the inside of the abdominal area at your discretion.
The fish is placed in a pan, covered with a lid, on top of which a pressure is placed.
The pike is sent to a cool room for 5 days.

Salted pike should be stored in the refrigerator. The shelf life of the product is 30 days.

How to dry it?

To dry pike at home, you need:

Cut the cleaned fillet into strips.
Heat 1.5 liters of water, add 5 tablespoons of salt and stir thoroughly until the salt is completely dissolved. You should also add spices to the marinade to taste. Place the fish strips in the resulting solution for 5 hours.
Cover the dryer tray with paper and place it on top of the workpiece. The pike is dried at a temperature of 60 degrees until fully cooked.

How long will it take to cook the fish? The pike should be dried in an electric dryer for 10 hours.

How to wilt?

To dry pike, the fish should be cleaned, gutted, gills cut off and the carcass washed. Then make cuts along the ridge and open the fish. You don't have to cut off the head.

After this comes the salting stage. To do this, you need to rub the carcass inside and out with salt. Place the fish in a bowl, adding another layer of salt on top. The container is covered, and pressure is placed on top. Pike is salted for 3 to 20 days, depending on how many fish are in the bowl. After this, the pike should be thoroughly washed and soaked in cold water (the liquid should be changed every couple of hours). As soon as the fish starts to surface, the pike is wet.

Now the fish needs to dry. To do this, it is hung by its tail. In the morning, the carcass should be sprinkled with vinegar and wrapped in a piece of gauze. In this form, the pike is dried for 3 days. The place should be dark.

How to smoke?

There are two ways to smoke pike: cold and hot. However, before smoking, the fish must be marinated (how to do this was described above in the corresponding section).

Hot way

To smoke pike using the hot method, you will need to pour three handfuls of sawdust into the bottom of the smokehouse. Send the smokehouse to the fire. Place a tray on top of the wood chips where the fat will drain. Large pieces of fish are placed on slats, and small pieces are placed on skewers. After this, the smokehouse is covered with a lid.

When white smoke appears, the fish should be smoked for 30 minutes. After this, the lid should be removed to allow excess moisture to escape. When the fish dries, the lid must be closed again. After this, the pike is cooked for another 20 minutes.

You can determine the readiness of the fish by the meat. It should be matte and white.

Cold way

Cold smoking takes much longer than hot smoking. After salting, the pike should be hung out in the fresh air to dry. Then the carcasses can be sent to the smokehouse.

When the fish is placed in the smoking chamber, it is necessary to light a fire in the firebox and close the smokehouse for three days. If the carcasses are small, then the cooking process will last no more than a day and a half.

The temperature in the smokehouse should not exceed +30 degrees.

How to cook on the grill?

To cook pike shish kebab on a grill or coals, first marinate the fish in a convenient way (how to do this was described above). Some chefs do not marinate pike for grilling.

To grill pike on a grill, you need to:

Wrap the fish steaks in foil and place on the grill.
Small pieces of pike will be ready after 20 minutes. If the fish is fried whole, the cooking process will take approximately 60 minutes.

Pike baked on a charcoal grill is prepared as follows. Place the steaks on a grill greased with vegetable oil and place on the coals. In this case, the carcass pieces will have to be constantly turned over so that they are evenly fried. The pike shish kebab will be ready in 10 minutes.

How to cook over a fire?

To cook pike over a fire, clean the fish, remove the entrails and cut the carcass into pieces. Place the steaks in a deep bowl. Add 250 grams of sour cream and seasoning to taste. Cut the onions into rings and add to the rest of the ingredients.

Place 800 grams of potatoes on the fire. Thread the fish pieces onto skewers and place on the coals. The pike will be ready when it is completely covered with a golden brown crust.

How to cook pike liver?

Pike liver is often baked in the oven, fried in a frying pan in batter, along with mushrooms, cream, herbs or vegetables, and also cooked in a slow cooker and microwave.

Pike liver tastes like pollock or cod liver. However, it is much more tender and not very greasy.

You can also make pate for sandwiches from pike liver. The product is included in salads or used for cooking fish soup.

The correct and easy way to clean, gut and cut fresh fish

Remove all kitchen utensils from the table where you will be cutting fish, and cover the stove and furniture with plastic wrap or newspapers.
Empty the sink of dishes and clean it. You will need to soak and wash the pike in it. A large bowl will also work.
Prepare a large glass or plastic cutting board. Wooden is not suitable, as odors are absorbed into it. To prevent the kitchen board from moving on the table, you need to place a damp cloth under it.
It is necessary to use a pre-sharpened narrow knife or a special tool for cleaning fish.
To comply with safety rules, wear gloves - they will protect your hands from damage and allow you to more firmly hold slippery fish during the cleaning process.
Pour salt into a small box. You will need it to powder the tail. Thanks to this, it will not slip out during operation.

Tools for cleaning and cutting pike must be prepared in advance

How to remove mucus, clean and gut fresh and live pike

When cleaning fish, you need to be careful, as you can get hurt on its teeth or gills.

Wash the pike well under the tap to remove mucus.
Fill half a sink or bowl with water and place the fish in it.
Pour boiling water over the carcass. Not all at once, but gradually. First, clean one side, and then the other.

Delicious recipe!
Frozen stuffed peppers preparation If you carefully pour boiling water over the pike, this will make it easier to remove the scales

You need to remove the scales from the pike in the direction from the tail to the head.

It is convenient to cut off all the fins of a pike with a knife or scissors.

To clean the abdominal cavity of a pike, you need to make a cut with a knife from head to tail.

You can carefully remove the entrails from the pike using a narrow and long knife.

How to fillet and mince fish

Remove the head from the carcass.
Place the fish with its back to itself, make a neat cut along the ridge. Perform these steps several times until the cut reaches the ribs, being careful not to damage the bones of the ribs, and do not cut the fillet along with the bones.
Raise the knife and carefully cut the fillet from the pike ribs.
If necessary, remove the fin and pull out the bones using tweezers.
Lastly, remove the skin. The piece is placed meat side up, after which a knife is inserted between the fillet and the skin and the skin is carefully cut off at an angle. You need to hold the skin with your hands.

To properly fillet a pike, work must begin with a cut on the ridge

How to decorate beautifully?

To make the pike on the holiday table look not only beautiful, but also appetizing, you can decorate it.

If the fish was baked whole, then to serve it you need to choose a wide plate covered with lettuce leaves on which the pike will be laid out. The fish can be laid out either flat or in a ring.
Empty spaces on the plate can be filled with canapes of olives or black olives. You can make stars or flowers from carrots. To do this, you need to cut five longitudinal strips in a circle on the vegetable. The result will be a flower with five petals.
For stuffed pike, you can make a crown, for example, from a whole apple skin, cut in a thin layer.
The dish can also be decorated with grant grains, cucumber slices, sweet pepper slices, radishes or crab sticks.

In addition, you can make patterns on the pike using mayonnaise or some kind of sauce. To do this, you can use a pastry bag with nozzles that will help create a beautiful pattern on the fish.

There are a lot of options for serving fish at the table. It all depends on the imagination of the cook.

What spices and seasonings are suitable?

Spicy, fragrant and aromatic herbs are suitable for pike. The main thing is not to overdo it with seasonings, otherwise you can spoil the taste of the dish.

For frying it is recommended to take:

basil, dried dill;
ground nutmeg, thyme, coriander;
lemon juice;
lemon balm, thyme;
garlic.

For a stew, it is advisable to take dill, onion, mint, and mustard.

Cinnamon, turmeric and curry are not suitable for stewing pike.

To cook pike, you can use Provençal herbs, celery, pepper, bay leaf and onions.

When baked in the oven, fish goes well with thyme, coriander, turmeric, bay leaf, and marjoram.

For smoking, you can use tarragon, saffron, paprika, mustard or celery.

What side dishes should I serve with?

Fried pike is accompanied by a side dish in the form of mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, boiled potatoes with fried vegetables. Fish also goes well with vegetable salads dressed with olive oil.

It is best to serve beans in tomato sauce as a side dish for pike fish cutlets, since tomatoes perfectly complement the taste of fish. Fried cutlets also go well with vegetable salad and couscous.

Pike baked in the oven is best served as a side dish with boiled rice or risotto with vegetables. In addition, you can prepare vegetable stew.

Stewed pike goes well with a side dish such as mashed potatoes and green peas. You can also serve sliced fruits or vegetables and salads with the stew.

Pike in tomato sauce

Fish prepared according to this recipe will be an excellent companion to rice or mashed potatoes. For cooking you will need: ● pike – 1.2 kg; ● a glass of whole grain flour; ● tomato paste – 35 g; ● onion head – 1 pc.; ● medium carrot; ● half a bunch of dill; ● boiled water – ⅓ glass; ● coarse salt; ● ground pepper; ● vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. The pike must be rinsed and cut. Wash the fish and cut it into two parts along the ridge. Carefully remove all large bones. Cut the fillets into small pieces. Roll all pieces in flour, salt and pepper on each side. Fry the prepared pike in a hot frying pan with butter until cooked. While the fish is cooking, wash the vegetables. Cut the onion into cubes and grate the carrots on a medium grater. Send them together to simmer in another frying pan. Then chop the greens. A couple of minutes before the vegetables are ready, add tomato paste, herbs, water, salt, spices and a few teaspoons of flour. Stir until the flour dissolves, leave on the stove for a couple more minutes. Add the finished filling to the pan with the pike and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Health benefits and harms

The benefits of pike for the human body are due to the presence of a large amount of vitamins and minerals in the chemical composition of the fish.

What are the benefits of pike meat:

cardiac activity is normalized, and blood vessels are strengthened;
immune defense increases;
the risk of developing diabetes mellitus is prevented;
the functioning of the pancreas, liver, intestines and stomach improves;
blood cholesterol levels decrease.

It is better for pregnant women to avoid eating pike, since the fish lives in fresh water for a long time, which is why heavy metals can accumulate in it.

While breastfeeding, you can eat pike, but not more than 2 times a week. A nursing mother can introduce pike into her diet only 8 weeks after birth. Fish can be boiled, stewed or steamed. Fried pike is not allowed to be eaten.

Is it possible to give pike to children? Pediatricians allow such fish to be included in children's diets, but not more than 2 times a week.

At what age is pike suitable for children? As soon as your child turns 10 months old, you can give him fish to try. The serving size should not exceed 10 grams per day. If the baby does not have an allergic reaction to the new product, the dose can be gradually increased to 70 grams. All fish dishes must be steamed, boiled or stewed.

How to cook pike for a child? Fish should only be thawed in salt water. After this, the carcass is cleaned and bones are removed (if fillet was purchased, you still need to check the meat for small bones). Pike is steamed or boiled in a pan in water. Cooking time – 25 minutes.

After cooking, the fish must be twisted. The resulting minced meat must also be rubbed through a sieve so that there are no bones left in the meat. Minced meat is mixed with vegetables or puree.

When the child turns 1.5 years old, you can prepare fish cutlets.

In addition to pike meat, the caviar of this fish is also useful. The benefits of pike caviar are as follows:

improves potency;
increases hemoglobin levels;
has a positive effect on brain function;
prevents the risk of developing atherosclerosis.

However, you should not consume caviar excessively, since it is quite salty. This product is especially contraindicated for hypertension and joint diseases.

Pike liver also has benefits. The offal strengthens the immune system, helps to lose extra pounds, saturates the body with vitamins, and also has a beneficial effect on the functioning of blood vessels and the heart.

Pike liver can be harmful if:

pregnancy;
breastfeeding;
gastrointestinal diseases;
diabetes mellitus;
stomach ulcer.

The harm from pike meat will be negligible. It is contraindicated to eat fish if you have an individual intolerance. Also, you do not need to consume the product in large quantities.

Pike with diseases

Although pike is good for the body, this product must be eaten with extreme caution, especially if there are diseases for which fish must be consumed in moderation.

Diabetes

For diabetes mellitus, fish is an essential source of vitamins, amino acids and minerals. However, pike dishes should be boiled, stewed or steamed.

The daily dose of the product should not exceed 150 grams.

Pancreatitis

With pancreatitis, pike can be eaten if protein foods are allowed to be included in the patient’s diet. To do this, the fish is boiled or steamed. After this, the product is ground into minced meat, preparing cutlets, meatballs or soufflé from it. You should not drink fish broth if you have this disease.

Pike can be eaten for both acute and chronic pancreatitis, but the daily dose should not be more than 300 grams. Only fillets without skin and bones are eaten.

Gout

If you have gout, you can eat only low-fat fish and in small quantities. The list of permitted products also includes pike. This fish can be eaten no more than 3 times a week.

The product can be boiled or steamed. The daily norm is 170 grams. Pike liver will be especially useful for gout.

By eating pike at least a couple of times a week, you can fill your body with missing vitamins and minerals. In addition, this fish is not very fatty and is suitable for those who are on a diet. In the culinary field, pike is highly valued. Dishes based on this fish are tasty and tender. The only drawback of the fish is that it is quite bony.