The question of how to clean the tench is quite relevant. After all, this breed of fish is common, familiar to many experienced anglers and even amateur beginners. As a rule, it is found in reservoirs and rivers, in places where the bottom is shallow and rich in vegetation, and the site itself is rich in silt.
This circumstance is due to the fact that the comfortable temperature for tench is + 18-20 Celsius. It is in these conditions that the habitat of this fish abounds in food.
It is worth noting that tench is a predator, it feeds mainly on small larvae, less often on vegetation and leads a sedentary lifestyle, which ultimately has a positive effect on the nutritional properties of this fish.
Experienced anglers say that they have come across individuals about 60 cm long and up to ten kilograms of live weight, even in places where other types of fish simply cannot survive.
Tench is quite unpretentious to such environmental factors as the oxygen content in the water, which makes it easy to grow this representative of the fauna even in artificial reservoirs.
Lifestyle and nutritional preferences of a living organism have a significant impact on its appearance. The tench is no exception, the body of which is covered with small golden scales, as well as mucus, which allows it to effortlessly move through the abundant vegetation and reed thickets characteristic of shallow water bodies.
Note that it is precisely because of the presence of thick mucus among hostesses that tench is not particularly popular, but this circumstance is fully compensated by the taste qualities of this representative of cyprinids.
Some gourmets complain about the characteristic aroma of the meat of this fish, but only improperly cooked and prepared fish has a specific taste. How to clean tench, we'll talk a little later.
As mentioned above, tench has fine-grained scales, which creates some difficulties when cleaning fish.
Some fishermen prefer not to mess with cleaning at all, but bake the carcass directly with it, since during the cooking process the scales are baked and create a crusty effect, which many people like.
However, if you still decide to get rid of the scales, then get ready for a rather laborious process, which will require not only knowledge of the biological characteristics of the fish, but also some dexterity. So, to clean tench from scales at home, we need:
- salt, preferably coarse, which will serve as a kind of abrasive material. Since the surface of the fish is quite slippery due to mucus, it is quite difficult to hold it in your hands;
- a knife for cutting fish (you can also take a regular one, but the shape of the blade will not allow you to remove all the scales from the fish), some also use a spoon;
- boiling water;
- and, of course, a cutting board.
First you need to rinse the fish carcass in running tap water.
This procedure must be done carefully so that no dirt, soil particles or other foreign bodies remain on the surface of the tench, which, during subsequent cutting, can get into the fish meat.
After that, the fish must be lowered into boiling water for about 30 seconds. It is also recommended to simply pour boiling water over the tench on both sides for the same time.
This procedure is necessary in order to get rid of mucus as much as possible, which, upon contact with high temperatures, coagulates like egg yolk.
The next step is to lower the fish carcass into cold water. This must be done quickly.
After that, sprinkle the tench with salt and a knife or spoon (which is important to note - with a blunt surface), clean the fish from scales, which should peel off evenly.
As mentioned above, many anglers neglect to get rid of scales in the process of preparing tench. In addition to the fact that it is not always possible to find running water during fishing, the scales themselves do not pose any threat to human digestion, as they eventually turn into a kind of crust.
However, despite this, some preliminary steps in the preparation of tench are still necessary. In addition to the fact that the fish must be cleaned of mucus as thoroughly as possible, you should also get rid of the internal organs of the fish.
This is quite easy to do if you follow a certain sequence.
- It is necessary to stick a knife into the abdominal cavity of the fish 1-2 cm, hold it to the tail of the carcass. Note that the incision must be made with a sharp knife, being extremely careful so as not to damage the internal organs of the fish. A particularly unpleasant surprise will be the contents of the gallbladder of the tench, which, when the latter is injured, enters the meat and gives it a rancid taste, which is not easy to get rid of.
- After the abdominal cavity of the tench is cut, it is necessary to remove all the insides of the fish. Then, with a sharp knife, we get rid of the gills and fins. This is where the cleaning process can be considered complete. Further actions depend only on the preferences of the cook, because there are a huge number of ways to cook tench.
Some housewives complain about the specific musty smell of tench, due to the fact that the fish prefers to live in stagnant and muddy waters. But getting rid of it, as it turns out, is not so difficult.
To do this, dilute two tablespoons of table salt in a liter of water, thoroughly rinse the already cleaned fish in this solution, and pour lemon juice over the tench immediately before cooking.
In the process of baking, boiling or other options for preparing fish, many spices are used that will finally help get rid of the unpleasant aftertaste of fish.
Following these simple tips, you can not only cook tench quickly and efficiently, but also fully enjoy the amazing and unsurpassed taste of fish, which has served as a table decoration at all times for good reason.
In ancient times, in Russia, tench was even served at the royal table, as the fish is rich in easily digestible proteins and fats. Of course, the rulers of ancient times did not really delve into the biological subtleties of the assimilation of food, but they noted the unsurpassed taste of tench, like many modern fishermen.
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As a rule, tench is one of the very useful and nutritious fish, since the proteins and fats that are included in it are perfectly absorbed by the human body. Among other things, if you know how to clean the tench correctly, you can easily cook a huge number of all kinds of dishes from this fish. But, as each of the housewives already guessed, before you cook any fish, you need to tinker with it, and this, it should be noted, is not the most pleasant task. Of course, many may be pleased by the fact that it is not at all necessary to clean the tench from the scales, since after cooking there will be no trace of it. The scales on this fish, when properly cooked, turn into a delicious, tender and oily skin that can cause an incredible appetite even for the most avid gourmet. But, despite this, there are times when the tench still needs to be cleaned of scales, and this is not to mention the removal of the insides.
Before cleaning tench, as well as before cleaning any other fish, it is necessary to prepare. For example, if the fish is still alive, it must be killed, but after that the fish must be cleaned and gutted at the same time. But in the case of a frozen tench carcass, the fish should thaw at room temperature. By the way, you don’t need to wait until it completely thaws, because. slight frost will facilitate the cleaning process. Already from the prepared fish with a sharp knife, it is necessary to remove all the fins so that in the future you do not injure your hands about them. If the head is not used in the recipe, it is also cut off. After that, the fish must be fixed by the tail and the scales removed from it. As a rule, the scales are removed using the blunt side of the knife with sharp movements in the direction away from the tail. If it is inconvenient to clean the fish with a knife, it can be replaced with a special scraper, which makes light pressure on the fish carcass in the transverse direction.
If the fish strongly slips out of the hands, which interferes with the whole process, it is recommended to hold it with a special napkin or towel. By the way, fishermen are advised to rub their hands with salt (if there are no wounds on them), which will significantly help to keep the fish. But so that the scales do not scatter throughout the kitchen, it is best to clean the fish under running cold water or even on the street. When the tench is cleared of scales, you can safely proceed to gutting. To do this, an incision is made along the abdomen, through which all the insides are taken out. It is worth considering that the gallbladder is often damaged in frozen fish, so the places that are stained with bile must be thoroughly wiped or sprinkled with salt. It is best to remove the black film completely. The already cleaned fish carcass is well washed with running water and prepared for further cooking.
And finally, if the tench has just been brought from fishing, and it turned out to be alive, it must be killed, as mentioned above, and then cleaned of mud and mucus. To do this, the fish is thoroughly washed several times under the tap and left in the sink. After that, the tench from above is completely watered with boiling water. Thanks to boiling water, all the mucus on the surface of the fish will curl up like egg white. Then, already under a stream of cold water, the tench is cleared of mucus. To avoid slipping of the tench carcass, hands, just like in the case of frozen, are sprinkled with coarse salt. Now you need to start removing the insides. For this purpose, a knife is carefully stuck into the fish (it should go into the carcass about 2 centimeters) into the abdominal region and an incision is made up to the anus. By the way, you need to wield a knife very carefully, because. the gallbladder can be touched, which will give the fish a bitter taste.
The extracted entrails are thrown into the trash can. The removed gills also go there (if, of course, the head remains). Again, it is worth saying that it is not necessary to remove the scales from a fresh tench, but if it is still necessary, it must be done in a proven fishing way. It is recommended to lower the fish into boiling water and hold it there for about 20 seconds, and then quickly transfer its cold water and carefully scrape off all the scales with the same blunt side of the knife in the direction from tail to head. If the tench smells excessively of mud, this is not a problem at all. To remove this unpleasant smell, you need to dilute two large spoons of vinegar in one liter of water and wash absolutely all the fish well with the resulting solution. But already before cooking, the tench must be poured with freshly squeezed lemon juice, which will completely remove all unnecessary odors and effectively complement the taste of the fish.
Lin is freshwater fish belonging to the carp family. She has a thick body, which is covered with elongated scales, tightly seated in the skin and abundantly secreting a secretion product. Most individuals of this species have a dark back color with a slightly greenish tint, light yellow sides and gray fins.
One of the main distinguishing features of this fish is the presence of mucus that covers the entire body and quickly darkens in the air. After some time, the darkened mucus peels off, and yellow spots appear under it. Another feature of the tench is the characteristic moldy or silty aroma that its meat possesses. This problem is solved by holding the caught fish in running water or preparing tench with a lot of spices.
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Instruction
In order to clean the tench, you must:
- Clean the tench from mud and mucus by rinsing under cold running water.
- Put the fish in the sink and pour boiling water over the top.
- Turn on cold water and remove any remaining mucus.
- Lay the fish on a cutting board.
- Make an incision all over the belly, being careful not to damage the gallbladder.
- Remove the insides, cut off the gills and fins.
Cleaning tench from scales
It is not necessary to clean the fish from scales, because during the cooking process it becomes a tender and oily crust. If you still need to do this, you need:
- Dip the line in boiling water for fifteen to twenty seconds.
- Move fish to cold water.
- Using the blunt side of the knife, scrape off the scales in the direction from the tail to the head.
On the final stage, if the fish has a strong smell of mud, it is recommended to dilute one or two tablespoons of salt in one liter of water. Rinse the fish in the prepared solution, and then sprinkle the fillet with a small amount of lemon juice.
Tench fish is a nutritious, moderately fatty waterfowl rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains a small amount of calories that our body quickly absorbs, so this fish can be used for diet menu. Lin can be cooked different ways- it can be boiled, fried, baked in the oven or steamed. And how to do it right, we offer to learn more.
Tench is a freshwater inhabitant that is very popular with culinary specialists due to its delicate taste and unpretentiousness in cooking. The fish is not large in size, but sometimes quite large specimens can be found.
Tench meat has a sweetish taste, while it is juicy and low-calorie, since the fat content in it does not exceed 7%.
True, such a fish has its drawbacks. Firstly, tench is rather bony, and secondly, it has a slight smell of mud, which not everyone likes. You can get rid of such an unpleasant odor if you hold the carcass for several hours in cool water or simply rinse with saline.
How to properly clean a fish
Tench is a rather slippery fish and its scales are thin and very small. Therefore, it is not so easy to clean it and the usual methods are not suitable here. But, if you decide to just fry such a fish, then it is not necessary to clean it at all. In the process of cooking, the scales turn into a crispy crust.
True, you still have to get rid of the mucus. For this you need:
- Rinse the carcass cold water to remove the smell of mud.
- Then pour boiling water over it - so the mucus will curl up, and it will look like egg white.
- After that, you need to rinse the fish again under cold water.
To prepare other dishes, the tench will still have to be cleaned of scales. How to clean, now we'll tell you, because everything is simple here.
- We also wash the fish.
- Wash off the mucus with hot boiling water.
- Using a sharp knife or a fine grater, scrape off the scales. To prevent the fish from slipping in your hands, you can sprinkle it with salt.
- Now it remains to pull out all the insides. We make an incision from tail to head (the main thing is not to touch the gallbladder, otherwise the meat will become bitter), we take out all the internal organs and rinse the carcass under cold water.
- If the smell of mud is still present, then we process the tench with saline.
Now you can choose recipes for cooking delicious dishes.
Jellied fish tench
Jellied - very tasty and beautiful dish. This is an analogue of the well-known aspic, but for it we will use fish instead of meat. As a rule, aspic is prepared from dense fish with a minimum number of bones. And despite the fact that tench is bony, it will become a good basis for preparing a jellied dish.
Ingredients:
- tench (1 - 1.5 kg);
- two onions;
- two carrots;
- two tablespoons of gelatin;
- lemon;
- 1 tsp vinegar;
- cloves, allspice, bay leaf;
- salt, sugar;
- parsley.
Cooking method:
- Peeled fish from scales and bones cut into pieces. We put the fins, heads and bones in a saucepan, pour water and bring to a boil. Add whole onions and carrots, cloves, allspice, salt and bay leaf. Cook fish with vegetables for an hour.
- We filter the boiled broth through a sieve, put the fish in it again and cook for another 20 minutes.
- V ready broth(without fish) add sugar, vinegar and pre-soaked gelatin. We put on the stove and cook until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Strain mixture and refrigerate until room temperature.
- In the dish chosen for serving, we beautifully put fish pieces, lemon slices, carrot cubes, parsley and halves quail eggs. We fill everything fish broth and put in a cool place until completely solidified.
Fry in a frying pan
Tench can be cooked in different ways, but the easiest way is to fry in a pan. Indeed, there are several interesting recipes which can be used.
- Heat up a frying pan with vegetable oil. On high heat, fry the tench on one side and on the other for 5 minutes. Then reduce the fire and cook the fish until golden brown.
- Pieces of fish can be rubbed with salt and pepper, rolled in flour and fried on both sides until crispy. Then add onion rings to the fish preparations, fry in a pan for another 5 minutes, and then pour a little water and simmer the dish until cooked.
- Salt the prepared carcass, pepper and leave for 15 minutes. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Dilute the flour with water, add a spoonful of sour cream, pepper and salt. Pour the mixture into the pan, mix with melted butter and as soon as the sauce boils, put the fish and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes.
How to cook delicious in the oven
Tench baked in the oven with a side dish will become a good meal for a family dinner or holiday feast. In this recipe, we will use potatoes as a side dish. How to cook tench in the oven? There is nothing easier!
Ingredients:
- tench (3 - 4 pcs.);
- 5 - 6 potatoes;
- two heads of onions;
- three cloves of garlic;
- vegetable oil;
- salt, pepper, herbs.
Preparing tench in the oven is very simple:
- Mix vegetable oil with chopped garlic, herbs and spices. Pour the prepared mixture over the fish and let it brew.
- We spread the potatoes cut into thin slices in the form, on top - onion rings. Salt, pepper and put pickled fish on top of vegetables. Pour in the rest of the sauce.
- We bake the line in the oven at 200 ° C for 40 minutes.
Tench stewed with mushrooms
Tench stewed with mushrooms will definitely please you with its unusual taste. The combination of tender fish meat and the aroma of mushrooms will not leave anyone indifferent. Your guests will surely appreciate this dish.
In cooking, it is better to use Forest mushrooms, for example, mushrooms, but if this is not possible, then champignons will do.
Ingredients:
- tench (1 kg);
- two glasses of boiled mushrooms;
- two heads of onions;
- two glasses of white wine;
- a spoonful of flour;
- two tablespoons of butter;
- lemon peel;
- allspice, salt.
Cooking method:
- In a deep container, fry the mushrooms and onions in vegetable (butter) oil.
- We put the fish to the fried mushrooms, which must first be grated with salt and pepper.
- Pour everything with wine and simmer for 30 minutes.
- On the butter fry flour in a separate bowl, add lemon zest and a little juice. Pour in the liquid that remains after stewing the fish.
- We spread the finished tench on the dish, put the mushrooms next to it and pour everything with the prepared sauce.
Ingredients:
- tench;
- bay leaf, cloves, cardamom;
- salt pepper;
- bunch of dill and parsley.
Cooking method:
- Pour water into the multicooker bowl and put all the spices and herbs in it.
- We rub the fish with salt, pepper, vegetable oil and put it on the grill for steaming. Together with the carcass, you can put onion rings and chopped potatoes.
- We cook in the "Steam" mode for 25 minutes. When the water with spices boils, the tench will be saturated with the aromas of herbs.
With sour cream sauce
There are many ways to cook a lake dweller. Tench can be fried, steamed or cooked from it into soup ... But the tastiest thing is tench baked in sour cream. The fish comes out very tasty, tender and juicy.
Ingredients:
- tench;
- vegetable oil;
- a glass of sour cream;
- two tablespoons of flour;
- clove of garlic;
- salt, spices for fish, bay leaf.
Cooking method:
- Cut the cleaned carcass into pieces, salt and pepper.
- We mix flour with seasonings for fish, roll fish preparations in it and fry them for vegetable oil until golden brown.
- Add chopped garlic and pepper to sour cream, mix and pour the fish with the resulting sauce. Add bay leaf and, if desired, chopped herbs. Simmer the dish over low heat for 20 minutes.
Among the variety of species river fish tench, which has excellent taste, enjoys special attention of culinary experts. It is low in calories and high quality protein combined with a number of beneficial amino acids. Before cooking fish, you should learn how to properly clean and gut it.
What kind of fish - tench
Freshwater fish, the only representative of the genus Tinca - tench - has a thick and massive body, covered with mucus, and elongated small scales, beautifully shimmering in golden color in the sun. Typically tench prefers to settle in coastal waters and can live in water with a low oxygen content. Getting into the air, it can change color, becoming covered with dark spots, as if shedding. The size of the fish rarely exceeds 50 cm, while the weight can reach 5–6 kg. Most often, a line weighing about 600 g becomes a trophy for a fisherman. The life expectancy of a line is 18 years, it is not among the predatory ones.
Since the fish has a special aroma reminiscent of the smell of silt, freshly caught tench is soaked for some time in clean water before cooking. In the cooking process, spices and spices are added that can drown out this smell.
Tench - tasty and healthy fish
Tench contains a large amount of vitamins, as well as copper, chromium, zinc, phosphorus, potassium, fluorine, sodium and manganese. It is especially useful for people suffering from thyroid diseases and complaining of poor stomach function. Regular use of tench has a positive effect on the work of the heart, and prevents the development of arrhythmia.
If you want to enjoy the most delicious tench, give preference to buying or catching this fish in late April or early May.
And remember that during the spawning period (begins in the middle or end of May and lasts for a month), tench is completely unsuitable for eating.
A wide variety of dishes can be prepared from tench meat by subjecting it to the process of boiling, frying and baking. In addition, tench is usually stuffed, stewed and marinated, and also served as jelly.
During the spawning period, tench should not be used for food.
Do I need to clean the tench and how to do it
Many housewives do not clean the tench from scales, because when cooked, it turns into a delicious crust. But if you decide to clean the fish, proceed as follows:
- Take the tench and wash it under running water from the mucus.
- Choose a suitable size container and fill it with boiling water.
- Dip the tench in boiling water for 20 seconds.
- Then quickly transfer the fish to cold water.
- Using a knife turned with the blunt side to the tench, scrape off the scales from it, moving in the direction from the tail to the head.
The procedure can be done differently.
- Put the line in the kitchen sink.
- Wash it off the mucus.
- Pour boiling water over it from the kettle.
- Turn on cold water and rinse the fish from curdled mucus.
- Carry out cleaning with a knife, as described above.
Advice. Rub the tench with coarse salt so that the fish does not slip in your hands during operation. It will also help remove mucus.
Instead of a knife, you can use a small metal grater. And so that the fish scales do not scatter throughout the kitchen, it is advisable to clean it by immersing the fish in a container of water.
Line can be cleaned with a knife or grater
If you need to clean tench in field conditions, you can use coarse salt.
How to clean tench - video
How to get rid of the unpleasant smell of mud
Since the tench is characterized by a special smell of dampness and mud, you have to get rid of it. To do this, you can use a solution of 2 tbsp. l. salt and 1 liter of water. The fish is thoroughly washed in it, and before the cooking process itself, it is sprinkled with lemon juice.
It is interesting. Fish scales have a high amount of pectin, so they can be used as a thickener when making jelly. The scales and the head collected after cleaning, with the gills previously removed, wrap in cheesecloth, lower into a saucepan with broth, intended for making jellied meat.
How to gut tench
For gutting fish you will need:
- cutting board;
- plastic bag.
Operating procedure:
If during gutting you still touched the gallbladder, you must carefully cut out the area into which the bile spilled. Then generously rub the fish with salt, then rinse it thoroughly in running water.
How to Gut a Fish Without Cutting the Belly
If the line is intended for holiday table, you can remove its insides without cutting the belly. This gutting option can be used for both frozen and fresh fish, when preparing it for frying and baking as a whole. Also, the line can be cut into round pieces.
- Make neat cuts in the flesh located along the edges of the gill covers, up to the spine.
- Break your spine.
- Separate the head from the line along with all the insides attached to it.
- Trim the tail and cut off the fins.
- Rinse the line.
The method of gutting fish with wooden sticks without cutting the belly - video
Features of cleaning and cutting frozen tench
Usually tench is immediately prepared without freezing. If you still have to work with frozen fish, then with improper thawing, it may lose a number of its useful properties.
Before cleaning, it is necessary to properly defrost the tench
Tench should be thawed exclusively in cold water at a ratio of the amount of liquid and the mass of fish 2: 1. For complete defrosting big fish it takes about four hours, and small - no more than two hours. To prevent the loss of valuable substances, it is enough to put the tench in salted water. At the same time, for 1 kg of lines you will need 2-3 liters of water and 15 g of salt.
When defrosting the fillet, you can do without water. It is enough to lay out the pieces on the table, cover with cling film and leave until completely thawed at room temperature. Thanks to the film, the amount of evaporated moisture will be reduced, which will have a beneficial effect on the taste of the defrosted product. When working with frozen fillet, you should be aware that it does not need special hygienic treatment. Before cooking, cut off the damaged edges from it, remove dirt and rinse well.
Do not re-freeze defrosted tench, as the fish will lose their taste qualities due to loss of juice. In addition, it is advisable not to beat off and squeeze the thawed tench.
When defrosting fish, use only cold water.
- If you plan to cook the fish whole or in batches, you can leave the scales before the frying process.
- If the scales need to be removed, you should use a knife, grater or special tools that make it easy to get rid of it. After cleaning is completed, it is necessary to remove the fins by cutting them on both sides and tearing them off the carcass in the direction from tail to head.
Before preparing the soup, tench can be cut into large transverse pieces. If you plan to fry it, it is recommended to cut the fish at an angle of 45 ° C. Then salt the pieces, pepper and put in the refrigerator for 5 minutes. This will give the fish juiciness.
Tench, cut into large transverse pieces, suitable for making soups
Plastovanie thawed and fresh tench
If you have to cook a large tench, after gutting it, you can make flattening or milling. This procedure is carried out in the same way for fish of different species:
How to skin a thawed or fresh fillet
If you want to cook cutlets or quenelles from tench, you need to remove the skin from the fillet. In this case, the scales can not be removed.
- Hold the tail of the line with your left hand.
- With your right hand, cut the fillet with a sharp knife, pressing it firmly against the surface of the table, separating the meat from the skin.
- Put fish fillet rib bones up.
- Holding the rib bones with your left hand, cut the bones with your right hand, while holding the knife obliquely so that its blade looks to your left.
- Do the same procedure with the second fillet.
When removing the skin from the fillet, it is advisable to use a sharp knife, while acting as carefully as possible.
The waste remaining from the tench - fins, skin, bones - can be used to make broths. However, before the cooking process, it is necessary to remove the gills from the fish heads.
Using the methods described, you can easily clean and properly cut the tench before preparing a variety of dishes. Proper cleaning of the tench, taking into account some important nuances, will avoid disappointment when tasting already cooked fish. And a variety of cutting methods will give your dishes a great presentation.
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For some reason, a healthy tench is an infrequent guest on the family table. This is probably due to the fact that the fish is inconvenient to clean or it is not clear how to cook it. It is very slippery and covered with very small, dense scales.
However, there are very simple tricks on how to clean tench.
Mucus removal
The mucus covering the tench with a thick layer is not washed off only by a stream of running water. It will have to be cleaned with a knife. To make this easier, you can arrange a line of contrast showers. First scald, then place in cold water. Repeat steps twice. This makes it easier to clean the remnants of mucus that has curdled under such influence. 
Removing the husk
There are several tricks to free the tench from the scales:
- The same alternation of boiling water with cold water will help. In this case, everything needs to be done once. Without overexposure, scald the tench with boiling water, and then immediately rinse with water of very low t. After that, on a cutting board, quickly clean the scales with the blunt side of the knife. Clean from tail to head. Special scrapers for cleaning fish can help, it’s good if they have a container for collecting scales.
- In order for all the scales to be removed easily, the tench can be cleaned directly in water poured into a deep basin.
- When the line needs to be cleaned immediately while fishing, then fabric (paper) is spread out in nature. Coarse salt is poured on it, a line is placed and everything is loosely wrapped. It is necessary to clean, peeling off the fish husk with salty particles so that it falls off. It is even easier to clean the mucus and scales by placing the carcass in a container and sprinkling with salt. In gloves, grind the tench with salt crystals from all sides.
Tip: clean the hands and the carcass of the fish so that it does not slip as follows: sprinkle with coarse table salt. Tench is a special fish that you can not clean, eat directly with the husk, it will not even be felt. Tench scales are very small. During heat treatment, when they begin to cook, they form a crust on the surface. The temperature reaction during cooking acts on the husk in a soldering way. It seems to dissolve, making the shell of the fish tender, tasty, and the meat with this preparation is juicier and healthier. If this option is not suitable, then as soon as the tench is ready, you need to pull off the skin from it.
gutting fish
Like any other fish, tench is gutted in this way:
- A sharp knife rips open the belly of the carcass. It is in the tench that it is recommended to open it from the head to the anus, and not vice versa, as is customary in other types of fish.
- The insides are carefully pulled out, trying not to damage the gallbladder so that there is no bitterness. If bile gets on the meat, pieces of the pulp are cut off, and the carcass is rubbed with salt. Then the tench is thoroughly washed.
- Remove the dark film covering the inside of the belly.
- Cut out the fins (If cooked with the head, then the gills too).
- Cut off the head of a fish.
Getting rid of a peculiar smell
It is believed that the name "tench" did not come from its ability to shed, changing color, but because it leads a lazy lifestyle. Tench likes to burrow into the silt to rest and in search of food. This gives the fish pulp an extraneous smell of mud. There are several tricks to eliminate this before cooking:
How best to cook
The simplest and most delicious tricks on how to cook tench are as follows
- Bake in the oven, slow cooker, convection oven. Grate the carcass with a mixture of salt and seasonings to taste, cover the surface with an oil film, put a little greenery inside, preferably with twigs.
- Fry. Cut into pieces, roll in flour or breadcrumbs and fry in a pan.
- Extinguish. Pour the prepared fillet with white wine and stew in a slow cooker, pressure cooker, cauldron, etc.
- Boil. Boiled tench is very tasty and easy to cook. Pre-peeled and sliced carrots, parsley and celery roots, onions are poured with 3 glasses of cold water and placed on a moderate heat of the stove in a cooking container. As it boils, butter is added, salt with pepper and lavrushka to taste. It is brought to a boil again, in order to then immerse the tench cut into pieces there. After 1/6 hour, table white wine and pitted lemon slices are added. All this will take about half an hour to cook, depending on the quantity.
How to cook a linen ear
This dish is great to cook from freshly caught tench, on a fire when going out into nature. But home conditions are also quite suitable.
Products:
- Tench - 1 kg.
- Water - 3 liters.
- Carrot - 1 pc.
- Chicken egg - 1 pc.
- Potatoes - 5 pcs.
- Onion (turnip) - 2 pcs.
- Bay leaf - 3 pcs.
- Peppercorns, ground, salt, dill, parsley and other herbs - to taste.
Carrots and potatoes are cut into slices, and onions are cut into rings. Sliced vegetables, peppercorns, and salt are immersed in water brought to a boil. At a new boil, ground pepper and bay leaf. As soon as it boils again, it is necessary to remove the resulting foam.
After waiting for the softened state of the pieces of potatoes with carrots, they add the fish cut into pieces directly into the bubbling broth. One tench gives about 4-5 portions. Immediately pour in the egg. It takes no more than 5-7 minutes for the tench pulp to turn white. This is enough to complete the process. When serving, finely chopped fresh herbs are added.
scales wrapped in gauze can become a natural jelly-forming product containing pectin. It, along with the head and fish bones, can be immersed in broth for fish soup, aspic, fish jelly, and after cooking is finished, take it out.
If fish is popular in the family diet, now it’s clear how to clean and cook tench, then it’s worth enriching the menu delicious meals out of him.
