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12 Tips for Cooking Fish

Everyone loves to eat fish, but not everyone knows how to cook it properly and tasty. Following our advice, you will have the most delicious fish!

  1. At the flounder, the head is removed with an oblique cut so that the abdomen is simultaneously opened, then the fish is gutted. After that, grab the skin on the dark side of the fish with a knife and finger and tear it off with a sharp movement, then cut off the fringe of the fins and the caudal fin, peel off the scales on the light side of the skin and thoroughly wash the fish.
  2. The carp and silver carp are cleaned of scales, the head is cut off and, without cutting the abdomen, the insides are removed, and the gills are removed from the head. After that, they are washed in cold water and cut across into portions.
  3. It is recommended to remove the skin from burbot, eel and large navaga; in small navaga, the skin may not be removed.
  4. The skin is removed only from large fish and in the manufacture of minced cutlet.
  5. In burbot, eel and catfish, the skin around the head is cut and, by separating the skin from the meat with your fingers, it is removed entirely. Then the abdomen is cut, the entrails and fins are removed, and the head is cut off. The cut fish are washed with plenty of cold water.
  6. Mackerel should be cleaned as follows: with your thumb and forefinger, take the gills from one side of the head and tear them off with a sharp movement, while part of the viscera is removed along with the gills. Then, with a sharp knife, cut along the abdomen, open and clean thoroughly. Rinse with plenty of water and soak in cold water for 10 minutes. You do not need to cut off the head, after baking or frying it will be soft and tasty.
  7. Processing zander and perch should begin with the removal of the hard dorsal fin. Pull the fin towards the head, after cutting the flesh on both sides of it. It is advisable to dip the fish in boiling water for a minute.
  8. Sauces and soups can be prepared from broth in which heads without gills, spine, rib bones were cooked; fins, tail and skin with scales. It is advisable to strain the broth.
  9. To obtain a fillet with skin and rib bones, the pulp is cut along the back of the carcass to the ribs, then cut along the spine, while cutting off the pulp with rib bones. Two fillets are obtained: one with a backbone and rib bones, the other with only rib bones. If you need to get both fillets with only rib bones, then the first is also cut from the spine. This is how fish is cut for cooking and frying in portions.
  10. Fillets of pike perch, catfish, cod, mackerel are cut into thin wide slices (one per serving), sprinkled with salt, pepper, breaded in flour, moistened in a lezon (an egg loosened with 1 tablespoon of milk) and breaded again in breadcrumbs.
  11. Portions are fried on a wire rack, medium-sized fish is fried as a whole. Before frying, place a grate over hot coals and, when it warms up, rub it with pork bacon, then put the fish and fry on both sides.
  12. Fish, fried on a spit or wire rack, is served with lemon and herbs, sauces, ketchup – tomato or kebab.
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Food

7 Life Hacks for the Perfect Steak

Prepare the same steak as in a restaurant? Easily. The meat tenderloin will turn out to be wonderful in taste and appetizing in appearance if you learn these simple rules. And an open fire with a grate can be replaced with a frying pan.

  • Secret # 1: you need the meat of a young bull, not a cow. For this steak, only bull meat is used. Not cows! Moreover, the animal must not be older than 20 months. Such meat is distinguished by its special juiciness and taste. And in its raw form, it looks a little dry, liquid should not flow out of it. The shade is deep red. If you touch it, the effect of a silky-smooth surface will appear. An important nuance: the meat for the steak should be matured, slightly rest in a cool room. Ideally dried. Fresh meat, only after slaughter, is not suitable for a steak – the dish can come out tough. Even marbled meat!
  • Secret number 2: marbled meat is desirable, but not at all necessary. It is commonly believed that the most delicious steaks are made from marbled meat – VIP steaks, elite, gourmet cuisine. Thanks to the intramuscular fat, such meat looks like a marble pattern, and after frying the fat it gives a unique taste. Not all meat breeds of bulls are “capable” of this. In Russia, this is Hereford, Aberdeen Angus, which sellers can proudly tell you about.
  • Secret number 3: Choosing the right piece. A steak is essentially a piece of meat that has been fried in a pan or over a fire. But meat is different from meat. Depending on the type of meat, steaks are divided into classic and alternative. The classic is carved from the dorsal or lumbar part of the bull. Each has its own name, usually, it is on the price tag. The main ones: ribeye, aka “cowboy”, club, tailbone – on a T-shaped bone, porterhouse, aka double steak, striploin, aka “New York”, and mignon. Each has its own flavor, color, and even juiciness. To choose the perfect one, you will have to try each one! However, they are all good.
  • Secret number 4: choosing a pan with a thick bottom. A modern grooved beauty or grandma’s cast-iron punt is not the point. The main thing is the thick bottom because it accumulates heat and even gives it to the steak. Alternative steaks are marinated in red wine, soy sauce, tomato pulp, onion, or pineapple juice for at least half an hour before being sent to the fire. Then the meat should be dried with cooking napkins. Necessarily! It should come dry into the pan.
  • Secret number 5: fry without unnecessary spices. The taste of a classic steak is formed by two spices: salt and black ground pepper. But if there is a craving for experimentation, you can add little caraway seeds and pink pepper. The pepper must be freshly ground. In the case of alternative steaks, add it when the meat is dry after marinade.
  • Secret number 6: choose the degree of doneness. As you know, there are no comrades to taste. Therefore, steak masters use different degrees of roasting of meat, there are only four types of them. Knowing them will come in handy when communicating with a waiter in a restaurant. And for home cooking, it is important to know the temperature inside the finished piece. You will have to regulate it with a kitchen thermometer or experimentally. Depending on the degree of doneness, cook the steak for three to nine minutes.
  • Secret # 7: fry in butter. Frying steak oil is the source of the flavor. It is customary to fry steaks in butter, the taste is softer. To make the steak as close as possible to the “live” taste of meat, you need to fry in odorless vegetable oil, especially if you like Too Well Done – a deep-fried steak without juice when the temperature inside reaches 100 ° C. This heat will burn the butter and ruin the steak.
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Cooking Tips

11 Tips for Cooking Fish

We’ve put together some important fish cooking tips for you!

  1. Before frying, the fish should be salted as follows: dilute one teaspoon of salt in a glass of cold water and pour the prepared fish with the resulting brine, drain the brine after 5-7 minutes.
  2. In order for the fish to brown well, it is recommended to dry it with a paper towel before frying.
  3. So that the fish is well browned during frying and does not burn, pork fat or butter is added to the vegetable oil.
  4. Fried fish turns out to be delicious if it is kept in milk before frying, then rolled in flour and fried in boiling vegetable oil. To prevent the fat from splashing and the fish to be fried better, cover the pan with an overturned colander.
  5. Regardless of the size, the fish is baked or fried in a highly heated oven.
  6. When frying, the fish will not fall apart if it is salted 10-15 minutes before cooking.
  7. Boiled fish is ready if its fins come off easily. Fried fish is ready if clear juice flows out when pressed with a spoon.
  8. After fish and fatty meals, you should not drink cold water.
  9. Do not store fish next to dairy products, as this can give them a fishy smell.
  10. If the dishes retained the smell of fish or onions, they should be rinsed with water and vinegar, then the smell will disappear.
  11. Herring will be tender and soft if soaked in milk.
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Cooking Tips

10 Tips for Cooking Fish

Some tips for cooking fish will be useful to every owner and hostess. So, when preparing fish, it is useful to know the following tricks. Such useful tips were found on the Internet.

  1. Salt fish broth at the very beginning of cooking.
  2. Before you start processing fish and preparing your favorite dish from it, place it in a container with water. If a fish drowns in water, it means that it is fresh, if not, then it is better to discard such fish – it is stale.
  3. The fish will not fall apart during frying if it is cut and salted before cooking for 15 minutes.
  4. To eliminate the strong smell of fish when frying it, place one whole potato in vegetable oil (peeled, washed and sliced).
  5. If the herring is too salty, you should soak it in milk or tea (the liquid will take away the excess salt).
  6. Very salted fish should be soaked in cold water for 4-6 hours. The water needs to be changed every hour or two, but the soaked fish should not be stored.
  7. For crispy fried fish, add a little salt to the hot oil while frying.
  8. Saltwater fish will taste tender if sprinkled with sugar for 30-40 minutes before frying.
  9. It is not recommended to boil the following types of fish for broth – bream, carp, lamprey, eel, since the broth turns out to be bitter from them.
  10. In order for the fish to brown beautifully, you should simply wipe it off with a kitchen towel before frying it.
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Cooking Tips

11 Tips for Cooking the Best Fish

Use these tips and you will have the tastiest fish!

  1. The most delicious fish is freshly caught, which is still alive (and until it starts to hurt), butchered and began to cook.
  2. Fresh fish can be stored in the refrigerator freezer for up to 3 days.
  3. Salted fish is first soaked in cold water for 1 hour, then cleaned of scales, gutted and soaked again for up to 6 hours, changing the water every hour.
  4. Herring becomes more juicy if, after cutting, it is soaked in milk or tea infusion (up to 30 minutes).
  5. The unpleasant odor of mud will disappear if the fish is rinsed in a cold salt solution.
  6. To make the fish easier to clean, it is recommended to immerse it in boiling water for 20-30 seconds.
  7. The fish must be cleaned, holding by the tail, the knife must be moved from tail to head. Start cleaning from the back.
  8. If you boil scales and a swim bladder in a small amount of water, you can get jelly for aspic. To do this, put in cold water and bring to a boil very slowly over low heat.
  9. To make cleaning the fish easier, cut off the fins with scissors.
  10. Putting your fingers in salt when cleaning slippery fish will make the work easier.
  11. Scales should not be removed from small perch, ruff intended for fish soup.
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Cooking Tips

10 Tips for Making the Most Delicious Steak of Your Life

A properly cooked steak is a piece of incredibly juicy meat that just melts in your mouth. To prevent it from turning into a rubber sole, you need to know 10 secrets that will completely change the idea of cooking.

  1. There is no need to take meat out of the refrigerator and leave it for half an hour or an hour to warm it up to room temperature. This is a completely useless procedure. We take a piece of meat from the refrigerator and cook immediately.
  2. Yes, the meat should be marinated in natural yogurt, which will make the steaks tender and flavorful.
  3. When frying in a pan, the pepper will simply burn out, so you need to pepper the meat when it has been removed from the stove or grill. It is enough just to salt it, if desired, you can lightly sprinkle it with cornstarch, which will help form a beautiful golden crust.
  4. The butter often burns while the steak is fried. Therefore, it is recommended to cook meat with animal fat or ghee. But thanks to bacon, the steak will have a more pronounced meat flavor.
  5. Gordon Ramsay suggests using the easiest way to determine the degree of doneness of a steak. This is its own face. The bloody steak feels like our cheeks, the medium-rare steak matches the chin, and the well-done can be compared to the forehead.
  6. Everyone loves the grill marks on the meat. And in vain, because they are nothing more than burnt meat. A properly cooked steak is a completely caramelized piece.
  7. Another myth is that a steak is flipped only once. Chefs recommend doing this at least six times, frying for a total of 3-4 minutes on each side.
  8. This is the most difficult task when preparing steak. The meat should rest for 10 minutes so that all the juices are distributed over the piece. To keep it warm, you need to cover it with foil.
  9. It is customary to first fry the steak in a pan, and then bring it to readiness in the oven. We suggest doing the opposite. We bake the steak in the oven at a low temperature, and then fry it in a pan and get a piece of fragrant and juicy meat with a beautiful crust.
  10. It is possible to marinate meat before frying, but this often complicates the process of obtaining a crust on the steak, in addition, the sugar, herbs and garlic contained in the marinade can burn. It is best to marinate the meat after cooking when it is resting.
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Cooking Tips

15 Tips for Cooking Cool Fish

No holiday is complete without fish. Following these tips, you will have the most delicious fish on your holiday! 🙂

  1. Cook fish in a sealed container so that moisture does not evaporate unnecessarily.
  2. When frying fish, you can add a few pieces of raw potatoes to boiling vegetable oil. It will eliminate unpleasant roasting odors.
  3. Fish dishes can be served with lemon slices, sliced tomatoes, various dressings, and sauces.
  4. Thick-bottomed pans are good for frying fish.
  5. To prevent the fish from falling apart during frying, it is salted 15 minutes before cooking.
  6. You need to bake fish dishes in a highly heated oven.
  7. The cutlet mass is prepared from low-bone fish, minced fish is prepared only before cooking. Fish cakes will be tastier if you add finely chopped fried onions to the minced meat.
  8. Fish will not stick to the pan when frying if you add a little salt to the vegetable oil.
  9. For cooking 1 kg of fish, take 2 liters of water. The fish broth is salted at the beginning of cooking. Whole cooked fish is juicier and tastier, and steamed fish tastes better than boiled in water.
  10. When boiling, fish soup is cleaned, but scales and fins are not removed. The prepared fish is placed in cold water and very slowly, in 30-40 minutes, brought to a boil. When heated slowly, the fins (partially) and scales (completely) dissolve, giving the ear a density and a unique broth. When heated quickly, they brew and become tough, insoluble. With slow heating, the ear is ready 3-5 minutes after boiling.
  11. When cooking fish soup, it is useful to pour in from 50 ml to 100 ml of vodka per liter before heating.
  12. Small fish should be placed in boiling water for cooking, large fish in cold water. To boil the fish soup, the fish is placed in cold water, removing the eyes and gills.
  13. Pike perch, carp, pike, cut into pieces, boil for 15-20 minutes; fish weighing over 1 kg is cooked for about 1 hour.
  14. The most delicious fish soup is obtained from fresh ruffs, tench and perch.
  15. Sometimes, to improve the taste of the broth, add cucumber pickle or put a pod of fresh sweet pepper, dill, and an onion.
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Cooking Tips

5 Tips for Making Sushi

Sometimes you want to make delicious sushi or hot rolls at home. How to choose the most important component for them – rice? Nothing seems to be easier. However, choosing the right rice and preparing it will depend on the quality of the final dish.

  1. Not all types of rice are suitable for making sushi and rolls. Usually, round grains of rice with a high starch content are chosen for this dish so that the final product has sufficient stickiness. The following varieties can be recommended: Kokuho, Kahomai, Maruyu, Minori and Nishiki, but you can limit yourself to absolutely any round grain, opaque rice.
  2. Choosing the right sort of rice for sushi is half the battle. It is much more important to cook it correctly so that the rolls turn out to be canonical and tasty. It is necessary to cook the rice in such a way that balls can be easily molded from it.
  3. It is washed first. At this stage, due to the treatment with water, all dirt, dust and husks, as well as excess starch, are washed off the rice. Important! Rice must be rinsed with cold water until it becomes completely transparent, otherwise it will burn to the bottom of the pan during cooking. Some adherents of Asian traditions are sure that clean water should be passed through rice nine times. After that, you will need to drain all the liquid from the rice, leaving it to dry.
  4. Now it’s time for cooking. To cook rice properly, it is important to maintain the correct proportions. For water and rice grains, they are 1: 1.25. Let’s choose a saucepan in which we cook ordinary rice. You can add nori algae to the pot to add a sea-scent flavor while boiling. After boiling, it is removed. Adding other ingredients will add spice and extra flavor to the rice. Try using rice wine or even sake for this.
  5. The final stage is rice dressing. Spread the boiled rice in an even layer in a container, evenly pouring rice vinegar mixed with salt and sugar on its surface. In this case, the rice must be mixed. After stirring, the rice should be transferred with a spatula to one half of the container. Then each portion is leveled with a spatula to allow each rice grain to soak in the vinegar. When the rice is spread over the bottom, cover it with paper towels for the final soak.
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Cooking Tips

13 Important Tips for Cooking Fish

We will help you prepare the most delicious fish! 😉

  1. The broth is never diluted with water, this will irreparably impair its taste.
  2. To make the fish more juicy, tender, it must be soaked in milk and only then salt and pepper.
  3. In an acidic environment, potatoes, peas and legumes do not boil well, remain tough; vegetables containing acid are placed at the very end of cooking.
  4. Raw or pre-fried fish is baked. When baking fish in the oven, the dishes must be filled to the brim; otherwise, the moisture will quickly evaporate and the dish will not taste good.
  5. If you pour fresh milk into a saucepan with fish, the smell will disappear, and the fish will become tastier and softer.
  6. When stewing fish, the taste of the dish will improve if you add boiled mushrooms.
  7. All fish dishes are cooked over low heat. As soon as the dish boils, the heat should be reduced.
  8. Before cutting, wipe the wooden board with a slice of lemon or moisten it with vinegar, then the board will not smell like fish.
  9. Boil squid whole or in large chunks, dipped in boiling salted water for 4-5 minutes, with low heat, adding fresh dill or parsley. With prolonged cooking, the meat becomes tough.
  10. Large shrimp are cut by hand, they have a light chitinous shell, from which the neck meat is easily extracted. The carapace of the cephalothorax is used for stuffing and cooking cancer oil.
  11. The shrimp are boiled for 8-10 minutes from the moment the water boils. Finished shrimp should float. Can be served whole.
  12. Shrimp broth has a pleasant smell and taste, after straining it can be used to make soups and sauces.
  13. Crayfish and lobsters should only be boiled alive, Dip into boiling water only upside down. Crayfish are especially tasty if caught in the fall. The larger the cancer, the tastier its meat.
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6 Very Important Tips for Making Delicious Sushi

Japanese cuisine has so long and firmly entered our lives that among your friends there can easily be more sushi lovers than salads. So throwing a sushi party is a very tempting idea. But what if your first attempt at making sushi on your own failed? Then this article is especially for you.

  1. Have you ever cut a tomato with a dull knife? Exactly. The fish knife should be very sharp. And long. To prevent a slice of fish from falling apart, it must be cut off in one, maximum two movements, then the slice will be smooth, even and, most importantly, whole. If you completely hit the authenticity, there are special Japanese knives for cutting fish and sushi with one-sided sharpening. Our chefs start every day with a sharpening knife. And before cutting the rolls, the knife is barely moistened with water. The fish should be cut at an angle of about 45⁰ along the grain, so that the slice will not fall apart.
  2. It’s hard to imagine Japanese cuisine without rice. But unlike rice, which we use for porridge, pilaf and other dishes, to prepare sushi we need a different type of product and a different method of cooking. First, the rice must be round grain. In stores, this rice is usually marked “for sushi”. Such polished grain is quite sticky, but at the same time it does not stick together in a lump. Of course, if you cook it properly. And it is necessary to cook clearly to the degree of al dente (when the rice is already ready, but has not yet lost its elasticity), in no case should it be overcooked. To simplify the task, you can use a slow cooker or rice cooker, in which the product will be ready in 25 minutes. You can add a special dressing of rice vinegar, salt and sugar to the finished rice – in addition to giving a special taste, it will allow the rolls to keep their shape better.
  3. The importance of choosing good fresh fish is hard to overstate. Take fish that has been shock-frozen. Temperatures from -18⁰C to -30⁰C kill absolutely everything that your stomach may not like. Buy fish in trusted stores, and in no case “off hand” in some spontaneous market. Choose vacuum-packed fish in stores.
  4. An indispensable sauce for most Japanese dishes is sold in our stores in powder form. Don’t worry, there is no chemistry in it, it just keeps the grated green Japanese horseradish. In order for it to take the form you know, it must be diluted with boiled water at room temperature. But be careful, when mixing the powder with water, the fumes are the same as when chopping onions. The strength level can be controlled independently – the more water, the less burning your wasabi will turn out to be.
  5. Wasabi. The correct soy sauce consists of only 4 ingredients: soybeans, wheat, salt and water. Read the composition carefully. It is advisable to buy soy sauce in a glass bottle – it is stored in it much longer than in a plastic container. Also, soy sauce can be sold concentrated or already diluted. Again, study the label. Restaurants serve ready-to-eat sauce, but when ordering delivery, couriers bring in a concentrate (as written on the cap), which must be diluted to taste.
  6. Before making your sushi, make sure you have the correct bamboo curling mat. Many novice “home sushi” use a plastic bag to shape the rice, which is fundamentally wrong and unproductive – the rice will still fall apart. So you can’t do without a mat. So, put the rice on nori (green sticky seaweed) and put it on the mat, after wetting your hands with vinegar water, evenly lay out the other ingredients – the filling, and twist with effort. We fix it for a few seconds and carefully unfold it. The result is the perfect rice sausage. Cut it with our super-sharp knife soaked in water and sprinkle with sesame seeds or other spices to taste. Knowledge, patience, sleight of hand and a little magic.
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