Pollock, one might say, is one of the most popular fish in our country. At retail outlets you can buy any kind of fish data: a whole pollock, headless, headless and tail, fillet. By far, the cheapest option is to buy whole fish. But what if fillet is needed to prepare the intended dish? How to cut pollock with your own hands? Is this a feasible task for a novice hostess?
Necessary tools
Before you start cutting fish carcasses, you must stock up on tools. Experienced chefs advise taking the sharpest knife that is available in the kitchen. If there is a special knife for cleaning and cutting fish, then this is a great option. You will also need a large cutting board, tweezers, a sink and a tap with cold running water.
How to chop pollock on filet at home
First, pay attention to the fish. If you were unable to buy a fresh carcass, and you purchased a frozen one, then you must properly defrost it before cutting. We forget about the microwave and a hot stream of tap water! Defrosting occurs in vivo at room temperature.
Secondly, thawed carcass must be rid of scales. It happens that even experienced housewives, who know how to cut pollock on fillets, leave the scales for later. This is not recommended. From the already cut carcass, the scales are practically not cleaned off. Therefore, first of all we remove the scales, and then we proceed to the main stages of cutting fish.
We cut the head. It is very important to cut at a slight angle, so you can save the maximum amount of meat after cutting. Leading the knife over the lower fin, we cut the stomach. We remove all the insides. How to carve pollock further? We turn the fish on the other side and perform the manipulation of cutting the head, as was done on the opposite side of the carcass. Now you can easily break and remove the head.
Next, carefully lead the knife in the direction of growth of the upper fin to the ribs. Leave the rib part alone, do the tail. It is from the tail that the fish fillet of pollock begins to be cut off. We gradually move towards the ribs, turning the fish in a vertical position. Thus, it will be very convenient to cut the meat from the ribs. The final trimming of the fillet takes place in the lower fin area. Some cooks cut around the tail, but for this you need to have a very sharp knife. Next, cut off the tail of the fillet and separate it from the ribs.
How to cut pollock after two parts of the fillet are removed from the carcass?
Now comes the tweezers turn. If there is no special tool for fish at hand, then you can use ordinary tweezers from a manicure set. Remove the long bones from the fillet, gently prying and pulling them out with tweezers.
Regarding skin removal, there are several options. If you are planning to cook minced fish, it is recommended to remove the skin. If you plan to cook steaks, then the skin must be left behind. It is she who ultimately provides a crispy, mouth-watering, ruddy piece.
How to carve pollock if you decide to remove the skin? The skinning process takes a matter of seconds. Gently pry the tip with your hand, pull in the direction "away", move toward the tail. In some places, the skin may not give in, so we help ourselves with a sharp knife. We make the same manipulation with the second part of the carcass.
How to get rid of the smell
After self-cutting the fish, a rather unpleasant fish smell remains on the fillet. There are several ways to get rid of it.
- Wash your hands in salt water and sprinkle lightly with citric acid.
- A cutting board and other tools are also soaked in water with salt.
- If a strong fishy smell haunts you during cooking, then add a couple drops of lemon juice to it.
- To remove the smell from the pan where the fish was recently fried, we use ground coffee. Pour a couple of spoons into the pan and fry over high heat for 2-3 minutes.