Cooking Right
Features of cooking boiled fish
For cooking boiled fish, whole fish, sturgeon links and portions of almost all fish species are used, except bream, carp, smelt, carp, crucian carp, roach, tench, eel and navaga.
Cut into portions, starting from the head, across the fibers, along with the skin, rib and vertebral bones or without bones. 2-3 incisions are made on the skin so that the portion pieces do not change shape during heat treatment.
The easiest way to prepare fish is to boil it in water. The less water is taken for cooking, the tastier the fish turns out. Therefore, you should pour such an amount of water into the dishes that it only covers the fish during cooking (no more than 1 cm).
To boil fresh fish, put 1 teaspoon of salt on each liter of water. To make the fish more delicious, add 0.5 pieces of carrots, 1-2 Bay leaves, 1 onion, a few peas of black pepper, 0.5 parsley root to the cooking water. Parsley, carrots and onions are pre-cleaned and cut into small pieces.
When boiling cod, flounder, catfish and pike, to discourage the specific smell of these fish, it is recommended, in addition to roots and onions, to add 0.5 cups of cucumber brine for each liter of water.
Fish can be boiled in a large piece or cut into small pieces, weighing about 75-100 g (see the article "Cutting fish").
It is better to cook sturgeon, Beluga, sturgeon and sterlet in a large piece and cut into portions just before serving. Fish cooked in a large piece turns out to be more delicious and juicy.
Large pieces of fish weighing 500 g or more should be put in cold water for cooking, and small pieces – in boiling water. From the beginning of boiling water to the end of cooking fish, it is necessary to maintain a weak but continuous boil.
All fish should be well cooked. If you cook small pieces of sturgeon, Beluga, sturgeon and sterlet, then in this case the cooking time will be 20-30 minutes, and pieces of more than 500 g are cooked for 1.5 hours, starting from the moment the water boils and the fish is put in it. Partial fish is cooked somewhat faster than sturgeon. Pike perch, carp (sometimes used in boiled form) and pike weighing 1-1. 5 kg are cooked for 50-60 minutes, and in pieces of 100-150 g - 15-20 minutes.
Readiness of fish during cooking can be determined by piercing it with a thin pointed splinter (or a match): when the fish is ready, the splinter easily enters the flesh.
From the broth obtained when cooking fish, 1.5-2 cups are used to prepare a sauce for fish – white or tomato, and the rest of the broth can be cooked soup.
Boiled fish is served hot or cold: hot-with boiled potatoes, and cold-with vinaigrette, potato or cabbage salad, pickled beets, cucumbers or green salad.
Cold and hot boiled fish can be served with horseradish and vinegar.
