The history of the appearance of this dish in Russia is covered with a veil of secrecy; the original recipe for fish cutlets was not preserved. One can only assume that they came up with how to cook fish cakes residents of coastal latitudes, rich in fishing. It is interesting that from the very beginning to this day, a cutlet in European cuisine was called a fried piece of meat on a bone, for example, costal. In Russian cuisine in the nineteenth century, a substitution of concepts quietly took place. And by this name they began to mean dishes of chopped meat or fish with the addition of vegetables. Most accurately, such a dish in Western cuisine characterizes the word croquet.
The recipe for fish cakes has a lot of interpretations in different parts of our country, depending on the available natural resources. Basically, the differences are related to the taste of fish caught in the area. The main recipe for fish cakes is heat treatment, breadless, breadcrumbs. To obtain it, combine minced fish, stale bread soaked in milk , eggs, onions and spices.
Forcemeat is obtained in two ways. Higher grade minced meat - by passing a fish fillet through a meat grinder . Minced meat is made from small fish along with bones and skin, trimming only the heads and fins. For example, cutlets from gobies were widely used on the coast of the Sea of Azov. This fish is small in size and quite thin bones, which allows for a three-time passage through a meat grinder, to achieve a soft homogeneous mass. Stuffing can consist of one type of fish or several, different in fat content. Hake fish cakes are very common throughout the former Soviet Union, but they have a rather dry taste. When you mix a hake with some oily fish, you get a more delicate taste. To get high-quality meatballs, airy, tender, mince must be beaten before use.
Bread is added not so much to increase the forcemeat mass, but to ensure the stickiness of the formed mass. Although many chefs believe that eggs carry this function, this opinion is erroneous. For the manufacture of whole, not crumbling cutlets, you need to take only stale, at least yesterday, bread in a proportion of at least a third of the minced fish. The onion carries the function of a marinade, so it is cut as finely as possible. The prepared cutlet mass should stand in the cold for at least 30 minutes, which will form the necessary consistency. Then indulges in molding and heat treatment: fried, stewed, guy. Cutlets made from fish with bones are subjected to additional stewing for half an hour, using tomato sauce, to finally soften the ingredients.
The recipe for chopped fishcakes differs in the way of chopping fish and replacing bread with semolina or oatmeal. To prepare this dish, half a kilo fillet of one or more types of fish is finely cut. For example, a pelengas is well in harmony with a pangasius (fish-tongue). Add 3 tablespoons of cereal, 2 eggs, 1 finely chopped medium-sized onion. Salt, pepper, mix and refrigerate for half an hour. After this time, small cakes are formed from the cooled mass, roll them in breadcrumbs and fry in a heated pan until a brown crust appears. After frying all the cutlets, it is recommended to put them out for several minutes over low heat.
Cutlets are rolled up to give them a crisp; this technique also helps prevent sticking to the pan. There are several roll options. In addition to breadcrumbs, flour, mashed potatoes or batter are also used.