How to properly cut fish - an alternative cutting method

Clean and gut

1. The very first thing to do when cutting a fish is to remove its scales. To do this, it is convenient to use a special knife for cutting fish. But if you don’t have one, it’s okay - just take a knife with a short, strong blade. Start cleaning from the tail of the fish to the head. If the scales are attached to the fish too tightly, scald the carcass very quickly with boiling water. Once the scales are removed, rinse the fish with water.
2. Now you need to remove the entrails from the belly of the fish - gut it. Make a long cut on the abdomen from the caudal fin to the head with a knife or scissors. The main thing when cutting fish is to carefully remove all the insides without damaging the gall bladder, which is located at the head next to the liver. If this does happen and very bitter bile spills onto the fish, remove all bile-stained parts of the fish, cut out and discard. You don’t want your dish to be distinctly bitter, do you? You need to remove the insides by pulling them out with your hand, grabbing them with a paper towel and helping yourself with a knife. Those insides that are attached to the head must be trimmed or pulled out with a strong movement.
3. The internal cavity of the abdomen is covered with a film; it must be cut along the spine and removed. If there is any blood left on the fish's spine, remove it with a knife or your hands under a strong stream of water.
4. If you need a whole fish for baking or a separate head for cooking soup, it’s time to start working on the gills; this must be done: the gills are bitter. It is convenient to remove them with kitchen scissors. Lift the gill covers and trim the gills at the top and bottom where they attach to the head, then pull them out. If you work without gloves, then handle the gills with a paper towel or rag: they are prickly.
5. Use scissors to cut off the remaining fins on the tail, belly and head.
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6. Cut off the head of the fish perpendicular to the line of the abdomen, along the line of the gills. To cut off the head of a large fish, you will need a powerful knife.
7. If before you only rinsed the fish, now you need to wash it very well. Do this in cold running water, thoroughly washing all surfaces to remove any remaining scales and entrails. At the same time, conduct a meticulous analysis for missed flaws. Then thoroughly wash the board to remove any remaining scales and entrails.
8. If the fish is small, weighing 400-500 g, the resulting preparation will make an excellent portioned dish. If you plan to please your company with steaks, cut the fish into transverse pieces 2-3 cm thick.

How to cut cooked whole fish

Before cutting the finished whole fish:

Watch how a chef professionally fillets fish - the whole technology is clearly illustrated in the video:

We'll show you how to cut salmon, eel and salmon

The aesthetics of sushi and rolls directly depends on the correct cutting and cutting of fish.

Beautiful roll = appetizing roll, which means it stands out

against the background of competitors' dishes.

Compare for yourself: what dish would you like to order right now?

Today he will share his experience and show how to beautifully and thinly cut fish for rolls

and sushi, avoiding:

uneven thickness, delamination of fish, pieces sliding off the surface of the roll, unappetizing pattern on the cut

Let's look at the cutting rules using the example of salmon and eel - favorites of Japanese cuisine.

What you will need

• Special Japanese sushi knife - deba-bucho.

Or an ordinary fillet knife, but with a fairly long blade (at least 20 cm).

The knife must be well sharpened, because you have to cut delicate fish.

• Cutting board, preferably wooden.

It dulls knives less, and also does not slip on the table, just as the fish does not slide on it.

• And, of course, fresh fish!

The fresher it is, the tastier, more beautiful and easier to cut.

Make sure that the supplier is reliable, because fish for sushi should not be frozen after it has been sitting.

But with regular supplies of fresh products, the path to business expansion will be open to you. One of the possible options is to organize an online store under the Sushi Lover franchise.

Filling fish

The next stage of cutting fish is removing the fillet.
1. Place the carcass on the board. Run a knife along the spine, separating the fillet from the bones. Then remove the loin from the ribs.
2. Do the same on the other side.
3. Make a small cut near the tail to grab the skin.
4. Hold the skin with one hand and slide the other along the fillet parallel to the table until you have a clean fillet in front of you.
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5. Remove the small bones in the body of the fish. It is better to do this with tweezers.
6. Rinse the fish.

How to choose fish for steak

Making a fish steak: instructions, tips, subtleties

It is believed that fatty varieties are best suited for steak, but in fact, you can use any fish. The most important thing is that it has dense flesh and contains a minimum of bones.

Trout, catfish, salmon, salmon and tuna are suitable for preparing steak. It is advisable that the fish be large, since the correct steak should be the size of your palm. Stores sell ready-made steaks, but, as a rule, they are frozen, and who knows how long they have been in the refrigerator. For a gala dinner, it is best to buy fresh fish and cut it yourself, and for a quick dinner, ready-made steaks are also suitable. When choosing a steak, carefully inspect it so that there are no dark spots or stains, lightly press the piece with your fingers - the flesh of fresh fish is elastic, and the bones do not move away from the meat.

Alternative way to cut fish

1. There is another way of gutting - cutting the fish from the back. This looks completely unconventional, but it is necessary when you are going to stuff the fish and bake it “standing up” so that the filling does not fall out and as much of the juices and the fish’s own fat as possible remain inside. First, you still need to clean the carcass from scales and remove the gills. Then, without cutting off the head, cut the back along the fin from the head to the tail, first on one side of the ridge, then on the other. Cut the ridge with scissors at the extreme points on the left and right of the head and tail and remove.

2. You can do this with scissors or gloved fingers, with a rag or paper towel. The fish will be open in the middle, with the head and tail in the right places, but without a spine. Remove all entrails.

3. Using tweezers, remove any visible remaining seeds. Wash the fish thoroughly outside and inside and dry. Now you can stuff it.

How to clean raw whole fish

You can buy a whole raw fish that has already been prepared by the seller, gutted and scaled, but the fish will still require further processing. Its gills, fins, individual scales, as well as blood and remains of entrails may not have been removed. Before cleaning, choose methods of cutting fish that allow you to do this with minimal time and effort.

The exact sequence of cutting fish is presented below step by step:

• Cut off any sharp fins if there are any. Place the fish on its side. Using a butcher knife or paring knife, make shallow cuts (about 10-12mm deep) along both the top (dorsal) and bottom (anal) fins.
• Remove the fins. Use fish tweezers, needle-nose pliers, or a kitchen towel to remove the fin along with its supporting bones. If necessary, repeat steps 1 and 2 on the other side of the fish.

When cutting the fish, remove any remaining scales. Using the back of a strong knife, scrape off all the attached scales, starting from the tail and moving towards the head of the fish. To keep the scales from flying around, you can clean the fish inside a large bag or in the kitchen sink.

Scrape out all the blood from inside the fish. Using the tip of a knife, open the inner film by making a cut along a strip running exactly in the middle of the fish's cavity, along the ridge. Scrape out any remaining blood and entrails and rinse the fish thoroughly.

• Remove the gills. If the gills, which look like fuzzy pink or red crescents, are not removed, cut them out with kitchen scissors, making cuts at both ends of the "crescents." Rinse the fish thoroughly inside and out under cold running water and pat dry.

Look at the photo of cutting fish step by step, which shows the entire process of preparing the product for culinary processing:

Chef tips

• If you know for sure that you will be cutting fillets from large fish, and only fillets, then the scale removal step can be ignored. After all, you will be getting rid of skin anyway, so why complicate your life? Just gut the fish in the described way, divide it into layers and remove the skin; the scales are not a hindrance at all, and they will only add richness to the broth.
• If during cleaning the fish splashes everything around with its sticky scales, place it in a sufficiently deep and wide container (basin, trough) or in the sink. Fill with cold water so that the carcass is submerged ten centimeters. And remove the scales directly under water, holding the fish with a small cloth.
• When cutting up perch, pike perch, ruffe, sea bass or other owners of a sharp dorsal fin, we advise you to first remove it, otherwise it will be difficult for you to avoid being pricked by sharp needles. To do this, carefully and not too deeply (about 1 cm), cut the back on one side of the fin with a knife or scissors, then on the other, firmly grasp the fin with a towel and pull it out away from the tail. Now you are in no danger.

Sturgeon fish processing

After cutting is completed, processing begins, which varies. This depends on the further use of fish fillets for cooking.

• If you need to cook the fish, then first it is scalded with boiling water and cleaned of small bugs remaining on the belly and sides that were left during cutting. Afterwards it is washed with cold running water. This is done in order to remove protein clots formed during scalding from the surface. To avoid losing its shape, each piece is tied with twine.
• To prepare individual dishes, it becomes necessary to fry a whole piece of fish or cut it into portions until tender or lightly simmer it in a hot frying pan. First you need to cut off all the cartilage, scald it and clean it of bugs, and only then fry it.
• The sterlet is cleaned of bugs without first undergoing a scalding procedure, after defrosting naturally. But in fish that are planned to be poached whole, the bugs on the back are separated after heat treatment. If you plan to boil, fry or poach it in small pieces - before this procedure.

Where to dispose of fish waste

After cutting the fish, trimmings remain: head, spine, fins, tail, skin. Many people don't realize that these unsightly leftovers make a wonderful broth that can be used to make soup, aspic or sauce. To make a good broth, you will need very little, the actual fish trimmings and some vegetables and herbs for flavoring. Fish broth

1. Place the leftover fish in a saucepan, add 2 liters of cold water and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and skim off foam. Cut the onion, parsley root and carrots into 4-6 pieces and brown in a dry frying pan, this will give the broth additional taste and a pleasant color.
2. Add vegetables, herbs, allspice and black peppercorns to the broth, pour in the wine and cook for 40 minutes, covering the pan with a lid. Remember, the broth should not boil too much, otherwise it will become cloudy.
3. In 10 min. Before the end of cooking, add bay leaf and salt. Strain the finished broth.
4. If you don't need the broth in the near future, cool it completely, then pour it into individual serving molds and freeze.

We cut fish correctly

Making a fish steak: instructions, tips, subtleties

Rinse the fish well, remove scales, cut off the fins and dry with a towel. Place the fish on a cutting board, remove the head with a sharp knife and cut the carcass into portions 1.5–2.5 cm thick. As for the belly, many chefs do not recommend cutting it if you are preparing steaks, since the abdominal muscles contain a lot of valuable fat . The easiest way is to remove the contents without cutting the belly itself, directly when cutting into steaks.

How to clean fish correctly

Of course, cleaning river and sea fish differs. Mainly due to the size of the scales. Marine is easier and faster to clean, as it is covered with small scales that quickly come off with physical impact. However, there are some rules you should know to make your job easier.

How to clear mucus

Some types of fish need to be cleared of their mucus layer before removing their scales. There are several options to solve this problem:

• Place the carcass in very hot water for 15–20 seconds. During this time, the mucus will disappear and you can begin cleaning.
• The second method is also quite simple. Before cleaning, rub the product with salt. The carcass stops sliding in your hands.
• When fishing, you can use sand instead of salt. But this method is not very convenient, because it is difficult to thoroughly wash the grains of sand from the meat later.
• For 3 l. dilute 1 tbsp of water. l. table vinegar. Place the carcasses into the solution for 1–2 minutes. Mucus is easily removed.

It's time to catch eels. We caught them and brought them home. The fish is interesting, but how to clean it from mucus? They brought the fish, put it in a bowl or any other dish and sprinkled the fish evenly with coarse salt. They let it stand for 20 minutes. Salt eats away mucus. All that remains is to rub a little with the remaining salt and rinse with water.

Wladimir

https://www.rybolov.de/poleznye_sowety/aal

I make it even simpler. Right when fishing, roll the fish in dry sand, wrap it tightly around the scruff of the neck with one hand, take it by the head with the other and stretch it out. And do this several times, it cleans great.

Neighbour

https://www.rybolov.de/poleznye_sowety/aal

You can also get rid of mucus not only on eels, but also on other fish using a vinegar solution.

Fossil

https://www.rybolov.de/poleznye_sowety/aal

The correct way to remove scales

Before you start cleaning, fill the sink, basin or any other container with water. We lower the carcass into the water. This will avoid unnecessary cleaning: the scales will not scatter throughout the kitchen, but will settle in the liquid.

1. We cut off the fins so as not to get hurt by them when cleaning.
2. We firmly grasp the fish by the head with one hand.
3. In the other hand we take a fish scaler.
4. We begin to clean from the tail towards the head, prying off the scales with a fish scaler.
5. After cleaning, rinse the carcass under running water.

Place the fish in water and clean it with a fish scaler

Instead of a fish scaler, you can use a fishing knife, a sharp kitchen knife, a tablespoon or a fork. This method is perfect for various types: river and sea. However, with larger individuals you will have to put in more effort.

How to properly clean fish

Cleaning in quick ways

One of the most effective and fastest ways to clean fish from scales is to clean it with a grater. For this method we use a grater with 4 edges; it is more convenient to use.

1. Place the fish on a work surface and press down with your hand. If the fish is small, you can pierce the tail with a fork or an awl, holding the tool and fixing the carcass.
2. Let's take a grater. Using the side intended for preparing vegetable puree (with sharp teeth), we clean off the scales in the direction from the tail to the head.
3. The scales at the base of the tail can be scraped off with the coarse side of a grater.
4. We rinse the product under running water.

You can remove scales from fish using a grater.

In nature, instead of a grater, you can use a tin can, punching the bottom with nails. Pink salmon, chum salmon, pike perch and other species are cleaned this way. For individuals with hard scales, you can use the coarse edge of a grater.

Instead of a grater, you can use a tin can, pierced with nails.

How to quickly peel fish with a grater

How to do it using... a drill

Traditional methods are often unusual, but nevertheless effective. We will tell you how to clean using a conventional drill:

1. Prepare a clean container for the fish.
2. We place the drill on a stool and secure it with tape.
3. Insert a drill with a diameter of 10 mm into the drill.
4. Turn on the tool, setting the mode to the minimum number of revolutions.
5. Next to the stool we place a trash can or bag into which the scales will fall off.
6. We take the carcass, holding it above the bucket, and place it under the drill.
7. We clean off the scales in this way from the tail to the head.

We move along the fish with a rotating drill

A drill is used to remove scales from river and sea specimens. It copes excellently with both small and large hard scales.

Cleaning video tip

Cleaning with KARCHER

This method of cleaning fish from scales is convenient outdoors, at the dacha or in the yard of a private house:

1. Place the fish on a wooden work surface.
2. To prevent the carcass from moving under the pressure of water, we fix it with self-tapping screws, placing caps from plastic bottles under the head of the screw. In this case, the lid acts as a washer, pressing the tail tightly against the board.
3. We turn on the Karcher.
4. Using a stream of water, knock off the scales in the direction from the tail to the head.

When cleaning with a Karcher, it is important to fix the fish

This method is convenient for cleaning large specimens. Small fish will not be able to withstand the pressure of the water and will fall off the clamp.

Cleaning scales with a Karcher

How to clean frozen

Many experts advise defrosting the fish before removing its scales. But most often there is not enough time to defrost. Is it possible to clean a carcass that has just been taken out of the freezer? It’s possible, because frozen products can be peeled quite easily.

1. Cut off the fins.
2. We cut off a strip of skin along with scales along the back and abdomen.
3. Cut off the tail.
4. We pry the skin with a knife at the base of the tail.
5. Using a knife, remove the skin along with the scales in the direction from the tail to the head.
6. We cut off the head, rip open the abdomen with a knife and remove the frozen entrails.

Using a knife, remove the skin along with the scales.

The method is perfect for small fish weighing up to 1.5 kg. It is better to defrost carcasses weighing more than 1.5 kg to avoid injury during cleaning and cutting. This method is used to remove scales from river species: crucian carp, perch, bream and others, as well as from sea fish, including salmon.

Video on processing frozen fish products

Evenki way of cleaning

In the north, this method is used all the time; it is convenient and easy to use:

1. You can use any sharp knife.
2. Holding the fish by the tail, place it vertically, resting its head on the work surface: board, stump, etc.
3. We cut off the fins with sharp movements.
4. We cut off its scales from the tail to the head in thin strips.

The scales are cut into thin strips

The method is interesting because even when cleaning fish with small scales, only the scales are cut off, not the skin. She remains untouched. In this way, in the north, all species that have been frozen are cleaned.

Cleaning fish from scales in Evenki style

Advice from experts

• Before chopping, make sure your knives are thoroughly sharpened. If they are dull, you should sharpen them with improvised means. Otherwise, the blade will not cut, but tear the flesh.
• To remove or not to remove the skin is up to you. If you are going to fry fish in a frying pan or on the grill, then it is better not to do this: the skin will support the fillet so that it does not fall apart during cooking. If you are going to cook or stew, you can remove it. We do this by slightly cutting along the edge at the very base of the meat. Then, with careful movements, we pass along, tearing off gradually.

How to cut salmon and salmon into steaks

Cutting steaks is no different from cutting a red fish carcass into fillets. Follow step by step from the first to the fourth inclusive. The skin does not come off.

Now decide how many steaks you need and for what processing. If you fry the steaks separately, the cut will be complete. If you plan to bake the carcass, you need to make a partial cut. The thickness of one steak should be at least 2 cm. Thinner will be harder to make, and the steak will look ugly. The ideal size is 3-4 cm.

The closer to the tail of the carcass, the thicker the steak should be. This is especially true if you bake red fish for a family celebration. Agree that everyone will want to taste the delicious food. There is already little meat near the tail, and if the piece is 2 cm, then it is completely unappetizing. Think carefully about cutting the steaks so that no one is left out.

To bake, cut the carcass so that the ridge is cut. Fish cut in this way will retain its shape and the pieces can be easily served from a common dish.