Note #21: "How to cook fish?"

You can boil any fish, except small and bony, such as crucian carp or smelt. Prepared medium-sized fish (weighing 200-300 g), as well as large fish cut into pieces of 100-250 g should be immersed in a boiling, pre-prepared decoction of roots. The broth is prepared as follows. 1 carrot, 1 parsley root (or 34 teaspoons of dry parsley root), 1 onion should be washed, peeled and sliced, then put in a saucepan, add 1 bay leaf, 4 black pepper peas, pour 2-3 cups of cold water, salt and boil for 15-20 minutes. This amount of broth is enough for 500 g of fish. After submerging the fish in the broth, let the broth boil again, then cover the pan with a lid and leave the fish to cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes. Whole large fish weighing 1 kg-1.2 kg or more (for example, walleye, chum salmon, whitefish, a large piece of salmon, muksun, whitefish) must be cleaned, washed and tied with twine across the body in 3-4 places. Then lay the fish belly down on the grate of the fish bowl and tie the fish to it with twine in two places, passing the twine through the holes in the grate. This is only necessary to ensure that the fish does not turn over during cooking. Then pour the fish with cold water 2 cm above its back, adding salt, parsley root, carrots, onions, bay leaf and pepper peas in the same proportion as for cooking small fish. The number of roots increases in proportion to the amount of water. After that, close the fish bowl with a lid and put it on a high heat. When the water boils, reduce the heat and cook, without bringing to a boil, for about 1-1. 5 hours. To find out if the fish is ready, you need to lift the grill with the fish so that the back of the fish is 2 cm above the water, stick the fork in the thick place of the fish and after 3-4 seconds. remove it. If the fork is quite hot, the fish is ready. When serving, remove the fish with a grid from the fish bowl and put it on a baking sheet, remove the bandages and transfer the fish from the grid to a dish.