How to quickly clean and cut a fresh pike before cooking

In order to prepare tasty and healthy fish dishes, you need to know how to clean a pike so as not to litter the entire kitchen with small scales and not hurt your hands. Possessing the necessary knowledge and skills, it is very easy to do this. There are only a few features of how you can quickly free the predator from the scales and cut the carcass for cooking this or that dish.

pike on the table

Preparatory work

In warm time, it is better to clean the fish, if possible, on the street, where there are no problems from the scales and spray flying apart. In the kitchen, before cleaning the pike, it is necessary to prepare the place and the necessary accessories in advance so that you do not have to wash your hands several times during work.

  1. Absolutely all utensils and accessories should be removed from the cutting table and the gas stove next to it; it is better to cover the stove and the furniture next to it with paper or polyethylene.
  2. Completely empty the sink, prepare the cork so that you can draw water into the sink (or use a large container).
  3. Make a chopping board of sufficient size. It is desirable that it was made of plastic or glass. A fish smell is absorbed into the tree, which will then be difficult to get rid of.
  4. So that the board does not slip on the countertop during operation, you can put a wet towel or an old towel under it.
  5. You will need a cutting knife, preferably with a wide blade. You can clean the pike with the same knife, but it is more convenient to use a special cleaner, which can be bought at a hardware store. Best if it comes with a container for scales.
  6. Hand-worn work gloves (at least on the left) will make it easier to hold fish and reduce the chance of injury.
  7. You can make a couple of pinches of coarse salt. If you sprinkle the tail of a pike with it, then it will not slip out of your hands during operation.

It is advisable to carry out these preparatory work when cutting any fish that is not cleaned from scales.

pike on a plate

How to clean a pike

Pike do not have such sharp spines on the fins as perch, ruff or pike perch. But this is a predatory fish. In her mouth, in several rows, are sharp as needles bent inward teeth, which can be seriously injured. One must be careful when removing the gills, since they also have sharp spikes.

pike in the hand of a man

With certain skills, you can quickly clean a pike:

  • First you need to rinse the fish well in order to wash away the adhering dirt and mucus from it.
  • In order not to litter in the kitchen, it is better to clean the pike under water. To do this, half fill the sink or a suitable wide dish, immerse fish in it and clean it under water.
  • Holding the fish by the tail, with a knife with a wide blade, sweeping movements against the scales of the pike are cleaned from all sides. In this case, the knife should move at an acute angle to the body of the fish. In this case, the scales practically do not fly apart, but lie on the blade of the knife. Better yet, use a special cleaner.
  • Next, remove the fins. This can be done with a knife, cutting them in the direction from the tail to the head, or with kitchen scissors.
  • Cut the cartilage between the head and the belly, after which the belly should be carefully opened. To do this, holding the pike head to itself, with the sharp tip of a knife, pierce the skin near the head (a deep puncture should not be done, since you can damage the gall bladder) and, holding the blade at a slight slope, cut the belly to the anus, trying to get deeper inside. If everything is done correctly, then the contents of the entrails will not stain the abdominal cavity.In addition, if there is caviar inside the fish, then it will also not be damaged and can be used to prepare delicious delicacies.
  • Remove the giblets from the anus to the head. Having reached the head, it is necessary to try to separate the gills, cutting them with the tip of a knife near the head and lateral cartilage. Then the offal is freely removed from the carcass along with the gills.
  • A large pike should examine the liver. If the gall bladder is not damaged, then you can separate the liver and use it for food.
  • At the last stage, you should remove the air bubble (white film along the ridge) and blood clots under it.
  • It remains to wash the belly and rinse the pike itself from the outside.

cleaning and separation of fish

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

It should be borne in mind that fresh pike are better cleaned than lying down for some time in the air. Frozen fish should be cleaned immediately, as soon as the scales and skin defrost, without waiting for the pike to thaw completely.

Separate the fillet

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

  1. The head can be separated from the body so that it is more convenient to work, although this is not necessary.
  2. The carcass should be placed on its side with its back to itself and, holding the carcass, make an incision along the ridge with a sharp knife, bypassing the dorsal fin from above (then the spinal bones will be below the knife blade).
  3. With a few light movements, the knife blade should be deepened in the upper half of the carcass until the ribs are felt under it. Work should be done carefully so as not to cut them.
  4. Positioning the plane of the knife parallel to the ribs, remove the flesh from them.
  5. After separating the fillet in the upper half, raise it with your hand and, placing the blade parallel to the plane of the table and perpendicular to the ridge, cut the flesh from the tail.
  6. Turn the carcass over and similarly remove the fillet from the second half.

Head and ridge do not need to be thrown out. They are useful for cooking fish soup, hodgepodge or broth.

chopped pike

There are a lot of small bones in the pike, but you can easily get rid of them. When cooking minced meat, the meat must be twisted twice in a meat grinder, then mixed with onions, salt and let stand for several minutes. There will be no bones in cooked meatballs.

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

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

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

We advise you to read: how to clean sterlet

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