Fish of carp species in our country are quite common. From carp you can cook a lot of delicious dishes. But before you start implementing any recipe, you need to correctly and quickly get rid of the inedible elements of this fish. Few know how to clean carp. It has a very dense cover of fine scales. It is very difficult to remove these flakes from fish. Therefore, the question of how to clean carp quickly and correctly remains always relevant. The fishermen themselves and their wives are trying to come up with new tricks that would help them in such a useful and not very pleasant occupation. Fans of home-made fish dishes sometimes have a hard time.
Multi-Stage Cleaning Methods
By trial and error, methods were devised for how to wash carp from the mucus present on its carcass, and how to clean carp from scales and other inedible parts. We list the most popular of them, often used by the people, due to its availability and effectiveness.
Carp is cleaned in three approaches. But before you clean the fish, first prepare it, wash it off the mucus and dirt. Then the scales are removed from the surface of the fish carcass. The final step in cleaning the carp will be to get rid of the giblets and wash the peeled product.
My fish
Carp must be washed in a large amount of cold water. It is more convenient to do this under pressure. During this procedure, you need to cut off all the fins with the help of large kitchen scissors.
Wipe the washed fish with a clean rag or paper towels.
How to clean carp from scales quickly and without harm to the kitchen
In fact, there is a special device that allows you to remove dense scales from a fish without making great efforts. The device is similar to a grater, with the help of which they peel off the scales. The process is easy and does not create as much garbage as if you were using a regular knife. However, this device is also capable of creating chaos in your kitchen.
Basin with water
How to clean carp so that the kitchen also remains clean? During the procedure, using a knife or special devices, glittering scales fly around the kitchen anyway. In the future, while the hostess is busy with fish, the scales dry out and adhere quite firmly to the surfaces. This complicates their removal from dishes and walls. A way was invented to clean carp in water.
To do this, a deep basin is filled with cold water and the cleaning itself is carried out in this basin. We lower the fish into it and water clean the dense, firmly adhered scales with water.
Polyethylene bag
For those who do not like to spend a lot of time in water (during the cleaning process), the following method is suitable. For example, how to clean carp in a plastic bag. To do this, the carcass of the fish is placed in a spacious bag so that you can freely work in it with your hands; the scales are cleaned in the bag. Having finished processing the fish, the package must be tied tightly and sent to the trash.
For easier removal of the scales from the fish, use the following trick - dip the fish in boiling water, hold it in it a little and start cleaning. Do not overexpose, otherwise your ear will turn out earlier than you expected: the fish can boil in boiling water.
Get rid of giblets and cut fish
And now about how to clean carp from gutting. When the outside of the fish looks more appetizing, we begin cutting the carcass. We cut the abdomen with a knife and clean out all the insides. Particular care must be taken with the gall bladder; if it is pierced, the taste of the fish will irreparably deteriorate. Pay particular attention to the removal of the dark film lining the fish’s abdomen. This film also spoils the taste, so we remove it with an addiction, but so as not to damage the flesh.
The final step will be to remove the head and rinse the carcass of the carp. Cut it into pieces if necessary.
Carp in sweet and sour sauce
Products:
- chopped carp - not less than a kilogram;
- corn starch;
- flavorless oil;
- a handful of pine nuts (peeled) - optional.
For the sauce:
- half a glass of cold water and tomato sauce, you can take ketchup;
- 2 tablespoons of sugar;
- 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar;
- fresh ginger root - about one centimeter;
- white part of leek - 1 piece;
- 1-2 small tablespoons of starch (corn);
- salt to taste.
Technological process
Separate fillets from gutted carp. This must be done in such a way that the skin and some part of the pulp still remain attached to the tail.
Lay the filet skin down on the surface of the table and make several cuts in it at an angle. It is important not to damage the skin of the carp, then the dish will turn out more beautiful. Perform this procedure with both sides of the fillet.
Bread fish meat and head in starch and fry in vegetable oil. If you do not like the head of the fish that will be in the cooked dish, you can not use it.
Cooking sauce
To prepare the sauce, mix tomato paste and water in a bowl until smooth. In the process of mixing the paste with water, sugar, salt and vinegar should be added to the future sauce. Its taste should be sweet and sour. Add sugar or salt (or vinegar) if you prefer.
Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and add ginger and onion, cut into small pieces. Pour the prepared starch into the pan. To do this, you need to dilute it in water in a ratio of one to one (how many tablespoons of starch, how many tablespoons of water). Bring the resulting mixture to a boil and add the oil remaining from frying the fillet. Boil tomato sauce for about five minutes.
Serving dishes
It is beautiful to lay fish with a head (or without) on a flat dish. Top with fried carp pour with a sweet and sour sauce and garnish with nuts. In decorating dishes, there are practically no restrictions. You can add vegetables to the sauce, and then there will be no need for nuts.
Fried carp
Pieces of fish pour milk for thirty minutes. Prepare a batter of three eggs at this time. You also need to prepare two tablespoons of crackers for breading and flour. Salt.
Remove pieces of carp from milk and roll in salted flour. Then dip in a beaten egg and roll again, this time in breadcrumbs. Put the fish in a pan with hot lean oil. Fry carp on both sides until golden brown. It will take about 15 minutes.