How to skin pike: several effective ways

Pike is one of the most valuable freshwater fish. It is rich in protein, and fat in it contains no more than 2%. Pike contains natural antiseptics, which increase our immunity. This fish must necessarily be present in the diet of each person. However, not everyone likes to cut a pike. That is why often the list of dishes cooked from fish is limited only by pike cutlets. Meanwhile, it will be much better to cook stuffed pike. At the same time, how to remove the skin from a pike, we will tell in our article. Here we will present a recipe for cooking stuffed fish.

How to clean a pike from scales and entrails?

The dense and hard scales of the pike are very difficult to clean. To do this, you need a sharp knife and a limited space. If you do this on the kitchen table, you should be prepared for the fact that the pike scales will scatter throughout the room. It is better, of course, to clean fish in the courtyard of a private house, but in extreme cases a deep sink will do.

Scraped fish are washed and dried with paper towels. This must be done so that the fish does not slip in the hands. Now you need to delete the insides. For this, right after the branchial bones, the scalp is cut from the left side to the ridge. To cut it is necessary on the left, since on the right there is a gall bladder, which when splitting the fish can burst. Then a horizontal incision is made at the anus, and the intestines are cut.

Now the head needs to be cut off completely, without hitting the gallbladder, and to separate it from the carcase along with the intestines. Then the fish is cut along the abdomen, finally cleaned of the films and washed. Now the pike can be cut on fillets.

How to remove the skin and cut the pike on the fillet

To cut a pike on a fillet you need a special sharp knife for fish. To use it is very convenient. It is enough to apply a knife tightly to the ridge and hold them horizontally along. Similar actions need to be repeated on the other side of the carcass. As a result, you will be able to get two halves of fillet with skin. The ridge with the remains of meat can be used in the preparation of fish broth.

How quickly to remove a skin from a pike? Again with a knife. It needs to be pressed as tightly as possible to the skin and just hold it along. On the skin may remain a little meat, but it will be slightly less than if you take your hands off your skin.

How to remove the skin from a pike stocking: 2 ways

It is much more difficult to remove the skin from the pike for stuffing. In this case it is important not to tear and damage it. With the correct implementation of actions should be a stocking, which will later be filled with minced meat.

Consider two ways to remove the skin from a pike with a cut head. In the first case, all actions will be performed by one person, that is, independently. In the second case it will be necessary to take the help of another person.

To begin with, it is necessary to cut off the head so that the intestines can be pulled out immediately during its separation from the trunk. Then the skin on the carcass gently podedaetsya hands at the point of incision, and then with the fingers it is separated from the meat at least 5 cm on each side. Now that some of the skin has already been separated, it is necessary to start turning the skin out, like a stocking. Fins are cut with scissors inside in such a way that the skin is not damaged, and the tail ridge can be cut off or broken. The head is also prepared with the rest of the fish, so the gills are removed from it, washed and cleaned.

The second way to remove the skin from a pike is to get rid of the skin as quickly as possible. But to do it yourself is quite difficult, because a slippery pike is not easy to hold in your hands. In this case, when the skin is separated from the meat, the hots would be 5 cm, one person will keep the fish upright (you can use the towel), and the other - pull the skin down. In general, these two methods are equally effective.

How to remove a pike from a pike for stuffing with a head

The methods described above are more suitable for beginners, since professionals separate the skin directly from the head without cutting it off. Then when stuffing the fish will be whole. How to properly remove the pike skin in this case?

When preparing fish, its head is not cut completely, but it remains to hang from the back of the skin. Further from the trunk are removed the insides, the head is cleaned and washed, as in the previous methods. How to remove the skin from a pike was also described above. By the way, after removing the stocking, it must be turned in the opposite direction again.

Preparation of stuffing for stuffing

The taste of a ready-made dish depends to a large extent on the quality of the filling. First of all, the meat separated from the bones must be twisted twice in a meat grinder. And after the first time the device will need to disassemble and remove the accumulated bones. When the meat is twisted for the second time, fried onions and carrots are added, as well as raw egg, salt and pepper to taste.

If the filling seems to be small, you can add a couple of slices of minced milk bread, soaked in milk. It needs to be well grinded and mixed, so that the mass has a uniform consistency.

Process of stuffing fish

When stuffing a pike, it is important to find the very golden mean, in which the fish will look as appetizing as possible. To do this, it is important to put so much minced meat so that the skin does not burst during cooking and does not hang, which happens in cases where the filling is too small.

If during the removal of the skin sections were formed, they must necessarily be sewn with threads, otherwise the mince will come out. Before you send the dish to the oven, the skin must be punctured in 2-3 places with a toothpick so that it does not burst. The pike is prepared for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.