By the word hodgepodge, many understand a very delicious rich meat dish with pickles, olives and herbs. But it can be cooked on mushroom, and even fish broth. Today, almost every restaurant tries to include this dish in its menu. Cooking fish hodgepodge is a very exciting and interesting process, with its own certain subtleties.
What fish is used for hodgepodge?
At home, a hodgepodge can be prepared from almost any fish, the main thing is that it be oily. In addition, she should not have a strong smell. For example, sea pollock fish (very dry and completely non-greasy) or flounder (oily, but it smells not very nice) are not suitable not only for hodgepodge, but also for fish soup.
Of river fish, carp and carp are well suited. You can use silver carp, but do not take large specimens. This fish accumulates a lot of fat with age, so the dish will give a lot of rancid bacon, which will ruin the taste. It’s good to use mullet. It is delicious and almost boneless. It’s not at all difficult to prepare fish fillet from it.
Among marine fish, salmon, chum, trout and pink salmon can be noted. But the last of them has harsh meat, and a little fat, so a rich fish hodgepodge is unlikely to succeed. For an aristocratic dish, sterlet or sturgeon is ideal. In the Russian market, this is the most expensive fish. Among the cheaper options can be noted mackerel. It is large, thick, fat, with a pleasant sweet taste and tender meat. And there are few bones in it. Of course, it will not replace sturgeon or trout, but the fish hodgepodge will be just magnificent.
According to professionals, this dish should include at least three types of fish.
First, the smallest one is brewed, for example, brushes and other river inhabitants, and then more expensive species are added.
The solyanka will turn out very tasty if you add smoked or salted fish to it, which will add a special aftertaste and a pleasant aftertaste to the finished dish.
It is not recommended to use herring, as it will give a specific smell, which is almost impossible to kill.
Since to taste the hodgepodge should be acidic, salty and spicy at the same time, in addition to fish, cucumbers, capers, lemon, olives, sour cabbage, greens, seasonings and other components are added to the dish. You can not use them all, the most important thing is to successfully choose to taste, to emphasize the advantages of the dish.
Cucumbers
It is better to use pickled cucumbers for pickled fish rather than pickled ones. Barrels are ideal. They are finely chopped and allowed to drain excess fluid. If thick peel and large seeds, it is advisable to remove them.
Small and crispy cucumbers can be immediately put into the broth after slicing, and larger ones should be stewed in a pan for several minutes.
Tomato paste
When cooking fish hodgepodge, tomato paste is very important. Without it, this dish will turn out completely different. Although it is not an obligatory component, nevertheless, tomatoes, tomato juice, ketchup and others will not replace it.
Olives and olives
They are rarely added to fish hodgepodge. This is, so to speak, not for everybody. Many use olives. They, of course, must be natural, without all kinds of flavors and additives, in their own juice.
Capers
They are also used pickled. Capers give the dish a light aroma and a small bitterness.
Cooking features
The broth is prepared in advance. Gutted small fish or large scraps are laid in cold water and brought to a boil over low heat. The foam must be removed, as the broth may turn cloudy. Cook should be as long as possible to make the dish more rich. This is best done in the evening, for the night it is well infused. A rich, good fish stock after cooling freezes like meat jelly.
The dish includes potatoes, onions and carrots. In the original recipe for fish hodgepodge they were not. Add these ingredients to the broth for added volume and satiety.
Often used and cabbage, both fresh and pickled (it, before adding to the broth, washed and squeezed).
To give the dish an additional twist, put it in 3-5 minutes before serving lemon without zest.
The recipe for a classic fish hodgepodge
To prepare the dish you will need the following ingredients:
- sturgeon, salmon, zander, burbot and sterlet 200 g each;
- large tomato;
- tomato paste - one tablespoon;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- one bell pepper;
- 2 cucumbers;
- olives - about 8 pcs.;
- 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil;
- to taste salt, fresh herbs and spices.
Cooking:
- They wash the fish, put it in a pan, fill it with water and bring it to a boil over low heat. Then the fire is added and boiled until a foam forms on the surface. It must be removed regularly.
- They reduce the fire and languish for at least one hour, and preferably even longer.
- The broth is filtered through a fine sieve.
- Separate the fish fillet from the bones and put in the broth.
- Add chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Bring to a boil, put tomato paste. About 2 minutes before the dishes are ready, lemon juice is introduced, salted and pepper.
- Classical fish hodgepodge is ready! When serving, sprinkle with fresh herbs and add olives.
Tsar's fish hodgepodge
This recipe for fish hodgepodge, unlike the previous one, allows you to cook a more delicious and rich dish.
Ingredients:
- perch (several small pieces);
- pink salmon - about 0.5 kg;
- hot cod - 0.3 kg;
- shrimp - 0.3 kg;
- carrot - 2 pcs. medium size;
- bulbs - 2 pcs.;
- celery - 80 g;
- potatoes - 3-5 pcs.;
- cucumbers - 3-4 pcs.;
- two tablespoons of tomato paste;
- olives - 200-250 g;
- to taste salt and spices;
- bay leaf - 2-3 pcs.
Preparation of royal fish hodgepodge:
- Put 2.5 liters of water on fire, bring to a boil, slightly add salt. Shrimp is thrown into the pan and boiled for 3 minutes, then filtered through a colander.
- They clean the fish, wash it, cut into small pieces. Sort smoked fish, peel the shrimp.
- Raw fish is spread in the broth left over from the shrimp, and one peeled onion, carrots and celery are added. Cook for at least an hour, periodically removing the resulting foam. The broth is filtered.
- Cut vegetables: potatoes into cubes, onion rings, cucumbers, carrots and celery with thin strips.
- The pan is greased with vegetable oil. Alternately spread onions, carrots, celery and cucumbers on it. They languish for several minutes until soft.
- Add tomato paste and spices. Send potatoes to the broth. When it is almost ready, add smoked fish and fry.
- After about 5 minutes, put the fish fillet with shrimp, olives and bay leaf.
- Salt and pepper are added to taste, covered with a lid and left for about 15-20 minutes.
- The bay leaf is taken out, the hodgepodge is poured on plates, decorated with fresh herbs and lemon slices.
Solyanka fish team
- sea bass - about 0.5 kg;
- salted salmon - 0.5 kg;
- vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. spoons;
- onion - 2 pcs.;
- cucumbers (pickles) - 3 pcs.;
- cucumber pickle - 1 glass .;
- bay leaf - 3 pcs.;
- one lemon;
- can of olives;
- capers - 100-150 g;
- salt, ground black pepper to taste.
Cooking:
- Cut fresh fish with a sharp knife: cut off the tails and heads, separate the fillet pieces from the bones and set aside. Fold the bones, tails and heads into a deep pan and fill with water (about 3 l).
- Bring the water to a boil, cook the broth, periodically removing the foam. Then strain through a sieve and pour into a deep clean pan. Bring to a boil again.
- Pour the cucumber pickle into the saucepan and also bring to a boil, then strain into the fish broth through a fine sieve. Peel pickles and chop finely.
- Fry 2 chopped onion heads in a small frying pan in oil, add a little salt and pepper, then add to the pan with the broth. There, send chopped pickles.
- Dice the fresh fish fillet from the bones into small cubes. Separate bones from slightly salted salmon and cut into cubes of the same size.
- Throw fresh fish with salmon into a boiling broth and continue to cook over medium heat for 30-40 minutes. Solyanka should not boil too intense.
- Add olives and capers (pickled) with brine. Stir, boil a little more and remove from heat.
- Cut lemon into thin round slices.
- Fish hodgepodge is ready. It remains only to pour into deep plates and then put a lemon slice in each of them. Can be served.
So, we examined the recipes of the classic fish hodgepodge, the king and the team. There are many other ways to prepare this unusually tasty dish that can diversify the diet. Do not be afraid to experiment.
Enjoy your meal!