Pike has long been considered the queen of holiday tables and their main decoration. Dishes from it are very tasty and healthy. However, it is not so easy to cook it, because it is necessary to remove the specific smell, dry meat and a large number of bones.
Hostesses who know and apply tricks, as well as cooking secrets, do real miracles with this predatory fish.
Not everyone knows how to cook pike in the oven so that it becomes a real table decoration and main course. However, even novice hostesses can cook it deliciously with little effort.
How to prepare a pike
Before learning about how to cook a pike in the oven, first of all, you should familiarize yourself with the instructions for the proper preparation of the carcass.
- Fish is washed in cool running water from mucus and dirt.
- The carcass is cleaned of scales. To do this, it must be placed on a solid cutting board and with a sharp knife to scrape off all the scales. Movement should go from head to tail.
- The fin separates from the back. However, some prefer to leave it; later it serves as a decoration for a pike baked whole.
- The abdomen is neatly opened from head to tail, and after it all the insides are taken out and the belly is washed with water.
- The head is cut off if the fish is cooked in the form of fillets or slices. For the whole carcass it is better to leave it, but it is necessary to remove the gills.
- After all the manipulations, the carcass is well washed.
Further cutting takes place depending on the dish. In order to make the fillet, it is necessary to remove the skin, carefully separate the ridge and costal bones. All others are removed from the meat with tweezers. Then it is cut into pieces of the required size.
In order to bake fish with steaks, it should be cut into pieces no more than 4 cm wide. If they exceed the allowed sizes, then there is a likelihood that in the middle the meat will remain unbaked. This will ruin the taste of the dish and can harm the body.
After all the manipulations done, you can cook a pike in the oven tasty and simple.
What is needed from the products
The following products are mainly used for the preparation of water queen:
- prepared carcass, filet or steaks;
- medium fat sour cream or sauce;
- sunflower oil;
- lemon or lime juice;
- seasonings and spices.
After preparing the ingredients, you should choose a recipe and familiarize yourself with how to cook pike in the oven correctly.
Cooking equipment
For cooking fish, the following set of kitchen utensils is usually used:
- cook knife;
- wooden cutting board;
- a baking sheet;
- 2-3 plates;
- foil.
How to cook pike in the oven with this tool? This question can often be heard from beginning hostesses. Experienced cooks recommend that you carefully follow the cooking instructions. Usually it is present in every recipe.
Recipes
There are many recipes for delicious fish dishes. After familiarizing themselves with them, the hostess does not have a question about how easy it is to cook a pike in the oven so that it is juicy and tender.
The main thing is to decide in what form the fish will be cooked. After this, soak the meat in water with lemon. This will remove the muddy, silty odor. From this dish will smell like fish meat and herbs.
Baked fillet with vegetables
To prepare the fillet pieces in the oven, you need the following set of ingredients:
- 600 g filet;
- 100 ml sour cream (medium fat content);
- 110 g carrots;
- 10 g of fresh garlic;
- 110 g onions (red) onions;
- 1 lemon (small);
- 60 g of flour of the first grade;
- 40 g seasoning suitable for fish dishes;
- 1 small bunch of fresh parsley;
- 5 g of salt;
- 5 g black pepper (chopped).
How to cook pike in a juicy oven? In fact, it is quite simple and easy, just follow the step by step instructions and use the sauce or sour cream.
- The prepared fillet is washed and cut into portions. After they are dried with paper napkins or towels.
- The fillet is rubbed with pepper, salt, and also sprinkled with freshly squeezed lemon juice. It is marinated after this 30 minutes.
- All vegetables are peeled and washed. Carrots are cut into strips, onions are chopped into half rings.
- Then they are fried in preheated sunflower oil until a pleasant golden hue and seasoned with salt and pepper.
- The filet is fried in a pan with sunflower oil on each side until crisp.
- The baking sheet is greased with oil, and slices of browned fillet are laid out on it. After it is placed on a vegetable pillow.
- In a separate plate, sour cream is mixed with spices and seasonings, and garlic chopped on a grater or in a special crush is added. Everything is thoroughly mixed. This sauce is filled with fish and vegetables.
The baking sheet is cleaned in the oven. It must be heated to 180 degrees. After 35 minutes, the fish dish will be ready. After that, it can be removed and served. Cooks recommend decorating such a fish with lemon slices with fresh herbs.
Whole pike in foil
Fish cooked in foil is juicy and tender. This is because it simplifies the baking process and prevents the juice from evaporating.
It is customary to cook pike in foil from the following set of ingredients:
- 700 g of pike;
- 125 g of onions;
- 90 g carrots;
- 1 medium-sized lemon;
- 155 g ripe tomatoes;
- 180 ml of mayonnaise (medium fat);
- 60 ml of sunflower or olive oil.
How to cook pike in foil in the oven and make it fragrant? This is done simply, you need to add garlic, salt, pepper (chopped) and basil to the dish.
- The prepared carcass is thoroughly washed in water and dried. Paper towels or napkins are well suited for this.
- All vegetables are washed, peeled and chopped.
- The onion, chopped into half rings, is cut in half, then it is fried with grated carrots in hot oil until it is a beautiful golden hue.
- In a separate bowl, mayonnaise is mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper. This sauce is rubbed with carcass on all sides and inside.
- The foil is laid out on a baking sheet, greased with oil, and a pike is placed in the center, vegetables are laid out on it, all this is wrapped.
- Everything is put in the oven, which was heated to 200 degrees, for 45 minutes.
After baking, the fish can be removed and served to guests or family. It’s best to take it out on a large plate.
To get a beautiful blush on the surface of a pike, it should be prepared in two stages. The first 30 minutes, the pike should be wrapped in foil, and the remaining 15 minutes should be baked in open form. So she will cook and cover herself with a beautiful crust.
Pike baked in the oven with slices
In order to bake pike in pieces in the oven, you need to use the following ingredients:
- 700 g of pike;
- 210 g of red or onion;
- 1 small lemon;
- 55 ml sour cream of medium fat content;
- 45 ml of sunflower oil;
- 3-5 g seasonings for fish dishes;
- 1 small bunch of greens;
- salt and black pepper (ground) to taste.
How to cook pike in the oven in pieces? To do this, follow the step by step instructions.
- Prepared carcass is cut into portioned pieces 3 cm wide.
- They are placed in a separate plate and sprinkled with freshly squeezed lemon juice. After that, the pieces are rubbed with a mixture of seasoning for fish, salt and pepper.
- The onion is peeled, rinsed and chopped into half rings.
- In a separate plate, sour cream is mixed with a part of the oil and the remnants of lemon juice.
- The greens are washed and chopped. After it is added to sour cream sauce.
- The foil is spread on a baking sheet and lubricated with a small amount of oil. Slices of pike are neatly laid out in the center, a onion is placed on them with a thin layer.
- The workpiece is poured with sauce and wrapped.
- The baking sheet is placed in the oven. It should be heated to 200 degrees.
The dish will be ready in 35 minutes and it can be taken out. As a side dish, cooks recommend using boiled or baked potatoes. Rice or buckwheat is also good. You can decorate the dish with lemon slices, fresh herbs and olives.
Pike with potatoes
Hostesses often ask themselves how to cook pike in the oven with potatoes. It is pretty simple. The basis of such a recipe is the instruction for baking whole pike, only potatoes are added to the vegetable layer.
You can prepare such a dish from the following:
- 600 g of pike;
- 600 g of potatoes (white variety);
- 190 g of onion;
- 190 g carrots;
- 100 g of cheese;
- 45 ml vegetable or olive oil;
- 50 ml of medium fat mayonnaise.
You will also need salt, ground black pepper, fresh herbs and suneli hops.
- The prepared carcass is washed, dried with paper towels and cut into portions.
- In a separate plate, they are salted, pepper and greased with a small amount of mayonnaise.
- Vegetables are washed, peeled and chopped.
- Potatoes in a separate bowl are mixed with mayonnaise and seasoned, and then sprinkled with a portion of chopped greens.
- The foil is covered in a baking dish, greased with oil, and potatoes, carrots, onions and pieces of fish are laid out on it. The dish prepared for baking is wrapped.
- The form is placed in the oven, heated to 200 degrees, for 35 minutes.
After cooking, the dish is taken out, transferred to a plate and served on the table. You can decorate it with lemon slices, sour berries and herbs.
Useful Tips
To make the dish especially tasty, you should use the advice of experienced chefs.
- The pike should be fresh and preferably not frozen.
- The process of cleaning and preparation should be carried out carefully, special attention should be paid to cutting and removing bones.
- It is not recommended to use a lot of fragrant seasonings. They will kill the taste and aroma of fish.
Pike baked in the oven is a very tasty and healthy dish. Thanks to the method of its preparation, a large amount of useful substances and vitamins is preserved in meat. To make the fish juicy and tender, you must additionally use sour cream, mayonnaise or sauces.