This recipe came to the dining tables of our vast country from the northern capital of Russia, where it was unusually popular in 1970-1980. He was the hallmark of St. Petersburg catering establishments and the favorite home-cooked food of Leningrad residents. We suggest recalling and preparing this dish as its hostesses prepared it.
Recommendations
For cooking fish with onions in Leningrad, it is best to choose sea white. For example, these are species such as cod, pollock, catfish, perch, saffron cod, hake, flounder. You can use red varieties of fish. These are char, pink salmon, trout, salmon and others. They have a dense flesh with few bones.
When buying fish, give preference to carcasses with shiny scales, dark backs of saturated color and a light belly. All this indicates the freshness of the product.
It is better to peel, cut and cut fish in a frozen form. The insides are removed more cleanly and neatly, the pieces are smooth and beautiful in appearance. Be sure to cut the fins!
Products
To cook fried fish in Leningrad, you will need such products:
- peeled fish or fillet - 1 kg;
- 1 kg of onions, carrots and potatoes;
- 0.5 l of vegetable oil;
- 1.5–2 cups of wheat flour;
- 1 lemon
- salt, pepper - to taste.
The number of products is designed for 8-10 servings. Cooking time will take about 1 hour.
Ingredient preparation
Cut the fish into portions 2-3 cm thick:
- whole carcasses along with skin and costal bones - across the back;
- fillet - across the fibers.
Salt fish slices, pepper and leave for 15-20 minutes. While the fish is preparing, let's move on to the vegetables.
Boil the potatoes and cut into 1 cm thick slices. It is better to boil the potatoes in their skins and until medium cooked. Then, when slicing, the circles will not fall apart, the edges will be even.
Cut the onion into half rings, transfer to a deep cup and mix to make it into straws. Sprinkle with a little flour, cover the cup with a lid and shake well several times. So the whole onion straw is covered with a thin layer of flour, and the excess will be at the bottom of the cup.
Grate the carrots on a coarse grater or cut into thin strips. You can sugar a little, sprinkle with vinegar and leave for 5-10 minutes.
Cooking
For frying fish in Leningrad you will need:
- one or two deep pans;
- stew-pan.
Pour the vegetable oil into two deep pans. The layer should rise 1.5-2 cm above the bottom. In one pan, fry the prepared onion straws until golden brown. In the second - carrots. Remove the fried vegetables with a spatula with slots, through which allow excess oil to drain.
Pour the oil in the amount necessary for deep fat into the stewpan. Place the pieces of fish in a deep cup, sprinkle with flour and shake, as was done with onion straws. The fish is finely and evenly coated with flour. You can simply roll separately each fish piece in a bowl with flour. Then the crust on the fish will be thicker.
Pour the oil in the amount necessary for deep-frying into the stewpan and warm well. Fry the fish in it until a crispy golden crust is formed, about 5-7 minutes on each side over medium heat.
Remove the fish from the saucepan, letting the oil drain, and put in one layer in a separate bowl.
Remove the crumbs of flour from the deep-fat frying pan in which the fish was fried and fry potato slices in it until golden brown. Our meal is ready.
Dish serving
The whole secret of fried fish in Leningrad is precisely in the serving.
- Take a large tray, preferably oval. Put pieces of fried fish in the middle.
- Wrap potato circles around it. Garnish with thinly sliced lemon slices.
- On separate deep plates, lay the fried straws of onions and carrots in slides.
Sauce for fish in Leningrad is not served. A bread is better to choose rye or wheat.