Today, many retail outlets where you can purchase seafood delicacies offer customers not only fresh fish, but also cleaning services. Sellers usually ask for very little for their work - on average from 10 to 30% of the purchase price. Not wanting to stain the kitchen with scales and trying to save time, many buyers are happy to use this additional service.
But, firstly, this practice is not applied everywhere. Secondly, if you purchase frozen fish, it will simply be impossible to clean it in the store. And thirdly, even if the service is provided, the procedure is usually carried out hastily; at home you still have to get rid of the remains of entrails and scales, tinker with small pieces of gills, and remove fins.
Therefore, anyone who plans to pamper their family with a delicious dish should know not only the recipe, but also how to remove the gills from fish.
Our article will tell you about this.
Why do the gills need to be removed?
The answer to this question is simple, but first let us note that it is not always necessary to get rid of the gills. When it comes to river and lake fish, as a rule, you should protect yourself from the smell of mud. It is in the gills that there is a source of unpleasant odor, which can also affect the taste of the finished dish. Therefore, when preparing perch, silver carp, and pike, it is always necessary to remove the gills.
The gills of sea fish can also add an unpleasant aftertaste to food. If you plan to bake whole fish or put heads in fish soup, it is imperative to get rid of the gills. They may also contain all kinds of debris: duckweed, fragments of aquatic plants and even living creatures.
When boiled, the gills give the broth a disgusting, unappetizing hue and completely unnecessary odors. This is the answer to the question of why remove the gills from fish for soup.
Gill removal process
Our step-by-step instructions will help you overcome any gills. The process should begin after cleaning the fish from scales. Let's look at how to remove gills from fish:
- Turn the carcass with its belly towards you. Bend the gill cover on one side and make an incision near the frontal attachment. To do this, you can use either a sharp knife or culinary scissors.
- Do the same with the second gill arch.
- Bend back the frenulum that connects the gill arches under the fish's mouth. Insert a sharp knife through and cut off both gill arches from the frenulum.
- Carefully remove the gills.
- Rinse the carcass under running water, exposing the place where the gill arches were attached to the stream.
That's all the wisdom. If you first thought about how to remove gills from a fish, you most likely imagined a complex and time-consuming process. Perhaps on the first try he will turn out like this. But with a little training, you can easily cope with the task.
Precautionary measures
Before removing the gills from a fish, pay attention to the following. Some species have acquired many protective devices. For example, pike perch, in the process of evolution, grew sharp spines on their fins. The gills may also have spiny edges.
If you try to pull out the gills by hand, especially when cleaning large fish, you risk injuring yourself. To prevent this from happening, inspect the surface and do not jerk. You can even use ordinary pliers to remove the gills, but you need to pull not from the middle of the arc, but from the very edge. Otherwise, the gills will tear, and you will have more work: getting rid of torn flaps is more difficult than getting rid of a whole organ.
Is it always necessary to remove the gills from fish?
Some sea fish, especially small ones, do not have a strong odor. You don’t have to bother with the gills of herring, mackerel, and saury. Even when salted entirely, no foreign odors will arise.
Of course, you shouldn't waste time fighting gills if you don't plan to use fish heads in cooking.
This article is devoted to cleaning river fish (in general, the cleaning scheme is the same for all fish found in freshwater bodies of Russia). Having mastered the technique on crucian carp, perch, pike, roach and bream, which are often found in central Russia, the experience can easily be extended to both sea fish (trout, salmon, dorado, siabass) and varieties common in stores (carp, silver carp, grass carp). In general, it doesn’t matter what kind of fish you clean - the principle and sequence of actions will be the same.
1. For clarity, let’s take the most common medium-sized crucian carp in reservoirs.
2. Cleaning live fish is neither humane nor convenient, so the first thing you need to do is kill it. To do this, either leave her in the air for a while until she falls asleep or hit her on the head, for example, with the handle of a knife.
3. Next you need to actually clean the scales. The scales begin to be removed from the tail of the fish and end towards the head. For this operation, a small knife is best suited, and its sharpness does not matter; even a dull one is preferable since it cannot cut you. But you should only think about a separate cleaning knife if you need to clean a lot of fish. First one side of the fish is cleared of scales, then the other. Also, do not forget about the abdomen - there are especially hard and durable scales that are the most difficult to clean.
4. After removing the scales, you can remove the eyes from the fish, the key point is that it is not necessary to remove the eyes, they are edible and taste almost no different from the rest of the fish, but there are people who are embarrassed by them on the plate, so they are removed. This is done with the sharp tip of a knife.
5. Now the most crucial moment (perhaps the only point, if you make a mistake, you can ruin it). The belly of the fish must be cut and this must be done so that the knife is parallel to the fish and in no case is the sharp tip pointing inward. So you need to cut from the head to the ventral fins. This is where the gallbladder is located.
7. All intestines and swim bladder from the belly of the fish must be removed. If you have it, you can leave the caviar or milt separately, but this is for fish caught from late August to May.
8. When removing the intestines, you should be careful and never damage the gallbladder. If you pierce it and the bile spreads over the fish, it is easier to throw it away than to continue cleaning and cooking - the taste will be bitter and disgusting.
9. There should be nothing left in the belly of the fish after cleaning. If the fish had caviar or milt, you can put it back in the belly and cook it that way.
10. The last thing to do with the fish before transferring it to the kitchen for further cooking is to remove the gills. To do this, you need to cut the bridge from below with a knife between the head and the rest of the fish’s body.
11. The gills are quite easy to remove, the main thing is to pick them up with a knife and just pull them out.
12. That’s all, the fish (crucian carp) is cleaned. After cleaning and before cooking, it is advisable to rinse the fish in clean water. It took 7 minutes to clean this one taking into account photographing. If you don’t get distracted, it takes 2-3 minutes for one small crucian carp. Larger fish can be cleaned more slowly as there are more scales to remove and it is not convenient to hold.
Fish soup is the main fishing dish; it is often cooked on fishing trips and on river trips. But it turns out well at home, on the stove, in an ordinary pan. The main thing is to take good fish.
What is ukha
Ukha is not just fish soup. More precisely, it is not fish soup at all. The fish soup is distinguished by a very small amount of vegetables, transparency and richness of the broth. And also a limited amount of spices. That is, in the ear, the first place is given to fish. Everything else is just to emphasize her taste.
What kind of fish to take
The fresher the better. The best fish soup comes from live, freshly caught fish. But not every type of fish can be used for fish soup. The fish needs to be sticky and have a delicate, sweetish taste and aroma. The best are: pike perch, perch, ruff and whitefish, but asp, carp, chub, crucian carp, carp, rudd are also suitable.
Not suitable for fish soup: roach, bream, gudgeon, bleak, roach, ram, herring, mackerel, sabrefish, gobies.
Although fish soup is made primarily from freshwater fish, sea fish can also be used. Suitable: cod, halibut, grenadier, notothenia, ice fish, sea bass.
How many types of fish to take
It is believed that you need at least 2 varieties of fish. But more than 4 is already too much. It is best to choose small and large fish. The fines will give a rich broth, and pieces of large fish will look beautiful in the broth.
Preparing the fish
All fish must be gilled and gutted. You can leave only milk and caviar. It is better to boil freshwater fish with the head, but if the fish is small (and this is great for fish soup), then it is easier to cut off the heads than to remove the gills.
It is also better not to clean small fish. And wrap it in gauze, tie it, boil it, and then remove it all together.
Large fish must be cleaned and cut into large pieces. They are often called "links".
What to add
Usually the fish soup is supplemented with carrots, potatoes, and onions. Vegetables are either boiled whole (carrots and onions) or cut into large pieces.
Live fish soup
This is the most delicious soup; you don’t need anything else for it, except maybe an onion. You don’t even need spices, since live fish has a unique taste that does not need to be emphasized or softened.
What is yushka
This is the name for fish broth, broth, or soup liquid. Yushka should be transparent and rich. Therefore, the fish is placed in cold water. The heads and tails are not removed (the gills must be cut out) - they add a rich taste. But the fins can be trimmed. After boiling, cook the fish over low heat with the lid open.
How to achieve transparency
The best fish soup is with a light transparent broth. So be sure to remove the foam from it after boiling, several times. If the broth has darkened, it can be cleared with whipped egg whites. You need to stir the protein foam into the broth, bring to a boil, then strain.
In the old days they used a caviar guy. If you come across fish with caviar, you can lighten the broth according to old recipes. Grind 1/3 cup of fish roe, pour in ½ cup of cold water and a glass of hot, strained broth. Pour the mixture into the ear and stir. Cover the fish soup with a lid and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, then strain and bring to a boil again.
Spices, herbs, roots
Parsley root, black peppercorns, bay leaf - all the well-known and beloved spices are suitable for fish soup. Sometimes freshwater fish smell like mud, to get rid of the smell you need to add a little lemon juice.
It’s good to add chopped green onions and parsley-dill to the finished fish soup.
And a glass of vodka
It is added if the fish soup is cooked using small fish. This fish gives off a very strong smell of mud as it feeds on it. And vodka takes away the smell perfectly. Moreover, it improves the taste of the fish soup. There is no need to be afraid of alcohol - it instantly evaporates in the hot broth.
In the end
You can add a piece of butter to the soup, cover with a lid and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then place the chopped herbs on plates and pour into the soup.
Triple ear
Triple ear Photo: Shutterstock.com
It is called that because it is cooked in triple broth. First - a broth of small fish, then a medium white fish, and finally, in the third round, a large noble fish.
1 kg of small fish (ruffes, perches, minnows)
1 kg of white fish (catfish, bream, crucian carp)
1 kg carp, pike perch, sterlet, taimen
3 onions
5-6 potatoes
Bay leaf
Parsley root
50 ml vodka
Greens for serving
Step 1. Wash small fish, gut them, remove gills. Clean and trim the fins of large fish.
Step 2. Tie it all in a gauze knot and put it in cold water. Add salt, onion and parsley root.
Step 3. When it boils, remove the foam, turn down the heat and cook for half an hour. Then remove the fish, onions and roots, and strain the broth.
Step 4. Prepare large fish: clean, gut, cut into large pieces.
Step 5. Place the fish of the second run into the pan. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove the fish from the broth.
Step 6. Peel and coarsely chop the potatoes and place in the soup. Cook for 15 minutes.
Step 7. Place the fish of the third run in the ear. And also bay leaf and peppercorns. Cook until the fish is done. Pour in vodka.
Step 8. Turn off, cover with a lid and let the ear stand for 5-7 minutes. Serve with greens.
Pomeranian milk soup
Pomeranian fish soup Photo: Shutterstock.com
0.5 l milk
500 g cod or halibut
2 potatoes
1 onion
1 tbsp. ghee
Salt and pepper
Step 1. Cut the frozen fish into pieces.
Step 2. Peel the potatoes, chop them coarsely and steam in hot water. Adding pepper and salt.
Step 3. Chop the onion coarsely and fry it a little in melted butter.
Step 4. Add cod and onion. Cook until the fish is done. Then add hot milk and a little ghee.
But it turns out well at home, on the stove, in an ordinary pan. We disassemble the fish into bones and meat, which we then return to the fish soup. We will not need boiled vegetables, since they have already given all their taste and aroma to the broth. Cook at low boil for about 15-20 minutes, carefully skimming off the foam. Add the rest of the fish (or head) and bring to the boil again. Fish varieties that are distinguished by their tenderness, stickiness and some sweetness are suitable for fish soup.
Fish soup is the main fishing dish; it is often cooked during fishing trips and river trips. The main thing is to take good fish. Ukha is not just fish soup. More precisely, it is not fish soup at all. The fish soup is distinguished by a very small amount of vegetables, transparency and richness of the broth.
Although fish soup is made primarily from freshwater fish, sea fish can also be used. It is believed that you need at least 2 varieties of fish. But more than 4 is already too much. It is best to choose small and large fish. The fines will give a rich broth, and pieces of large fish will look beautiful in the broth. All fish must be gilled and gutted. It is also better not to clean small fish. Large fish must be cleaned and cut into large pieces. They are often called "links".
This is the most delicious soup; you don’t need anything else for it, except maybe an onion. You don’t even need spices, since live fish has a unique taste that does not need to be emphasized or softened. This is the name for fish broth, broth, or soup liquid. Yushka should be transparent and rich. Therefore, the fish is placed in cold water. The heads and tails are not removed (the gills must be cut out) - they add a rich taste. But the fins can be trimmed.
The best fish soup is with a light, transparent broth. In the old days they used a caviar guy. If you come across fish with caviar, you can lighten the broth according to old recipes. Cover the fish soup with a lid and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, then strain and bring to a boil again. It is added if the fish soup is cooked using small fish. Moreover, it improves the taste of the fish soup. Provided if the fish is fried immediately? I'm cutting. The fish I buy is lake fish, there is a lot of namul, which means there is a lot of debris in the gills.
It is advisable to use the pulp and cartilage of the heads to fill pies, which are good served with this broth. The famous fisherman's soup is ukha, it is best to cook it outdoors, over a fire, in a black charred pot, then it will turn out rich, satisfying, with an appetizing, unforgettable aroma.
Why cut out the gills when cleaning fish?
Ruffe, perch, pike perch and whitefish are best suited; carp, asp, chub, carp, crucian carp and rudd are a little less suitable. Other types of fish can also be used as a basis for fish soup, but it is better to use them as additional ones. It will not be possible to cook fish soup from some types of fish, since their meat does not have the necessary properties. These are gudgeon, bream, roach, bleak, roach, ram, sabrefish, mackerel, goby. Suitable sea fish for fish soup include grenadier, cod, halibut, vomer, sea bass, and squama, but it must also be fresh.
13 tricks for perfect fish soup
The scales add additional flavor and stickiness to the broth. Fish soup is usually cooked in an open container, which is why the broth needs to be clarified. Housewives most often clarify the broth using egg white. To do this, pour the protein into the strained broth, stir and leave for a minute. In addition, to lighten and add additional taste, an onion or carrot is placed in the broth along with fish trimmings, which are thrown away along with the fish tripe.
It is important not to overcook the fish during cooking, otherwise it will become tough and tasteless. Ear without bones. The length of the fish for such a fish soup should match the depth of the pot. You can add potatoes, onions, pepper, and salt to the water. The fish soup is ready when the meat falls off the bones and ends up inside the pot.
Cut large fish into pieces, leave small ones as is. Place a third of the small fish or fish head and trimmings into the pan. Advice. You can get a delicious fish soup even from just one type of fish. The secret of a delicious fish soup is to add fish three times to obtain a richer and more delicious fish broth.
Return the pan to the heat and bring the broth to a boil. Place pieces of fish fillet, peppercorns and bay leaves into the broth. Cook for about 8-10 minutes at low boil. Our family loves fish soup very much and we cook it almost the same way - the taste is amazing, without potatoes. Thank you very much for such an amazing recipe, I kept thinking about how I could cook the fish soup correctly without spoiling it.
Live fish soup
OlesyaEster_Lin, you can make fish soup from fillets (fish soup is when you add fish fillet to a creamy or vegetable liquid soup base). But the ear, unfortunately, won’t work. For fish soup you need fat, and the fat will be either on a small fish boiled whole or, in extreme cases, on the head.
They climbed into the pan to check, but there was no head, they screwed me up for my dear! Great recipe, simple, quick, delicious! I cook fish soup about the same way. It is necessary to remove the gills; the eyes, it seems to me, do not affect the transparency of the broth in any way, nor do they make it bitter. My boyfriend’s mom gave me two heads and told me to cook the fish soup. I took it, but I don’t know how to cook soup, fish soup, or anything like that. I found your site, the soup turned out great, although the onions and carrots were a little burnt.
Ukha loves fresh, fragrant greens. If you are preparing fish soup for one meal, and even with young home-made greens, then I recommend turning off the heat immediately after adding the greens, this way you will retain maximum vitamins, taste and aroma. After you have removed all the foam, add carrots and onions to the broth.
Peel the onion and cut into small cubes. Return the broth to the heat and add potatoes to it. We put one (of two) carrots and onions together with the head to cook, and chop the remaining ones and add them further to the soup according to the recipe. Remove the onion and carrot that we cooked together with the fish head from the broth.
When cutting up the “catch” for fish soup, it is necessary to remove the gills and bile (from the river perch, completely cut off the head), and it is better to cook the liver, caviar and milt separately - they make the broth cloudy. Remove fish and onions from the broth using a slotted spoon.
How to clean fish and how to gut fish are two of the most frequently asked questions after purchasing a seafood delicacy. Sea bass, sea bream, perch, pike perch, tench, mullet - all these types of fish are cleaned and gutted according to the same scheme, which I will describe in detail and show in a large number of photographs. You will learn very soon how to easily clean fish. The easiest and my favorite way, of course, is to buy it where you only need a seller to clean the fish :) In principle, cleaning fish is a service of many shops and markets, but, of course, these guys don’t always know how to clean fish properly, and, unfortunately, you always run the risk of finishing it at home yourself.
This has happened more than once in our family, but I was lucky: my young man is always ready to clean fish (he is from Kerch, cleaning fish is in his blood). We tried very hard to photograph and show in detail all the stages of this easy, but skill-requiring task. So watch, read and remember.
So, how to clean fish from scales and entrails. Step-by-step guide with photos.
How to clean fish? How to gut fish? How to remove gills from fish?
Many people (including me at one time) ask questions about how to clean fish quickly and whether it is necessary to clean fish at all? Of course it is necessary. And the speed depends on how many times you repeat this process. After a couple of attempts, it will start to turn out very easy, because this task does not require much intelligence.
I will show you how to clean sea bass, but this, of course, can also be dorado, perch, red fish, pike perch, and mullet. Everything your soul desires. I’ll also share a secret cool life hack on how to properly clean fish scales at home. Let's get started.
- How to clean fish from scales? We wash the fish, take a metal mesh for washing dishes (new) and begin to scrape off its scales under running water, moving from the tail to the head (the fish is cleaned from the tail). Scrub thoroughly with a mesh, without missing a single centimeter. This method is very easy and effective, fast and convenient, but if you are looking for the answer to the question of how to clean fish from scales with a knife, then everything is also quite simple: scrape off the scales with a blade against their growth, also moving from the tail to the head.
- How to remove gills from fish? The first time it may be difficult, but, in fact, there is nothing difficult in this process. We poke holes above the gills with our fingers and trim them with a knife on one side, as shown in the photo. This can also be done with culinary scissors.
We cut the bridle that connects the body and head. 
Cut out the last gill from the remaining side. 
We do this carefully, as you can see, there are sharp teeth on the gills that can easily injure you. 
If some of the gills remain or you cut the frenulum first, we begin to trim the gills from the back side. 
We cut them in a circle, ending with a bridle. 
We remove the cut gills from the head. Now you know how to remove the gills from a fish without harming yourself. 
- How to trim fish fins? We cut off the fins of the fish with a knife or scissors, as shown in the photographs.
- How to gut a sea bass, sea bream, pike perch or any other fish? Place the fish on its side and cut the belly: start with a small hole.
We move towards the tail or the head (the latter option is more correct). 
We make a long cut, but it’s better not to cut all the way to the head, so the fish will retain its shape. 
- How to gut fish? We take out all the insides by hand.
Take a teaspoon and scrape off the remaining blackness. 
- How to wash fish? We place the cleaned fish under running water and wash off the remaining giblets and blood.
That's all! Now you know how to clean fish from scales with a knife or a metal mesh, how to remove the gills from fish with culinary scissors, and also how to gut fish with a teaspoon. I hope you find my tips, guides, photos and life hacks useful. And further! One of these days I'll tell you how to fillet fish using the example of hung and smoked mackerel.
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Try gutting and cleaning fish at home, leave comments with ratings and remember that cooking deliciously is quite simple, and that you are more talented than you can imagine! Enjoy your meal!