How to clean perches easily and quickly

Perch is equally tasty in boiled, fried, smoked and salted form. But how to quickly clean the perch from the scales so as not to wound the hands with fins as sharp as needles and do not litter the entire kitchen with scales? This is not a simple matter, but still you can successfully cope with it, if you have some skill.

Is it worth it to clean this fish?

For some dishes perch can really not be cleaned. And this applies not only to dried fish. For the preparation of hot smoked perch it is not at all necessary to rid it of strong scales and entrails; it is sufficient to rinse and grate it with salt. It turns out incredibly tasty and juicy meat. A similar method can be done if the fish were going to be baked on the grill or on the grill.

It is not necessary to clean small perch if it is to be used for the first bookmark in the double ear. All the same, the broth must be filtered, and the whole batch of fish should be thrown out. It is interesting that the ear is obtained in this case much tastier. But gills and offal should still be removed. But gutting and washing the fish in this case can be done very quickly.

In the north, fishermen boil the ear from unpeeled and unbroken perches, and they claim that only such an ear can be tasty. But not every resident of the middle strip will risk eating such a dish.

How to easily clean river perch

If this fish is supposed to be fried in a pan or boiled, then it will have to be cleaned.

It has long been noticed that recently caught river perch is much easier to clean. But not all families have fishermen. Therefore, fish are usually bought at the market or in a store. And each time the question arises: how to clean the perch quickly enough so as not to litter the entire kitchen with small scales and not injure your hands with sharp spikes?

This can be done if you know a little everyday tricks:

• To make it easier to hold fish, you can put on work gloves. This is done only during cleaning, it is inconvenient to gut the fish in gloves.
• Firmly press the tail of the perch to the cutting board and pull it strongly (until the crunch) by the head. After this procedure, it will be much easier to rid the fish of scales.
• Before cleaning with sharp scissors, we cut off the fins, this will save hands from painful punctures.
• To remove the scales easily, the perch should be cleaned alternately diagonally from the abdomen to the back, and only then - from the tail to the head (as is usually done with other fish). In this case, the fish must be held by the tail, and cleaned with the tip of a sharp and durable knife or a special device.
• If time is running out, then to facilitate the work, you can use the "grandmother's method" - fill the fish with salt and leave it overnight. By morning, scales and skin will soften somewhat, and perches can be quickly cleaned.
• If fresh fish is briefly put in the freezer, it will be easier to clean.
• You can quickly clean the perch if it is doused with boiling water or dipped in boiling water for a few moments, holding the tail. This method is somewhat risky, since if the fish is slightly overexposed in hot water, then the scales will be removed along with the skin.
• To easily and quickly clean the fish, it is better to use special devices. "Cleaners" of various designs are sold in hardware stores. Some craftsmen make them themselves from beer bottle caps or old kitchen graters. For perches, it is better to purchase devices with a container for collecting scales.
• Scales will not fly around the room if you clean the fish by completely immersing it in a container of water or under a sprayed stream of water. Some housewives adapt to clean the perch with their hands and fish in a plastic bag.

Clean with skin

In order to cook minced meat or pieces of fish in batter, the skin is not needed. In this case, the question is: how to clean the perch? - It is solved very simply. It is freed from scales along with the skin. With fresh fish, the skin is quite easily removed with a “stocking”. This is done as follows:

1. Make incisions along the dorsal fin on both sides;
2. Pull out the dorsal fin;
3. Incise the skin near the head;
4. Pull the skin from the upper back to the tail. For convenience, you can use pliers;
5. Separate the head and gut the carcass.

With a certain skill, you can quickly clean a few kilograms of river perch without dirtying the kitchen.

But this work can be facilitated. The skin will be removed much easier if the perch is dipped for several seconds in boiling water, holding the tail. The fish can also be easily cleaned if it is preliminarily slightly frozen and, once removed from the refrigerator, immediately remove the skin.

When separating the fillet, do not throw out the heads, fins and ridges of perches. They can be used for boiling in the first tab for double soup or cooking broth for fish hodgepodge.

Features of cleaning sea bass

The main methods of removing scales from sea bass are no different from cleaning the river. It can also be doused with boiling water or dipped in hot water, or covered with coarse salt overnight. Then it will be easier to clean this fish.

But sea bass has one unpleasant feature: the sharp spikes on its fins are equipped with poisonous glands. Such injections do not heal for a long time and are very painful. Therefore, before proceeding with cleaning, gloves should be worn and the fin should be cut with sharp scissors.

When gutting fish, be careful. It is undesirable to damage the gallbladder, as bile gives the fish an unpleasant bitter taste. But if this happened, you should not panic. The place where bile enters the meat (it is immediately visible by a yellowish tint) should be abundantly sprinkled with salt and immediately scraped off with a knife along with a thin layer of meat.

At the perch, the belly inside is covered with black films that need to be cleaned. They also give the finished fish a bitter taste.

Following these simple tips and acquiring certain skills, you can quickly cope with cleaning perches, while not spending so much effort. And cooking this delicious fish will not be a burden.