How to clean crucian carp - quick and easy ways to remove scales and entrails

Crucian carp is a very tasty and healthy fish, but many refuse to introduce it into their diet only because they do not know how to properly clean carcasses. The process of removing scales and entrails can hardly be called pleasant, but there are several secrets that can reduce the hassle to a minimum. First of all, you need to spend a little time preparing the crucian carp for subsequent processing, which many people do not do. After this, a few minutes will be enough to thoroughly clean the workpieces.

Ingredients

This article is devoted to cleaning river fish (in general, the cleaning scheme is the same for all fish found in freshwater bodies of Russia).
Having mastered the technique on crucian carp, perch, pike, roach and bream, which are often found in central Russia, the experience can easily be extended to both sea fish (trout, salmon, dorado, siabass) and varieties common in stores (carp, silver carp, grass carp). In general, it doesn’t matter what kind of fish you clean - the principle and sequence of actions will be the same. 1. For clarity, let’s take the most common medium-sized crucian carp in reservoirs.

01 Small (palm-sized) crucian carp

2. Cleaning live fish is neither humane nor convenient, so the first thing you need to do is kill it. To do this, either leave her in the air for a while until she falls asleep or hit her on the head, for example, with the handle of a knife.

02 Stunning a fish with a knife handle

3. Next you need to actually clean the scales. The scales begin to be removed from the tail of the fish and end towards the head. For this operation, a small knife is best suited, and its sharpness does not matter; even a dull one is preferable since it cannot cut you. But you should only think about a separate cleaning knife if you need to clean a lot of fish. First one side of the fish is cleared of scales, then the other. Also, do not forget about the abdomen - there are especially hard and durable scales that are the most difficult to clean.

03 Beginning to remove scales from the fish's tail

4. After removing the scales, you can remove the eyes from the fish, the key point is that it is not necessary to remove the eyes, they are edible and taste almost no different from the rest of the fish, but there are people who are embarrassed by them on the plate, so they are removed. This is done with the sharp tip of a knife.

04 Eye removal

5. Now the most crucial moment (perhaps the only point, if you make a mistake, you can ruin it). The belly of the fish must be cut and this must be done so that the knife is parallel to the fish and in no case is the sharp tip pointing inward. So you need to cut from the head to the ventral fins. This is where the gallbladder is located.

05 Cutting the front of the belly

6. From the ventral fins and further to the tail, you can cut as you like.

06 Cutting the back of the belly

7. All intestines and swim bladder from the belly of the fish must be removed. If you have it, you can leave the caviar or milt separately, but this is for fish caught from late August to May.

07 Guts in the belly

8. When removing the intestines, you should be careful and never damage the gallbladder. If you pierce it and the bile spreads over the fish, it is easier to throw it away than to continue cleaning and cooking - the taste will be bitter and disgusting.

08 Gallbladder among other intestines

9. There should be nothing left in the belly of the fish after cleaning. If the fish had caviar or milt, you can put it back in the belly and cook it that way.

09 Empty belly of crucian carp

10. The last thing to do with the fish before transferring it to the kitchen for further cooking is to remove the gills. To do this, you need to cut the bridge from below with a knife between the head and the rest of the fish’s body.

10 Trimming the lintel

11. The gills are quite easy to remove, the main thing is to pick them up with a knife and just pull them out.

11 Removing the gill strings

12. That’s all, the fish (crucian carp) is cleaned. After cleaning and before cooking, it is advisable to rinse the fish in clean water. It took 7 minutes to clean this one taking into account photographing. If you don’t get distracted, it takes 2-3 minutes for one small crucian carp. Larger fish can be cleaned more slowly because there are more scales to remove and it is not convenient to hold.

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How to gut it properly

After you have gotten rid of the scales using any of the above methods, you need to properly gut the fish. The procedure takes up to 10 minutes and is completely uncomplicated. You need to take a sharp knife and carefully make an incision from the anal fin to the head, slightly open it with your hands. All organs are removed through the resulting hole. If there is caviar, it must be carefully separated from the intestine.

Depending on whether the head is needed during the cooking process, it can be separated from the body or only the gills can be removed from it. Next, the gutted fish is thoroughly washed under running water, and every thin film is removed from the internal cavity.

Another option for getting rid of entrails is using a spoon and knife. The washed fish is placed on a cutting board and a longitudinal cut is made from head to tail. Using a spoon, carefully remove the insides without damaging the gallbladder.

Important! If you do damage the gallbladder, you must immediately cut out the part of the pulp that got bile on it, and also rub it with salt.

For greater convenience, you can take two toothpicks and place them so that they independently hold the walls of the abdomen. At this stage, the film that covers the spine is cut and the remaining blood is removed. You need to rinse the fish thoroughly several times. Next, the gills are removed or the head is completely cut off, and the product is ready for further manipulation.

Bream should be added to the diet, as it is an excellent prevention of stroke, promotes weight loss and skin rejuvenation. Guided by the above rules and recommendations, you can properly and quickly clean this fish at home.

How to clean crucian carp from entrails and scales?

How to gut a carcass

A spoon and a fork. Hold the carcass with a fork and peel off the scales with a spoon.
Grater. You can use a regular vegetable grater, or you can make a cleaning device with your own hands. To do this, screw the tin lids onto a wooden base.
Boiling water. Pour boiling water over the fish. Try not to overexpose the meat in hot water, otherwise the scales will come off along with the skin.

Carp meat has high nutritional properties. Easy and completely digestible, but not everyone likes to clean it. Now any housewife can properly clean carp at home. If you need to clean a carp, our recommendations will help. After all, carp and carp are similar breeds. Perhaps our advice will help you and a once difficult task will become a breeze. Whatever way you clean your fish, do it with love. Anything will bring pleasure to you and your loved ones.

Preparation

Any fish should be cleaned immediately after catching or purchasing, including crucian carp. If the situation does not allow this, carcasses should not be placed in the refrigerator. It is better to wrap them in plastic and put them in the freezer for a while. In this case, the component will not lose moisture, and it will be easier to get rid of scales.

Fans of crucian carp should get a special cutting board equipped with a tail clamp. Treating the carcass with salt will not help make it less slippery, and using fabric gloves can make your hands smell like fish, and some even develop signs of irritation. As a last resort, a crucian carp can be nailed to a wooden board by sticking a knife into its tail.

Advice: If you have to deal with live fish, you should stun it with a hammer. After this, be sure to make a deep cut between the head and fins to allow excess blood to drain.

When there is a choice, for example, in a store, you should choose medium-sized crucian carp. They taste better, are easier to clean, and have fewer small bones. Such carcasses are ideal for both fish soup and frying.

How to fry crucian carp in a frying pan: recipes with photos, videos

Many men go fishing, and their main catch is always crucian carp. Not all housewives know how to properly cook such fish. How to fry crucian carp in a frying pan so that it becomes the main dish on the table? This product should be prepared according to the recipe. Many famous chefs know a significant number of secrets of its preparation.

How to choose a fish

Fish is a very healthy and nutritious food that is vital for the human body. It contains a huge amount of useful substances and microelements that improve human health.

Choosing fish is an important step in preparing a dish. Not every person knows what an individual should be like to make a real culinary masterpiece. Like all products, crucian carp after long-term freezing can completely lose its juiciness and lose its taste. Therefore, chefs advise taking a chilled product.

Tips for choosing the right individual:

The appearance of a seafood product is the main criterion for its selection. The crucian carp should be elastic, the scales shiny and clean. The product that has a bloated abdomen and dull scales will be stale. In addition, this may be indicated by the cloudy eyes of an individual.
The gills are pink or scarlet in color.
Smell – it should have a pleasant aroma and no additional odors should appear.
Signs of life - very often fish are sold in a half-dead state, such an individual is considered the most preferred product.

How to clean crucian carp scales quickly

Any fish requires cleaning. It is recommended to clean crucian carp, like other fish products, immediately after purchasing or catching it. If you don’t have time to clean them, then the main thing is not to put the fish in the refrigerator. Culinary experts recommend wrapping the fish in plastic and putting it in the freezer. This method will retain moisture and juiciness, and will also allow it to get rid of scales much faster.

Before answering the question of how to fry crucian carp in a frying pan, it is recommended to properly prepare the fish for frying. Fans of crucian carp need to acquire a special cutting board to simplify the task. It must have a clip used for the tail. Since the product is very slippery, it is recommended to purchase cloth gloves.

Important! If you get your hands on a live fish, you need to hit it several times with a hammer. Afterwards, an incision is made between the fins and the head, which will remove excess blood.

Removing scales is a fairly long process in cleaning fish. Its duration can be shortened by following the following instructions:

At the first stage, the fins are carefully cut off using scissors so that they do not interfere with the process of cutting the fish.
You can remove scales from a large specimen without the use of certain devices. You can use a knife to clean the abdominal area.
A small specimen can be easily cleaned with an ordinary fork. The process should be carried out from the tail to the head.

Chefs recommend cleaning fish in a sink or over a bowl of water to prevent the smell from spreading throughout the room.

How long to fry crucian carp in a frying pan

One of the important indicators that is recommended to be observed when frying crucian carp is its cooking time. What is the best way to fry crucian carp in a frying pan to make a tasty and healthy dish?

This type of fish is fried for 5 minutes on each side. In this case, it is necessary to cook the individual over medium heat without covering the pan with a lid. In this case, the fish will be fried and not stewed. The process of frying the product averages from 10 to 12 minutes. During this time, the fish will be completely cooked.

In order to speed up the frying process, you can make small cuts in the product. The fish should be placed in a preheated frying pan with sunflower oil. This dish is quite simple to prepare, but it turns out very tasty and healthy for the human body. At the end of cooking the fish, you get a culinary masterpiece that can serve as an everyday food or a holiday dish.

How to fry large crucian carp in a frying pan with a crust

Not all chefs know how to fry crucian carp with a crispy crust. It's not that difficult if you follow the suggested recipe. Garlic will add a piquant taste to the dish. The cloves of this vegetable will give your food an amazing taste.

To prepare this crispy dish you will need the following ingredients:

2-3 crucian carp, cleaned;
50 milliliters of vegetable oil;
100 grams of corn flour;
salt and pepper to taste.

A purchased or caught specimen should be cleared of the top layer. The main place from which scales should be most thoroughly cleaned is along the growth of the fins.
Afterwards, it is recommended to make a small longitudinal incision and remove all the insides of the fish. If there is caviar inside the crucian carp, then it can be fried along with the individual. There is a dark film inside the belly of the fish. It must be removed from the fish, as it can impart bitterness.
Corn flour should be poured into a cup, each carcass should be salted on the outside and inside. You can also pour salt into the flesh of the crucian carp. Flour can be made from corn grits.
Crucian carp fried in a frying pan according to this recipe turns out very tasty. It is recommended to roll the fish in flour on both sides. The head, tail and entire body of the crucian carp should be generously sprinkled with such flour.
A certain amount of vegetable oil is poured into the frying pan, and then it is placed on the fire and heated to a certain temperature. The product is fried on both sides for about 5 minutes on each side.
Then you need to close the pan and simmer the dish for another 3 minutes, this will lead to the appearance of a beautiful crust on the carcass.

How to fry small crucian carp in a frying pan? You need to do similar steps described in detail above. If desired, you can add sour cream and herbs to the prepared food.

How to fry crucian carp without bones

Many people love to eat tender fish meat. However, many are stopped by the bones, which are very difficult to remove from it. How to cook fried crucian carp so that you don’t feel the bones in the cooked food?

Main components for frying fish:

crucian carp;
flour;
sunflower oil;
salt and pepper.

At the first stage, it is necessary to clean the product from scales and internal parts. We cut off the fins of the fish and leave the head for a while. You can completely get rid of bones by heat treating the carcass. This is one of the best ways to show how to fry crucian carp so that there are no bones. It is necessary to make cuts on the body of the fish that will help a person get to the bones of the fish as quickly as possible.

For large individuals, the cuts should be large and deep. They should reach the ridge of the crucian carp. It is recommended to do them at an angle towards the spine. All cuts must be parallel. It is worth making sure that the fish remains a single carcass.

Mix flour with salt, dip the main ingredient in this mixture and send it to the frying pan. Fry until a brown crust appears on both sides. After the fish has cooled a little, it can be served directly from the pan.

How to fry crucian carp in sour cream

How to cook crucian carp in sour cream in a frying pan to make a very tasty dish? There are many recipes for cooking crucian carp in sour cream. Each of them has a special twist. In all instructions for cooking fish until fully cooked, crucian carp are cooked in hot sour cream.

Ingredients required for the dish:

crucian carp – 1 kilogram;
sunflower oil – 150 milliliters;
sour cream – 4 tablespoons;
onion;
salt, pepper to taste.

This dish will take no more than 45 minutes to prepare.

Step-by-step instructions for cooking fried crucian carp in sour cream, recipe in a frying pan:

We clean the carcass from scales and entrails, rub the product with salt, and dry the pieces on a napkin.
Fry until a nice brown crust appears.
Place fried onion, bay leaf and sour cream in a frying pan and simmer for 4 minutes.

You can serve fish with vegetables and herbs.

How to fry crucian carp in a frying pan in flour

Most chefs prepare the product in flour. To prepare it you will need the following ingredients:

crucian carp – 1 kilogram;
salt – 1 tablespoon;
vegetable oil -20 milliliters;
pepper;
lemon juice – 1 tablespoon;
flour – 200 grams.

Sequence of cooking fish:

The carcass should be thoroughly cleaned, salted and sprinkled with lemon juice, and left in water for 10 minutes.
Dip the specimen in flour on both sides and place it in a preheated frying pan. It is recommended to use odorless oil so that it is not absorbed into the body of the crucian carp.
Frying is carried out for 2-3 minutes on each side.

It is better to place a product fried in flour from the frying pan onto the table while it is hot.

Crucian carp: calorie content

The calorie content of individuals called crucian carp increases after heat treatment exactly as much as the calories contained in the oil. The energy value of 100 grams of the product contains about 87 kilocalories, while sunflower oil has a caloric value of 899. To fry it, 50 milliliters of oil is required, which means, based on calculations, we can conclude that the calorie content of the resulting product will be 132.

These are fairly normal indicators. The product is often used during diets; it promotes rapid weight loss. Crucian carp is quite a useful product, containing a lot of useful substances; it is able to replenish the human body and enrich it with useful microelements.

Conclusion

Crucian carp is not only an affordable and tasty fish, but also very healthy, enriched with vitamins and microelements. This product can be prepared in a variety of ways: frying, stewing, boiling, baking.

The most popular way is to fry it in a pan. How to fry crucian carp in a frying pan so that it turns out low-calorie and tasty? Following the recipes of famous chefs, the cooking process will become more enjoyable and interesting. Even gourmets will be able to choose the right recipe for themselves and prepare a truly delicious dish.

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Rules for removing scales and entrails

First we start removing the scales. This process will only take a few minutes if you follow the following procedure:

First, carefully cut off all the fins with scissors, otherwise they will prick and interfere with the process.
When removing scales from large fish, you can do it with your hands without using special tools. Only in the abdomen area, around the fins and at the base of the tail, we help ourselves a little with a knife.
It is easier to peel small crucian carp with a fork, vegetable peeler, the blunt side of a knife or a special device. We work from the tail towards the head. The scales of crucian carp do not fit tightly to the skin, so you don’t have to apply much force.

The process of removing scales is best done under running water or in a basin. Otherwise, the dirt will scatter throughout the kitchen and the house will have an unbearable smell of fish.

Once the crucian carp has been scaled, you can begin removing the entrails. Correct cutting of carcasses looks like this:

Starting from the head and towards the tail, make an incision on the abdomen. Don't go too deep inside, you can damage organs and even cut off bones.
We take out all the internal organs and the black film. You need to clean the fish carefully, trying not to damage the gallbladder. If this trouble does occur, the fish must be immediately washed with cold water and cleaned with salt. Then the product will not taste bitter.
We wash the carcasses again, removing any remaining scales and mucus.

It is not necessary to clean the fish meat from the bones; you can do it much simpler. On the skin of the fish we make fairly deep diagonal cuts every centimeter. This will allow you to cut the bones, which, under the influence of broth or vegetable oil, will soften and will not prick.

Cleaning in nature

In nature, you don’t have to worry about scales flying around. Fishermen will find the following cleaning option very convenient:

Rinse the fish with cold water.
Nail it to the board.
Hold the head of the carcass and pull it. This will make it easier to clean the scales.
Use a knife.
Make a cut above the head, remove the head with scales.

To make cleaning easier, treat the crucian carp with salt. If you don't have a knife on hand, you can use any tin can. Make ragged holes in it using a nail. Attach the workpiece to the block. Clean the crucian carp carefully so as not to accidentally touch the skin. The cut can be very severe.

Cleaning equipment can smell strongly of fish, so after cleaning the fish you should wash it with soap and water. If you cannot remove the unpleasant odor, wipe the appliances with heated salt and wash again.

And another option that is suitable for cleaning crucian carp in nature is to use a high-pressure washer. This method is especially effective; it is suitable for cleaning crucian carp in the yard of a private house. Adjust the jet so that the scales fly off easily. Try not to damage the fish meat and skin. Attach the fish to the board and start cleaning.

As you can see, cleaning crucian carp is not the easiest task. But if you follow the recommendations described above, you can carry out the procedure quickly and easily. Crucian carp is a river fish. which is included in many recipes. Here is a video that will help you understand how to properly and quickly clean crucian carp.

A few important nuances

To prepare a tasty dish, it is important not only to be able to properly clean fish, but also to take into account the following points during preparation and subsequent processing:

You can fry fish with the head on, but it’s better to boil the product without it. In this case, this part is cut off along with the gills.
If the crucian carp has an unpleasant smell of mud, then the very first stage of treatment will be soaking it in a concentrated salt solution for 1-2 hours.
Before cleaning crucian carp or cutting them on a board, all tools and utensils can be wiped with water and lemon juice. This will reduce the severity of the fishy smell that affects the devices after manipulation.
Crucian carp that will not be boiled or fried immediately after cleaning should be wrapped in cling film and placed in the freezer. These products should not be in the refrigerator at all. Within 1-2 hours they become covered with thick, unpleasant mucus and from the very first minute they emit an odor that ingrains itself in food and dishes.
Fish intended for frying should be placed in a colander after cleaning and soaking. If you do not allow excess water to drain, the product will not fry, but will be stewed in a sauce made from vegetable oil, water and breadcrumbs (or flour).

Crucian carp is a simple fish, so you need to handle it as simply as possible. Even recipes should be chosen that require a minimum of hassle and additional ingredients.

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Crucian carp, fried “boneless”

Crucian carp are very tasty fish, but these bones! However, if you cut the back of the fish in a special way, you will get a crispy fried fish with practically no bones.

Clean the fish from scales, remove the entrails and gills. Wash the prepared fish.

Using a very sharp knife, make diamond-shaped slashes on the back of the fish. You need to cut through the back to the spine, cutting all the small bones. Cut the back on the other side of the fish in the same way.

Peel and lightly crush the garlic.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. There should be a lot of oil (about 100-150 ml). Add the garlic, fry it in oil, and then remove.

Place the fish in very hot oil (you need to fry the fish one piece at a time). Be careful - the oil will “shoot”! You need to fry the fish over high heat.

To prevent the oil from splashing, you can cover the frying pan with a special mesh. You can cover it with an old sieve.

After 3-5 minutes, when the bottom half of the fish is thoroughly browned, carefully turn the fish over to the other side and fry for another 3-5 minutes. Then remove the fried crucian carp. If you need to fry the fish further, add oil and heat it again. You can dip the garlic (new cloves) into the oil again for 20-30 seconds.

Mix lemon juice with vegetable oil. Beat lightly.

Crucian carp is a rather dry fish. Therefore, fried crucian carp is poured not just with lemon juice, but with a mixture of lemon juice and oil.

Pour the prepared dressing over the fried crucian carp.

Irina Wednesday, December 18, 2013 05:05 #

But how do you take out the bones so that they are “boneless”?

Koshechka*** Wednesday, December 18, 2013 09:08 #

so beautiful, just like goldfish)

Polyanka Wednesday, December 18, 2013 12:31 #