Second seafood dishes are very appetizing, tender and can be consumed in a dietary regime. And delicious fish cutlets occupy the most worthy place among them. And not by chance. How to cook fish cakes correctly? It seems to be simpler than simple: grind the fillet, mix it with the necessary components and fashion a culinary miracle, which will certainly please both the offspring and the rest of the family (as well as guests), even if the fish menu is not very welcome. It's just that simple, but there are nuances in cooking technologies, which we will talk about in our article.
Choice is a responsible matter
How to cook fish cakes properly? And from what types of fish is it best to cook them, so to speak? Professional chefs say: she can be present almost any. The main condition: quality (because, as the classic said: “there is only one freshness - the first, it is the last”). There are many ways to determine freshness: a pleasant smell, red (pink) gills, mucus is transparent, not sticky.
And an excellent product has eyes that are convex and transparent, scales that fit tightly to the carcass (by the way, they are not so easy to separate). The abdomen of the fish is transparent and flat; if swollen, covered with obscure specks, then in front of you is the future "rotten".
In addition, there is a simple folk method of checking the degree of adequacy - to lower the carcass into the water: the fresh one will sink, and the spoiled one will float up. Cooking pros use another way: they pierce the carcass with a hot knife. There was a not too pleasant smell - the fish, so to speak, was out of condition.
What shall we make of?
What and how to cook fish cakes in a modern kitchen? They can be cooked from both river (lake) and sea (ocean) fish, medium in fat content. However, cooks really reduce or increase the fat content of a dish, cutting off excess fat on carcasses or adding butter (sometimes lard) to minced meat.
By the way, it has been noticed that large juices are obtained from large ones than if you start to use small fish for these purposes. But the easiest way to cook fillet fish cakes. To do this, you need to buy a ready-made, stoned product in the store or cook it yourself.
Secrets of cooking minced fish
How to cook fish cakes at home? Let's just say: it will be rather unpleasant to get the bones (even small ones) from the finished cutlets when they are used. This is unaesthetic, and you can easily choke. Therefore, the stage of creating minced meat is very important. Everything here needs to be done according to some rules.
Most often, large fish are used for it - it is easiest to remove bones from it. However, some housewives also grind a small fish, coupled with the bones, believing that when you pass through the meat grinder several times, they will grind and become invisible in the semi-finished product.
But the best way to get rid of doing unnecessary work is to buy a ready-made fillet, fortunately, in modern supermarkets there is a fairly wide selection. By the way, the fillet can not be grinded, just chop finely and finely with a knife. As a result, you will get the most juicy cutlets. And with the technique of additional fuss is not necessary.
What to add?
How to cook minced fish cutlets so that they turn out to be as tasty as possible? There is a fairly standard list of additional components: eggs and onions, baton soaked in water, garlic, salt with spices and herbs. You can also introduce lemon juice, semolina, raw potatoes, other vegetables, for example, carrots or zucchini into a home-made product - all this will make meatballs more tender, juicy.
If the minced meat is planned with semolina, then it should be infused (the cereal should swell). For greater juiciness, some use cream and mayonnaise. And for piquancy, a small spoonful of honey is introduced into a kilo of fish. There is also an original recipe, where cheese or apples, Hercules flakes or mushrooms are added to the minced meat. Or cooked from smoked fish.
How to cook minced fish cutlets: useful tips
- We mix the semi-finished product only by hand.
- We cool the minced meat before you begin to sculpt the patties so that it becomes softer, tasty, homogeneous.
- Before forming the cutlets, wet our hands with chilled water.
- An important point in cooking is maintaining the shape of the semi-finished products and frying them. In order for the cutlet not to fall apart in a frying pan, roll it in breadcrumbs or in coarse flour. Often, experienced chefs use bran, combined with spices, and semolina, and before dipping they dip dough into whipped eggs or a whisk with a fork. If you want to do without breading for any reason, put the product in a well-heated (almost boiling) oil, then a crust forms that does not allow to fall apart.
- Fry cutlets on both sides, then let go under the lid on a small fire, adding a little broth with spices to the pan. Stew for a short time, so that our dish comes out juicy, tender, mouth-watering.
- How to cook delicious fish cakes? They can be baked in the oven, made in a slow cooker or using an air grill, cooked in a double boiler (if there are any wonderful appliances in your kitchen). They are especially tasty when they are first fried in a pan and then baked in the oven, sprinkled with sour cream and sprinkled with grated cheese.
What do they usually eat?
How to cook fish cakes and what is the best way to serve them? The optimal side dishes are: mashed potatoes, stewed vegetables, rice, pasta is possible. All this in terms of improving taste is served with various sauces. The optimal sauce will improve and enrich the taste of this dish, turn the dish into a real culinary delicacy. Gravy from lemon juice and mayonnaise, from sour cream or tomato paste (or based on white wine) is also great for cutlets.
Simple options
- Spicy sauce for the dish can be prepared from the following ingredients: 200 grams of Provence, a spoonful of juice from one lemon, fresh dill, chopped with a knife, a spoonful of sugar, salt and pepper. Then mix everything in a blender until smooth, adding a few chopped pickles.
- And here is another one - French, and it is also very tasty. In a small amount of butter, fry a couple of tablespoons of flour (until golden), and then pour a glass of fish broth into a frying pan. Stir the sauce thoroughly to prevent lumps. Along the way, add salt and pepper, the yolk of a raw egg, bring the mass to a boil, remove immediately from the oven and let cool slightly. Then we introduce another spoonful of oil and the juice of half a lemon. Its acidity along with spices will enrich the taste of cutlets. And the following spices are recommended: oregano, ginger, coriander, sage, thyme with tarragon.
Classics of the genre
How to cook fish cakes at home according to the classic recipe? Pretty simple! Such a dish had previously been served in many dining rooms, which is probably why all this causes justified nostalgia for some eaters.
How to cook delicious Soviet-style fish cakes? Take pollock in the amount of a kilogram, thaw the carcasses, then separate the pulp from the seeds, twist the future minced meat with a meat grinder, adding 1-2 eggs, a couple of finely chopped onions, a few slices of bread soaked in warm milk (it’s better to take a white loaf), three raw carrots large grater.
We form small pieces, roll them in breading, and fry from 2 sides in heated oil in a skillet (until golden brown). You can pour half a glass of broth in the final and put it out on low heat for 3-5 minutes. Serve hot, with a side dish, for example, from mashed potatoes. This is very simple to implement, but very tasty (and low-budget) food is appreciated by busy housewives, it is a full-fledged second course for lunch or dinner for the whole family.
In the oven
How to cook fish cakes in the oven? To do this, we will need the following ingredients: prepared minced fish fillet (you can take silver carp, pike, pike perch - 1 kilogram), a glass of loaf crumbs soaked in milk, chopped onion, 50 grams of cheese, grated coarsely, a couple of eggs, salt and pepper according to individual preferences.
We make minced meat, carefully kneading it manually. We make small patties, roll in breading, fry from 2 sides in vegetable oil in a pan. Separately, you need to darken the shredded carrots with chopped onion (also in oil).
For the sauce to the cutlets we take a couple of spoons of tomato paste, half a glass of sour cream, a little fish broth, a pinch of salt, the same amount of sugar. We mix everything into a homogeneous mass. Then put the prepared cutlets on a baking sheet or in a baking dish, generously pour sauce, put in the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes (temperature 180 degrees).
From cod
How to cook cod fish cakes at home? This is a great fish. It is very saturated with elements that are important for our body. So, take a kilo of cod fillet, 3 eggs, a couple of onions, a bunch of fresh dill, half a packet of butter, a couple of garlic cloves, a white loaf, milk for soaking, spices for cooking fish.
If you purchased a ready-made fillet, then the cooking process itself is accelerated. If fresh-frozen carcass is caught, first defrost and separate the pulp from the seeds. Finely chop the resulting fillet with a knife. Chopped is much tastier than grind in a meat grinder or with a blender! If the pulp during defrosting has released too much moisture, we squeeze it.
Soak the bread in milk, wait a little and slightly squeeze. Combine the chopped fillet, loaf, butter, 3 egg yolks, crushed garlic with dill, chopped together with onion. Salt pepper, mix thoroughly.
To the proteins from the eggs, add a pinch of salt and beat well. And then mix the proteins into the bulk. We form small blanks, roll them in breading and fry them in a skillet with vegetable oil (over medium heat). Then we turn it over, remove the fire to a minimum, cover with a lid and bring to readiness. We serve a dish with mashed potatoes, it is possible with boiled rice or stewed vegetables.
What to cook with minced fish except cutlets?
But, as they say, not single cutlets! After all, minced fish is a universal semi-finished product, from which you can still make a lot of hearty and tasty dishes. Here is some of them:
- Fish soup with dumplings. Usually, children eat it with great appetite, even if they do not like fish cooked in another form. For an excellent healthy first course, you will need minced fish and ingredients such as rice, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, onions, 2 eggs, flour, salt and pepper. We simply cook: we clean all the vegetables and cut them into small cubes, and divide the cabbage into small inflorescences. Then we send the vegetables to the pan, pouring fish broth or just water. Bring to a boil and cook until cooked. Add the egg and a couple of spoons of flour to the minced meat. Mix thoroughly until thick sour cream. We form dumplings with a small spoon and lower them one by one into the pot for vegetables. As soon as the soup boils again, salt and turn off the fire, covering the container with a lid. Let it brew a little - and you can serve it!
- If you have minced fish, what can be prepared except for cutlets? Let's try delicious roses from dough with minced fish, which look a bit like dumplings. For their preparation we need: a pound of pike minced meat, a couple of potatoes. And for the test you need to take: a couple of eggs, a glass of water, flour and salt. First knead the dough, like dumplings. Let it stand (15-20 minutes). Peel potatoes and grate large three. Add to the pike stuffing and mix thoroughly. Salt pepper, introduce spices. We roll out the dough and cut out circles with a small coffee saucer the size of it (you can also use it as a form). In the center of each circle we put mincemeat mixed with potatoes and spices. We use the Georgian khinkali as an example to form a rose at the top. Sprinkle with a small amount of flour and gently send in boiling water. Cook until the dough is ready (you can do this in a double boiler). We serve "roses" to the table with sour cream, sprinkled with chopped fresh dill.