Preparing fish for stuffing
The most difficult option is to stuff the whole fish skin. To prepare the fish, peel off the scales, but be careful not to damage the skin. Use kitchen scissors to cut the fins, make deep cuts along the spine on both sides, cutting the rib bones along the entire length of the back. In two places, near the head and tail, cut and remove the spine. Gut the fish through the hole on the back, rinse it. Now carefully remove the fish skin without damaging it; this business requires special skill. Cut off the pulp, remove the rib bones. You will start with that very skin, and use the pulp as a filling.
There is also a much simpler option – gut the fish without damaging the abdomen, and cut it into pieces. You will get portioned pieces with round holes, which will need to be filled with minced meat.
For stuffing, it is better to use large varieties of fish – cod, carp, pike. These fish have a denser skin, and it is much easier to remove than others.
Variety of fillings
The main thing for any minced meat can be the pulp that you cut from the fish. In addition, you can stuff fish with boiled cereals (best of all, buckwheat), vegetables, mushrooms and even other types of fish meat. The main condition in the preparation of the filling is that it must be juicy and aromatic and must not interrupt the delicate taste of the fish.
For example, a very popular recipe for stuffed pike in Jewish style. To prepare it you need:
– 1 fish weighing about 2 kg; – 4 pieces of loaf; – 1 egg; – vegetable oil; – ¼ glass of milk; – 1 beet; – 2 onions; – 2 carrots; – 1 tsp. Sahara; – salt and pepper to taste.
Prepare the fish for stuffing as described above, cut it into pieces, use a very sharp knife to cut the flesh out of each piece.
Scroll the fish meat together with the loaf and onion soaked in milk in a meat grinder. Add egg, salt, pepper and sugar to this mass, mix thoroughly.