How to quickly clean fresh fish from scales. Ways to clean fish from scales. How to properly clean a fish

24.11.2021

Fish dishes are an indispensable product on every family table, especially from fresh fish. The last words can scare an inexperienced hostess who does not know how to clean fish. A little imagination - and you can imagine how naughty scales, gleaming, scatter in all directions, stick to kitchen cabinets, tiles, a knife, hands, fly right in the face!

Sometimes in the country or in nature you want to treat yourself to a fish cooked on coals or in a smokehouse. Only now this does not happen as often as we would like, because cleaning fish is not a pleasant occupation. If you know some tricks, cooking will be much easier.

We remove the scales in various ways

Perhaps this is one of the most unpleasant moments, because the fish will strive to slip out of your hands, and the scales can scatter all over the kitchen. To prevent the fish from slipping, you need to thoroughly rinse it under cold water. They clean from head to tail, then the scales are better separated.

Scales from fresh fish are much easier to clean, so, if possible, fish should be cleaned right after the catch. But most housewives still deal with frozen or chilled fish, therefore, the most important thing is to figure out how to clean fish from scales at home. There are a few tricks that will help you cope with this task easily:

You can clean it in a plastic bag, then all the scales will remain inside it.
Place the fish in a container with cold water - then the hands are under water and the scales do not scatter.
Pour boiling water over the fish, if the scales do not leave at all, for 10-15 seconds.
Salt the small fish well and rub it with your hands for a longer time, then it remains only to rinse it in cold water.

Anyone who knows how to clean fish well puts a stick into her mouth all the way - it's much more convenient.

Instead of a knife, many people use various devices. You can make a fish scaler by nailing 2-3 beer caps to the plank. The same effect will be obtained if a plate of tin with holes punched by a nail is nailed to a wooden block (so that there are sharp jagged edges). Even a simple tin can with holes in the bottom can be a handy fish scaler. Yes, and in the hardware store there are many special knives for cleaning fish, but experienced housewives they will say that the most reliable thing is an ordinary large knife.

By the way! So that when cleaning your hands do not slip, you need to rub the fish with coarse salt. True, then there should not be wounds on the hands (it will hurt if you do not use gloves).

River fish cleaning

Most often, amateur fishermen catch fish in rivers. So, first of all, you need to know how to clean river fish. In some cases, cleaning is not required, for example, without removing the scales, you can prepare snacks from:

perch
salmon
goby
burbot

Really, delicious ear obtained from perch or small bream directly in the skin. In this case, the broth can be filtered from the scales and the fish soup can be boiled further in it, and the fish can be peeled and served separately with herbs.

They also do not clean salmon, gobies for frying or scrambled eggs, and scales can be removed from crucian carp even with your fingers. But with catfish and burbot, the scales are not removed at all (they only carefully clean off the mucus), or they are removed together with the skin, as they say, with a stocking. To do this, make an incision near the head and remove down to the tail.

Perch deserves special attention, because it is he who is most often caught. This fish is loved taste qualities and the opportunity to prepare different ways. In summer, near the river, the catch can be immediately smoked, just by washing in clean cold water. The smoked skin is easily separated along with the scales, and under it a wonderful taste and aroma is preserved. If you need to clean perches for frying or baking at home, then there is great way, which can be called popular

cut off the prickly fins of the perch with scissors;
put the fish on a cutting board and clean the insides from the abdomen;
we take the most ordinary metal tetrahedral grater (preferably the old one, from Soviet times, if preserved) and thoroughly clean the side where there are holes with notches.

The quality of cleaning in this way will be much higher than when working with a knife, and the scales will almost not scatter around the kitchen. And so that the fish does not crawl on the board, you need to hold it tightly with a fork by the tail. This method is most conveniently performed in pairs.

Special attention: tench!

Tench, a fish found in lakes or other bodies of water where there is no strong current, has become more and more widespread in recent years. Distributed in the European part of Russia, but occasionally found even in Lake Baikal.

The taste qualities of this fish, as well as fats and proteins contained in large quantities in tench meat, attract more and more housewives who want to pamper their loved ones with something new instead of bored greenlings or pink salmon, which are sold in abundance in fish departments. If you have difficulty with how to clean, know tench fish requires the following steps:

Rinse thoroughly under running cold water to remove mucus and mud, and leave in the sink.
Pour boiling water on top so that the mucus curdles like egg white. And then rinse with cold water.
Many argue that it is not necessary to clean the scales, because after cooking, especially when baking or smoking, it seems to dissolve. If you feel the need to remove the scales, then you need to hold the fish for 20 seconds in hot water, and then scrape off the scales with the blunt side of the knife in cold water. When cutting out the intestines, it is important not to damage the gallbladder, otherwise the fish will turn out bitter. Since they cook with the head, it is also better not to leave the gills.

By the way! If you feel a strong smell of mud, you can get rid of it by thoroughly washing the tench in a strong saline solution, and watering it before cooking. lemon juice.

Instead of an afterword

Over time, any hostess will adapt to a particular fish. And if the husband often fishes, then the wife will have to master the recipes for cooking pike perch, crucian carp, pike, and perch and bream for sure. Sooner or later you will understand how to properly clean the fish, and even fish dishes are much healthier for men than chicken, stuffed with antibiotics and containing hormones. Therefore, for men after forty, fish is preferable. Yes, and they begin to fish more actively at this time: the children have already grown up, it’s not respectable to go to parties and parties, so the main male hobby remains - fishing.

Women are also encouraged to eat fish in order to maintain harmony or at least a constant weight. In addition, there are many recipes for fish dishes that will decorate any festive table. After all, before the dish with baked sturgeon served as a real decoration of the royal table! Many peoples even have customs associated with fish. For example, on Catholic Christmas it is customary to bake carp with a lemon in its belly. Since carp have very large scales, they clean such fish from the tail, and then it is customary to carry carp scales in your wallet all next year so that you always have money.

Scales on fish, this is perhaps the problem that stops many before cooking it, especially if it is a serious difficulty for you to quickly remove all the scales without long fuss. It is the cleaning of the fish that seriously "slows down" the emergence of inspiration for many housewives to prepare a delicious fish dish. But, not only the housewives do not like to clean the fish, there are also fishermen who are ready only to catch it, and then transfer it to more skilled hands. It also happens that the family is not at all happy with a good catch, again because of the problem of removing scales from this catch. Meanwhile, for a long time, various devices have been invented for us that will help remove even the smallest scales from the fish, which, as a rule, are the strongest and hold on.

We clean the fish properly. Basic Rules

The first thing you should learn if you are used to catching fish on your own is that any fresh fish is much easier to part with its scales than one that has already lain for some time. So, when you return from fishing, immediately start cleaning the fish, and even better, clean it in general when the catch has just been removed from the water.

What kind of fish can not be cleaned?

This includes salmon, as well as, popular in many reservoirs. Someone, for example, does not clean gobies, but fry them just like that. The scales from the catfish can also not be removed, they only scrape off the mucus from it. There is another option for cleaning this fish, when they simply remove the skin from it, as they say, with a “stocking”. To do this, simply make an incision around his head first.

We clean carp and other carp fish

Carp, this is one of the most simple fish in terms of cleaning it from scales. The same can be said about the whole carp family. If you literally just caught a crucian, then the scales are removed from it very easily. You can even do it with your finger. If the fish is small, sprinkle it with salt first, rub it with your hands, and then rinse it under running water. After these procedures, you can remove the scales from it without problems.

We clean perch and ruff

These two varieties of river fish are especially difficult to clean, due to their very small scales. As for the perch, here is about cleaning this predator. There are, however, general rules that will help you free both of these fish from scales. First of all, cut off all the spiny fins from the fish, and then place it a little in cold water. Next, make small grooves against the growth of scales. To do this, you can use a fork or knife. Such grooves will allow you to clean the fish much easier.

It is very convenient to remove the scales from the fish, if you insert a stick into her mouth. At the same time, the stick should rest and go no further. You can take a plank and pin the tail of the fish to it, then the whole carcass is simply pulled out until a “crunch” appears, while holding it by the eyes. It is best to use a large knife to clean the fish. With it, peeling off the scales will be much easier and faster.

What can you use to remove the scales from a fish?

It’s really not difficult to quickly clean the fish, for this you can use various improvised items or simple devices. For example, the simplest such device is a small wooden block, on which a piece of tin can is simply nailed (even a can lid will do) or aluminum. In the tin, holes are first punched with a nail, on one side of which, sharp notches are sure to appear. They will help you remove the scales from the fish.

You can not use a wooden block at all, but simply punch through the bottom of a tin can. The effect will be the same. Another option is to nail beer bottle caps to the plank with a sharp edge up. This device has been tested for a long time, it cleans the fish very well.

If you are reluctant to bother with the manufacture of such home-made products, then you can use a simple, metal fork. Even the absence of a knife can be made up for if you put the fish in boiling water, which in the future will help you remove the scales even without a knife. And here plastic bag will not allow the scales to scatter around the kitchen at the time of cleaning. Another inconvenience, when the fish simply slips out of the hands, can be neutralized if it is completely silently sprinkled with salt.

How you can clean the fish in the apartment so that its scales do not scatter, you will be shown in this video.

Thursday, as you know, is considered a fish day. A few decades ago, on this day, fish dishes were served in canteens and buffets. This is due to the norms of a healthy diet - fish should be in the diet at least once a week. Modern housewives monitor the health of their family and also try to adhere to the rules of a healthy diet. But often the mere thought of long-term cleaning of fish, a dirty kitchen, and flying scales can beat off all culinary zeal. And for dinner, anything is again served, but not a fish dish.

Is the devil as terrible as he is painted? Is it really that hard to clean a fish? Is there really no way that will help us clean the fish quickly and without problems? Is it necessary to wash the whole kitchen after cleaning the fish from the scales scattered in all directions? This is not true! Let's try to understand everything in order.

The classic way to clean fish

In general, fish is easier to clean if it is fresh. Therefore, if your faithful came from fishing, it is better to clean the entire catch at once and only then place the fish in the freezer for storage. It is even better to clean the fish right next to the pond - this way the risk of dirtying the kitchen is minimal.
If the fish is very slippery in your hands, sprinkle it with salt. This will make the cleaning process easier.
Carefully cut off all fins except for the tail. Without a tail, it will be much more difficult to clean the fish. The fins are cut off in order not to get hurt - in some species of fish, these fins are quite sharp.
The next step is to clean the fish from scales. To do this, take a large sharp knife. The larger the knife, the easier it is to clean. Place the fish on a cutting board, grasp the tail with one hand. With your other hand with a knife, remove the scales from the fish, swiping from the tail to the head, that is, against the location of the scales.
If the scales are scattered all over the kitchen, you can draw some water into the sink and lower the fish into the water. Clean the scales under water so that they do not fly apart.
When all the scales are off, rinse the fish with water. The next step is gutting. To do this, take a thin knife, which must be very sharp. Spread the belly of the fish from the head to the rear lower fin. Carefully take out the insides of the fish and try to peel off the thin film that covers the belly from the inside. When removing the entrails, be careful with the gallbladder of the fish - do not damage it. Otherwise, the fish may acquire an unpleasant bitter taste.
When eviscerating, pay attention to the contents of the belly. Sometimes there may be caviar that should not be thrown away in any case.
If by recipe it is planned to cook the whole fish (including the head), then you need to remove its gills.
Do not forget to rinse the fish again after cleaning.
If you are not going to bake the whole fish, but want to fry it in pieces, then it must be cut. First cut off the head and tail. The rest is cut into small pieces. Then the fleshy part of the fish is cut, then with a sharp blow of the knife it is necessary to break the spine of the fish at the place of the cut. Then the rest of the fish is cut.
If you need a fish fillet, cut it across into pieces should not be. You need to take the fish by the tail and cut the flesh along the carcass with a sharp knife, as close as possible to the ridge. You will get two halves - on one spine and ribs, and on the second only ribs. After that, the ribs and large bones are easily removed. Then the fillet is cut into portions - into pieces of the desired size.
If you plan to cook fish cakes, you need to peel the fish along with the bones.

After that, the fish can be sent to the pan, oven or pan.

How to clean different types of fish

Cleaning fish depends largely on its type. Some types of fish may not be cleaned at all, for example, salmon or goby. They are fried together with scales, because it is quite soft and small.

Other types of fish are cleaned by completely removing the skin from them, for example, catfish, burbot, eel. To do this, you need to make a small incision near the head of the fish and pull the skin off in one motion.

Some fish (for example, crucian carp) are cleaned very easily, with the help of fingers. To do this, you just need to thoroughly rinse the crucian with a stream of water. And if you sprinkle small fish of any kind with salt, the scales will move away without any problems.

Pike, perch and pike perch can be scalded with boiling water. To do this, clean fish must be lowered into boiling water for a while. Blanching time depends on the size and freshness of the fish and can vary from 30 seconds to three minutes. It is very important here not to overcook the carcass, otherwise the scales will go away along with the boiled meat.

If you decide to cook tench, then you must first thoroughly rinse it from mud and mucus. If this does not help, put the washed fish in the sink and pour boiling water over it. You will immediately see how the mucus begins to curl up, as if egg white. After that, you just need to rinse the fish. Some believe that it is not necessary to remove the scales from the tench, they say, it is so thin that it simply dissolves in the ear. If the smallest particles bother you, you can dip the tench in boiling water for a minute and remove the scales along with the skin.

If river fish it smells like mud, and you are afraid that after cooking the smell will remain, you need to leave the washed fish carcass in salt water for a couple of hours. And just before cooking, pour the fish with lemon juice. And then you will get only a pleasant appetizing aroma of cooked fish.

We have put together a few more tips for you to make cleaning fish really quick and comfortable.

Some clean the fish with a grater. It is very convenient, besides, the scales do not fly off half a meter. Take an ordinary grater, and preferably a four-sided one - it is easier to hold it in your hands. Carefully drive the grater over the fish against the location of the scales.
If the fish is not needed right now, it can be pre-salted. Just sprinkle the carcass with salt, place in a plastic container and leave in the refrigerator until morning. In the morning, the scales will come off along with the skin.
Fish can also be frozen first. This will make the cleaning process easier. Leave the fish in the freezer for a day, and then take it out. After an hour, when the scales have already melted, and the fish itself will still be frozen, it will be very easy to clean it.
Most dinner sets have special knife for cleaning fish. Its serrated edges do everything for you - cleaning fish in this way is a pleasure.
In hardware stores today there are a huge number of newfangled devices for quickly and safely cleaning fish. This is a cutting board with a special clip that secures the tail of the fish. And a universal fish scaler, which is a plane with sharp notches.
IN field conditions when there is no knife at hand, the fish can be easily cleaned with a metal spoon or fork.
If with any type of cleaning the scales scatter throughout the kitchen, you can use a plastic bag. Put the fish in there and clean right in it. After that, the package can be thrown away along with the peeled off scales.
In field conditions, you can attach the fish to the board for ease of cleaning using an ordinary nail or awl.
To make it easier to clean fish of any kind, a stick or toothpick is inserted into its mouth so that the mouth of the fish is fully open.
To make cleaning quick, pre-stretch the fish “to a crunch”. To do this, secure it with a nail or clip in the tail area, and with your other hand, pull the carcass by the eyes. After a characteristic crunch, it will be much easier to clean the fish.
If there is nothing at hand that would help clean the fish, you can use a piece of tin, a small bar and a nail. Make holes in the tin with a nail so that all the notches look in the same direction. Nail the tin with the flat side to the bar and get a ready-made fish cleaning tool.
Fish can be cleaned with a piece of wood and a few beer caps. Nail the lids to the wood so that the sharp part is facing out. The fish is cleaned with such a tool quickly, easily and efficiently.

Our simple tips help you do complex things easily.

Cleaning fish is a rather unpleasant task, perhaps one of the most unpleasant processes in all cooking. However, you should not give up tasty treats because of this. fish dishes. Clean fish easily, quickly and comfortably!

Video: how to clean fish from scales

How to scale a fish with a knife

A knife is the most common tool used to clean fish. It should be well sharpened, comfortable and small. It is best to start cleaning after you have caught it. First you need to remove all the fins with special scissors. It is necessary to start cleaning the fish from the tail and gradually approaching the head. Scales should be removed against their direction. Then gut the carcass and cut off the head.

If you have never cleaned a fish before, then it is better to do it with the blunt side of the knife. You can also use a regular fork.

How to clean fish from scales under water
Often all the scales fly in different directions during cleaning. To prevent this from happening, you need to draw water into a container and immerse the live bait in it, then nothing will fly apart. A rare scale will not be able to overcome water resistance and fly out. But with this method, you can cut yourself with a knife, so you need to prepare rubber gloves in advance. It is better to choose options with a ribbed inner surface, so the fish will not slip out.

You can also place the carcass in a large plastic bag and clean it without removing it. In this case, all the husk will remain inside the package.

How to clean fish from scales with a grater
Cleaning fish that has hard scales, such as ruff or perch, must be done with a special grater. At the same time, hold the carcass by the tail and make smooth and at the same time strong movements. The area near the tail is treated with a knife. This method allows you to clean and big fish. You can make a grater yourself. To do this, you need to nail tin beer caps to a wooden plank. Rub the fish starting from the tail and towards the head. Thus, the scales will easily move away and practically not scatter.

You can also build a fish scaler by nailing a piece of tin to a wooden bar, on which to make holes with a nail. A grater can be made from a can with holes.

How to clean fish from scales with boiling water
It is very easy to get rid of the husk with boiling water. This option is suitable for fish with hard scales. To do this, pour the carcass with boiling water. Then pull it out and put it under a stream of cold water.

You need to remove the scales starting from the tail and towards the head, so as not to damage the skin. The scales of the flounder can be removed along with the skin by making an incision in the tail area and sharply removing the skin.

Remember that you can’t keep the fish under boiling water for too long, because the scales can move away with the meat.

How to clean fish from scales quickly - freezing the carcass
To facilitate cleaning, you can leave the fish for 8 hours in the freezer. Then pull the carcass 2 hours before cleaning into the sink. During this period, the scales will thaw slightly, and the fish itself will remain frozen.

How to clean fish from scales quickly - gutting
After the scales are removed, you need to start gutting. To do this, cut the belly, remove the intestines and the rest of the insides. If the gallbladder is damaged, then these places need to be treated with salt. Remove black film. After all manipulations, the carcass must be thoroughly rinsed with water.

The above tips and tricks will help you cook quickly and easily. tasty dish from fish, and cleaning from scales will take a minimum of time and effort.

For many, the procedure for cleaning fish is associated with a boring and monotonous task, the finale of which is picking up fish scales scattered throughout the kitchen.

Tool

The traditional tool used for cleaning fish is.

For those who have not had to clean the fish and those who have not yet gained the necessary experience in using the knife to separate the scales, it is recommended to clean the fish with the blunt side of the knife.

To avoid injury, you can clean the fish with a spoon or fork.

There is also a special tool, similar to a scraper. They are easy and safe to work with.

To clean fish with hard scales (ruff, perch, etc.), use a special grater. You can also make it yourself by nailing a few tin beer corks to a wooden plank.

A good grater will also serve as an empty tin can, in the bottom of which holes are pierced with a large nail so that sharp notches form on them.

Preparatory work

First of all, rinse the fish under cool running water. If some time has passed after washing the fish, during which the scales have dried up, moisten the fish again with cold water - this will make the process of getting rid of the scales much faster.

In the event that the fish scales are very hard or adhere tightly to the skin, dip the fish carcass for a few seconds in boiling water before cleaning. The main thing is not to overdo it.

To avoid injury from sharp fish fins during cleaning, cut them with kitchen scissors or cut them with a thin, sharp knife.

Fish cleaning

The main question that everyone inevitably asked himself, at least once in his life, cleaned the fish: “How to make sure that the fish scales do not scatter in all directions during the cleaning process?”

There is nothing easier - many people clean fish immersed in a container of water. With this approach, a very rare scale will be able to overcome the resistance of the water layer and fly out from under the knife.

Another solution to the problem is to place the fish carcass in a spacious, durable and transparent plastic bag, performing all the cleaning manipulations without removing it from the bag.

In this case, absolutely all the scales will remain in the bag, without creating additional hassle for cleaning the kitchen at the end of the work.

If flying scales are not a problem for you, feel free to lay the fish on the kitchen board. Fix the fish by pinning its tail to a wooden board with an awl or any other sharp object.

If after that you pull the fish out, holding it with your fingers by the head, it will not be difficult to clean it from scales.

The procedure for cleaning fish is simple and hardly needs a detailed description.

Having placed the fish with its head towards you, start getting rid of scales from the tail, working with the tool against the growth of scales, gradually moving towards the head of the fish.

After cleaning the fish, it will remain gutted. After laying the carcass belly up, with scissors or a kitchen knife, open the fish belly from the head to the anus.

After that, remove all the insides, not forgetting to remove the brownish film from the inside of the abdomen. Either cut off the head of the fish or remove the gills from it.

So that at the end of the cutting work you do not have to soak the cutting board, do not forget to cover it with newspaper or a plastic bag.

It remains to rinse the fish thoroughly, after which you can start preparing a delicious dish from it.

Fresh fish is the easiest to clean. or, having caught it fishing with your own hands, do not put it in the freezer, postponing cleaning for later, but immediately do this, not always pleasant, but, no doubt, necessary.