Sterlet belongs to the sturgeon family. It has long been revered for its beneficial properties and taste, just as sturgeon is considered a national Russian delicacy. The structure of this type of fish is different from the usual one. They have no scales, and their carcass contains no bones other than vertebral cartilage. Despite the seemingly logical ease of cleaning such fish, the process requires attention and adherence to some subtleties. Therefore, not everyone knows how to properly clean sterlet.
Features of fish
Sterlet is a very rare fish, listed in the Red Book; catching it in natural conditions is extremely rare, and catching this fish is allowed only at certain times under purchased licenses. Sterlet grown under artificial conditions on fish farms ends up on store shelves.
An important structural feature of the sterlet is the absence of bones, but despite this there is a very important point that you must know. Inside the only cartilage, located along the entire length of the sterlet’s body, there is a special vein called the vizig. The internal contents of the viziga are very dangerous for humans; it must be removed without damaging it. If its contents get on the meat, it will no longer be suitable for consumption. You should pull out the visigu from the vertebral cartilage especially carefully and carefully so as not to accidentally tear it.
Another difference between sturgeon and other types of fish is that they have no scales at all, their skin is covered with mucus and has several keratinous formations on the sides, so cleaning it is not difficult. It is important to gut the entrails and trim off any fins or hard growths.
How to clean fresh fish
As a rule, sterlet is found live on store shelves. This fish is sold mainly in large supermarkets where there are specially equipped aquariums for selling live fish. Therefore, the sterlet brought home will still be alive. Some people advise cleaning sterlet frozen; it’s easier, but when frozen, sterlet loses some of its benefits. Therefore, you should wait until the fish stops fluttering and start cleaning.
- First of all, you need to remove mucus from the surface of the skin. To do this, you can simply wipe it with a napkin. Or you can rub the fish with salt and leave it for a few minutes, then simply wash off the salt along with the mucus.
- The next step is to cut off the keratinized growths on top and sides, while the upper scales should be cut off very carefully, as you can get hurt on them. The side ones are much easier to remove; they come off almost like the scales of an ordinary fish. You can pry them off with a knife, and if you lightly scald the carcass with boiling water, you can remove them with your hands.
- The head of the fish is separated as needed. It is important to remember that it spoils very quickly and cooking must begin immediately after the fish has been cleaned or cut and immediately put in the freezer. If the head is to be used for cooking, be sure to remove the gills, remaining giblets and eyes, otherwise this will add bitterness to the dish.
- The skin is also removed depending on the circumstances, if the skin is needed entirely, for example, for stuffing, then you need to carefully pick it up from the head and pull it towards the tail; if the skin does not give in, you can scald the carcass with boiling water and then the process will go faster.
- The insides of the fish must be removed carefully, taking care not to damage the gallbladder. If its contents spill onto the meat, it will give it an unpleasant taste and ruin the dish. All internal films must be removed and the fish washed again.
- After the fish is gutted and washed, you need to remove the vizier. To do this, two cuts are made, in the part where the body meets the head and where the tail begins. Then carefully pick up the screech and pull it out little by little.
Advice! If the sterlet is large, then it is better to pull out the vizig in stages, making several cuts along the length of the fish.
Cleaning frozen sterlet
It is believed that frozen sterlet is much easier to clean than fresh one. In fact, this is true. The scales are separated from the skin much easier, but there is a risk of damaging the skin if it is needed. In general, the process is not much different from cleaning fresh sterlet. Cleaning the insides and removing them when frozen is also easier. But it's important to remember. That in this case, to remove the vizig, the sterlet should be completely defrosted in order to freely pull out the vein and not tear it.
Once the sterlet has been thawed, it cannot be re-frozen, otherwise it will lose its shape and consistency. And also to ensure that the fillet pieces do not lose their shape during cooking and do not form protein clots, the pieces must be scalded with boiling water before cooking.
The fish, which belongs to the sturgeon family, has long been valued for its unique taste and delicate texture of meat. If you know how to clean sterlet, sturgeon and their closest “relatives”, you can get a preparation for a real delicacy. Proper manipulation will allow you to finish off not only meat with unique characteristics.
Almost all parts of sterlet can be used in cooking. Moreover, even those that are otherwise regarded as garbage. At the same time, the approaches to processing carcasses are quite simple. You just need to follow the sequence of manipulations and strictly follow the recommendations drawn up by professionals.
Features of cleaning sterlet
To clean, you will need the sterlet itself, a cutting board, a large sharp knife, a colander and hot water.
- Rinse the fish under cool running water and place on a board. We use a knife to separate the head from the body; to do this, you will have to cut through the dense cartilage, which is located under the pectoral fins.
- There are sharp spines on the back of the sterlet, which can cause injury during the cleaning process. It is better to immediately cut them off with a knife or scissors. Now we begin to remove the ossified scales using a knife. We move from the tail towards the head.
- At the next stage, the sterlet is gutted. To do this, you need to cut the abdomen and remove all the insides from it.
Tip: A variety of dishes can be prepared from a sterlet head. If it is planned to be used, the eyes and gills should be removed. After this, the product must be put into use immediately. Otherwise, it needs to be frozen.
- One of the key points is the removal of the vizigi - this is a thin cord that is located along the spine. We make two circular or transverse cuts - in the head and tail area. We turn the tail around its axis until the white “lace” stands out clearly. It needs to be picked up and pulled out using a knitting needle or needle. The tail is completely separated, sent to the head or thrown away.
- It is customary to remove the skin from sterlet. To do this, grab a piece of skin from the tail part and begin to pull it towards the head. If difficulties arise during the manipulation, scald the carcass with hot water, then the process will go faster and easier.
- Be sure to cut the cleaned fish into pieces 2 cm thick, make cuts perpendicular to the spine and place them in a colander with their backs up. Scald the workpieces with boiling water and wait for the liquid to drain. If this procedure is not followed, the sterlet may become deformed during subsequent heat treatment. Often protein clots appear on its surface.
The cleaning process is completed. Now you need to immediately start preparing the planned dish. Fins, head and tail can not only be put on the ear. These ingredients make excellent fish casseroles. In addition, they can be smoked or stewed in the oven.
Rules for cleaning sturgeon
Due to the fact that many housewives do not know how to clean sturgeon, they have to give up delicious fish kebabs, salted fillets, and tender baked meat. But the process is quite simple and does not cause much trouble. In addition to the fish itself, you only need to prepare a knife, a board and a little boiling water.
- Finding fresh sturgeon today is not so easy; most often you have to deal with a frozen product. It is better to carry out the pre-treatment process in the fresh air (at least, at room temperature with access to air), using dishes from which water will constantly drain. If you violate the defrosting technique of a component, its skin will crack and it will not be as good for baking.
Tip: If the fish is fresh and even still alive, it is not necessary to kill it. It is enough to send the individual to the freezer for 1 hour. She will fall asleep and you can calmly carry out all the necessary manipulations.
- If the sturgeon is baked, there is no need to clean it. It is enough to cut off the sharp spines on the fins. In young individuals, these formations can be easily ground off with thick brushes or special knives for cleaning fish.
- But if the component needs to be cut before heat treatment, salted or pickled, you will have to carry out a few more manipulations. The sturgeon has no scales, and its skin looks like sandpaper. First, place the specimen in a colander and scald with boiling water. Then we rip open her abdomen and remove all the insides. We rinse the workpiece with cold water, removing blood clots. We extract the caviar or milk and salt it.
- Remove the gills from gutted fish. Now we remove the squeak by making two cuts in the head and tail sections. We pull the white lace through the cut on the tail. The main thing is not to disrupt your education. Although the negative effect of the component on the human body has not been documented, during heat treatment it noticeably increases in size, causing the meat to deform and the skin to burst.
- Next, the final processing of the component is carried out, during which, depending on the recipe, the fins and skin are removed, and the head is cut off. The skeletal system of fish is represented by cartilage, which does not need to be removed. If the product is baked entirely, then they try to preserve its appearance as much as possible; this will not affect the taste of the product.
Fish from the sturgeon family have a special taste, so you should not try to prepare complex dishes from them. The fewer additional ingredients are used, the more pleasure you can get from consuming the product.
Sturgeon are rightfully considered the royal fish. These are the most valuable of commercial fish, the meat of which is a real delicacy. The sturgeon family includes beluga, stellate sturgeon, sterlet and sturgeon. Thanks to the nutritional properties of this fish, dishes made from it are unusually tender and tasty. But first, the sturgeon must be properly cooked - cleaned and cut. Otherwise, the taste of dishes prepared from fish may be spoiled.
You will need it
- – a sharp knife;
- – a small hatchet;
- – a special needle or fork;
- - cool and hot water.
If the fish was purchased alive, it should be euthanized before cleaning and cutting. To do this, put the sturgeon in the refrigerator for two hours or in the freezer for about an hour. Thaw frozen fish before cooking. To do this, place the sturgeon in cool water for some time. This is done so that the fish defrosts faster and does not dry out. After thawing, rinse the fish with cool water. It is not recommended to place sturgeon in warm water when defrosting. This makes the fish decrepit and tasteless.
Pour hot water over fish that has thawed in cool water. This is done to wash off the mucus from the carcass and subsequently facilitate the removal of bone scales located on the skin along the carcass.
If the fish has caviar, then very carefully rip open the sturgeon's belly, remove the caviar and carefully remove the entrails. When cutting sturgeon, it is very important not to disturb the gallbladder. If bile suddenly spills and gets on the meat, the fish will be irrevocably spoiled and will become unusable.
Use a hatchet to separate the sturgeon's head with pectoral fins. Use a special needle or fork to pull out the vein and clean the blood from the spine. You can remove the vizig without any special devices. To do this, take the carcass by the tail and make a radial cut along the skin at the very base. Then strip one vertebra and turn, as if unscrewing, the tail 180 degrees. If everything is done correctly, then carefully pull the stripped vertebra, and the vizig will simply stretch out. Viziga is considered poisonous, and without special treatment it cannot be eaten. After stripping with screech, you can prepare buckwheat porridge or use it as the inside of pies.
Wash the sturgeon with cool water and scald it by immersing it in very hot water for 2 minutes. Using a knife, remove the bone scales “bugs” from the skin. If they do not lag well, then scald the fish with boiling water again and wash the cleaned fish in cool water again. Depending on the recipe you choose, leave the chopped sturgeon completely or cut it into portions.
Fish dishes are a source of large amounts of vitamins and nutrients that are so necessary for each of us. Nutritionists are sure: it is necessary to eat fish at least once a week, no matter whether it is baked sturgeon or hake cutlets. But what to do if there is a very healthy fish of the sturgeon family in the refrigerator, but you have absolutely no experience in preparing it? First of all, you need to figure out how to properly clean sterlet, and then move on to studying recipes.
Sturgeon and its characteristics
Fish of the sturgeon family is not a very cheap product, but very healthy. When buying sturgeon, housewives often choose sterlet. This fish is not as large as sturgeon, and most often weighs 3-6 kilograms, which is enough for an average family’s lunch or a small picnic. Sterlet is easily recognizable. It is distinguished from other fish by:
Sterlet and other sturgeon are expensive for a reason. This type of fish is very demanding of the environment in which it lives. Therefore, having bought sterlet, the buyer will not have to think about the conditions under which it was grown or caught. This fish simply does not live in dirty and muddy water. This delicious product is also valuable because it is a source of vitamins, fatty acids and minerals. . All these useful elements have a positive effect on the human body and provide:
- good brain activity;
- no interruptions in heart function;
- prevention of atherosclerosis;
- help in combating stress and depression;
- support for severe mental stress.
Basic cleaning rules
To understand how to properly clean and cut sterlet at home, you should spend a little time preparing the fish itself and auxiliary tools.
In order to cut sterlet, you need to prepare a sharp knife and a large cutting board. It would also be a good idea to wear work gloves to avoid injuring your hands on the sharp spines of the fish.
Before cutting, you need to inspect the carcass for external damage: if there are wounds and bruises on the skin, the fish may be infected.
Sterlet and other sturgeon are covered with a kind of skin, so the question of how to clean sturgeon from scales disappears by itself.
First you need to defrost the sturgeon if you bought it frozen. If the sturgeon is alive, then, on the contrary, “euthanize” it in the freezer for an hour. Then you need to perform the steps in this order:
- pour boiling water over the whole fish: this will help remove the mucus that covers the sterlet’s skin from the surface;
- cut off the “bugs” - these are bony scutes on the back of the fish;
- remove bugs on the sides. This should be done from the tail to the head, just like removing scales from an ordinary fish.
Then you can gut the carcass like any other fish. To do this, a longitudinal incision is made on the belly from head to tail and the entrails are removed. All actions must be carried out very carefully, since, firstly, it is necessary not to damage the sterlet’s gall bladder (if this happens, the meat will taste bitter). Secondly, the abdominal cavity may contain milk or very tasty sturgeon caviar, which are also better prepared in a beautiful “whole” form.
After removing the entrails, rinse the carcass under running water. Whether or not to remove the fish head depends on your dish. If you bake the whole sterlet in the oven, then the fish with its head will look quite organic.
Sturgeon vizier
Fish of the sturgeon family have one important feature that you need to know about when cutting. This is the presence of a visigi - a tendon that is located along the ridge.
In order to see it, it is enough to cut the tail of the fish. The cut must be made in a circle, very carefully, and then pry the squeegee with a knife and smoothly pull it out. You can use small forceps or pliers for this.
You can easily find a video on how to remove vizigus from sturgeon if you still have questions.
There is an opinion that vizig is poisonous, so it must be removed from the fish. In fact, earlier this part of the sturgeon was successfully used to prepare quite exquisite dishes, so the question of whether the screech is poisonous or not is questionable.
It would be more correct to say that the viziga spoils faster than the fish itself, so it is better to remove it and thereby extend the shelf life of the fillet.
After removing the vizigi, the sterlet fillet is completely ready for further cooking. There are a lot of tips on how to cook sterlet correctly and tasty, but the choice of dish depends on your taste preferences.
Useful tricks
It turns out that cleaning sterlet is not at all difficult. But there are several points that will greatly facilitate the cleaning process:
These tricks will help to significantly speed up the process and complete it efficiently. After all, a well-cleaned and dressed sterlet carcass is the key to a delicious lunch.
Attention, TODAY only!
Loading...