In dietary, medical and sports nutrition, fish dishes are very appreciated. It contains easily digestible fats and proteins, extractive substances, phosphorus, chromium, sulfur and calcium, vitamins A, PP, E, B 1 , B 2 , B 12 , C and D.
Fish Day in the USSR
Those who lived in the Soviet Union are familiar with the concept of “fish day”. This phrase drove many meat lovers to longing and deprived them of a good mood for a long time. The fact is that at catering points on Tuesdays and Thursdays, visitors were fed fish dishes. Oil-fried hake steaks coated with a crispy crust of a lezon, herring in a marinade with fragrant sunflower oil and onion rings, mincemeat with butter and herbs, sausages and dumplings, pies and pies, pollock minced meat patties or hake with mashed potatoes and canned green peas are the traditional components of the menu of catering eateries.
Fish components of good stuffing
To cook minced fish cutlets, you need to take low-fat, low-bone fish without a specific smell. Good stuffing is obtained from cod, hake, pollock, haddock, pike, salmon, pike perch and sea bass. You can make minced meat from several types of fish. In the event that the fish is watery or oily, the forcemeat texture can be condensed by adding cooked pollock fillet to the main fish .
Cod fish cutlets are rather dry. To make them juicy, add a quarter teaspoon of soda and 30 grams of fresh horseradish chopped on a fine grater to 700 grams of fillet. Salmon fish cutlets, from which ripened caviar was extracted, also require softening. Milk and internal fat from another fish, scrolled through a meat grinder along with salmon or cod fillet, significantly improve the quality of cutlets.
Stuffing composition for classic fish cakes
For 700 g of fish fillet, take one medium onion, two chicken eggs, about 300 g of white bread soaked in water, salt and pepper, preferably white, to taste. To fry onions, you need about 75 g of butter. Before frying, minced fish cutlets are first breaded with flour, then with beaten egg and then with sesame seeds, crushed white bread, breadcrumbs or a mixture of them. To improve the taste, a mixture of zira, fenugreek, fenugreek, marjoram, basil, caraway, coriander, cardamom, parsley, paprika, tarragon, lovage and celery is added to the stuffing at the tip of the knife.
Problems cooking frozen fillet cutlets
Modern minced fish cakes differ from their Soviet counterparts in that they are often made from prepared ice cream of Chinese origin. Often it sins with an excess of ice. In this case, you do not need to put soaked bread crumb in the minced meat. When scrolling fish through a meat grinder, stale white bread is attached to it. The crushed mixture is seasoned with salt and spices and left on the table under the lid for 20 minutes. This is necessary so that the fish cutlets from minced fish get a homogeneous consistency and taste. In the free time, peel the onions, chop finely and fry in butter. It can be replaced with peanut, sesame or walnut oil. Next, prepare the breading. After the minced meat has stood the required time, 2 chicken eggs are added to it, the fried onions cooled to a warm state and mixed again. If, when taking the sample, the minced meat tastes good and does not require improvement, then the last step will be to beat it on the countertop.
Minced meat
Put the whole stuffing in two fairly strong transparent plastic bags. Remove air from them and tie. Let the product not completely occupy the entire space of cellophane. The forcemeat packed in this way can be beaten off without fear that it will be sprayed in different directions from impacts. The bag of meat should be raised 30-50 times and dropped onto the table. Now it can be removed and cutlets formed. He acquired a very good consistency and properties. The beaten mincemeat for cutlets, the recipe of which is given above, can be used for cooking rolls, body, meatballs, zraz, as well as meatballs for soup.
Cutlet formation
Bread mixture is poured onto the table, portioned pieces of minced meat are placed on it and fish cakes are formed using a knife. It is customary to make them from minced fish with one pointed end, a silhouette resembling fish without fins and a tail. But it’s not bad if your cutlets are round and flat, with a diameter of 5-7 cm and a thickness of 1.5 cm. They must be fried in a pan with a thick bottom in well-heated, even hot oil. Not longer than 10 minutes on each side, until crispy golden brown.
Cod cutlets with warm salad
In Southeast Asia, fish cakes like to eat with warm rice noodle salad with sprouted beans, carrots and green onions.
Ingredients
- 300 g cod fillet or blue whiting;
- 1 tbsp. tablespoons of soy sauce;
- 3 tbsp. tablespoons of fish sauce;
- 1 tbsp. a spoon of oyster sauce;
- two cloves of garlic, chopped on a fine grater;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of corn starch (flour);
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of peanut or rapeseed oil;
- 120 g of rice vermicelli (funchoses);
- 1 carrot grated with Chinese grater into long strips;
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice, cut another lime into petals according to the number of cutlets;
- 1 finely chopped green shallot;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of brown (cane) sugar;
- half a teaspoon of dried chili flakes;
- 1 cup sprouted beans;
- a bunch of green cilantro (coriander).
Cut the fish into pieces and put in a bowl of a food processor or use a blender. Pour oyster sauce there, 1 tbsp. spoonful of fish sauce, add garlic and starch. Stir until smooth - outwardly, you get the usual minced fish for cutlets. The recipe differs from the usual one by the absence of eggs, the use of sauces instead of salt, and the replacement of bread crumb with starch.
Divide the minced meat into 10 identical slices (about 1 tablespoon each). Form round cutlets from them. So that the stuffing does not stick to your hands, moisten them with cold water.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and put the patties in it. It is necessary to fry over medium heat until crisp, about 3 minutes on each side.
While the meatballs are being prepared, put the funchose, carrots and white part of the shallots in a large bowl, pour boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the beans 30 seconds before the end.
Mix 2 tbsp. tablespoons of fish sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and chili flakes in a small bowl.
Drain boiling water from funchose, chop the remaining green feathers of shallots and cilantro. Combine in a bowl noodles with vegetables, herbs and sauce.
Serve fish cakes on a bed of warm salad with quarters of lime for squeezing.
Salmon cutlets with potatoes
To cook salmon minced fish cakes , cook 350 g of fresh salmon fillet in one and a half cups of good vegetable broth. After 8-10 minutes of boiling, the fish can be removed. Cool the cooled salmon and check for bones. In a pan, heat the curry (10 g) until a fragrant smell is obtained, mix with a pinch of chili pepper, white pepper, salt and 1 tbsp. chopped green onions with a spoon. Combine the salmon pulp, 23 g of boiled potatoes, grated on a coarse grater and the aromatic mixture in a large bowl, stir well, trying to keep the slices whole. Let the mixture be smooth. Form 6 cutlets and to seal them, send them to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Prepare three bowls for breading. In one, beat a large chicken egg, pour 50 g of flour and breadcrumbs (separately) into the others. Roll the chopped pastries first in flour, then in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs. Put the meatballs in the refrigerator again for 15 minutes. Only after this, fry in hot oil until crisp for 3 minutes on each side. Serve hot with sweet soya chili sauce, mayonnaise and garlic.
These salmon minced fish cakes are a great option for a festive main dish for a vegetarian table. If they are done without eggs and butter, then they are suitable for Petrov and Christmas posts.