♎️ 🤞🏾 🛒 How long to cook fish: tips and tricks for cooking delicious fish dishes 👩🏽‍⚕️ 👏🏿 👨‍👨‍👦

Fish is a healthy dietary product rich in amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements. You can cook it in different ways, but the maximum nutrient is contained in the boiled product. In this article you will find information on how long to cook fish, as well as some interesting recipes.

Cooking Principles

Almost all types of fish can be cooked. However, very small varieties are still better prepared in another way.

Consider how to cook fish:

The aquatic creature, cooked whole, as a rule, turns out to be especially juicy. Gutted or fillet-cut fish is cut at a 90 ° angle in portions. So that in the process of cooking the pieces do not fall apart, a small transverse incision is made on the skin. You need to boil the fish in a small amount of liquid. The best option is when it slightly covers the product. How long to cook fish is described below.
When cooking a large fish, it is poured with cold slightly salted water so that it warms up simultaneously with the liquid. Small or portioned fish is dipped in hot water so that it does not boil.
In the process of cooking the marine life, bay leaf, peppercorns, salt, herbs and vegetables are added to the water. Onions must be cut into small cubes. The fish will acquire a special taste and aroma; it will not break apart if a little lemon juice or table vinegar is introduced into the broth during cooking.
Fresh mushrooms, wine or lemon juice added during the cooking process perfectly complement the taste. Intensive boiling of the liquid should not be allowed. Removing fish is recommended only before serving. The remaining broth is not poured, it is used to prepare various sauces. You can boil fish for a couple, in a slow cooker or a double boiler.

How many minutes to cook fish?

Fish does not require long cooking, otherwise it becomes dry, stiff, loses its visual appeal and benefits. There is no clear answer to the question, it all depends on its variety and size.

Consider how much to cook sea and freshwater fish:

smelt - 5 minutes;
mackerel and pollock - 10 min .;
whole carp - 45 min., portioned portions - 30 min .;
capelin and catfish - 10 min .;
perch - 17 minutes;
pangasius - 12 minutes;
stellate sturgeon, sturgeon up to 0.5 kg - 60-70 min., sliced portionwise - 30 min .;
hake - 35 min .;
trout, pink salmon, pike perch - 15 min .;
salmon - 30 minutes;
herring, sterlet, cod, flounder - 20 min .;
pike - 25 minutes

Some tricks of cooking fish

To get a tasty dish, it is not enough to know how much to cook fish. It is necessary to pay attention to some features of this process.

You need to salt the fish at the end of cooking to preserve its taste.
To prepare the main dish, fish is poured with hot water at the rate of two liters per kilogram of product.
To make a large fish evenly cooked, it is recommended to cut it into pieces. A small carcass is cooked whole.
Excess water impairs the taste of the fish, as does intense boiling. There is a rule: the less, the better.
Soma and sturgeon fish should be cooked in large pieces and cut in portions immediately before serving. These types are distinguished by the tenderness of meat, so during the cooking process you do not need to add a lot of spices and seasonings in order to preserve the natural taste.
Small fish should not be dipped in boiling water. From a sharp temperature drop, the delicate skin will burst, as a result, the dish will lose its appearance. Among other things, the broth will become cloudy. The carcass, cut into pieces, is lowered into hot water, and the small fish is boiled, but the fire is immediately reduced.

Cooking seasonings

If you decide how many minutes to cook the fish, but don’t know what to add to the broth, read the seasoning information:

If the dish is made from tender fish with a mild taste, then a minimal set of seasonings is used. White roots and salt are best.
If, on the contrary, the fish has a rich taste (carp, silver carp), carrots, onions, bay leaves and black pepper are added during cooking.
If the fish is river and has a pungent smell, cucumber pickle will help eliminate it. It is poured into the broth.

It is better not to remove it from the broth before serving the fish to the table, but you should not leave it for more than half an hour. If the fish was cooked for two meals, then it is better to store it in a container, slightly watering with broth.

If it is planned to use fish stock for cooking sauces, a minimum of salt should be used during cooking.

How to determine readiness?

Often in recipes the phrase “cook fish until cooked” is written. How much it? We will consider the answer to the question below.

An important point in cooking fish - in time to determine the readiness of the dish and remove it from the fire. If the carcass remains undercooked, this will not only ruin its taste, but also increase the risk of infection with parasites. And, on the contrary, if the fish breaks apart, it loses its taste, acquires a friable appearance and texture.

To determine the readiness of the product, you can use a wooden stick or toothpick and make a puncture. If the skewer easily enters the pulp and a clear liquid is released from it, then the fish is ready. When it is pierced with effort, a muddy liquid oozes from it, which means that the fish needs to be boiled.

If the fish is cooked whole, the surest way to determine its readiness is to try to separate the fin, it easily leaves the cooked fish.

Another option for determining preparedness is based on external features. For instance. Experts say that the eyes of the finished fish turn white and come out. The degree of readiness of the fillet during cooking is determined by the formation of light white flakes of curled protein between the muscles.

Cooking fish: a classic recipe

To cook boiled fish according to a traditional recipe you will need:

fillet of flounder or tilapia;
salt, black pepper;
vinegar or juice of half a lemon;
garlic;
bulb;
carrot.

The fish fillet is washed in running water. Stacked in a stewpan. Pour cold water in such a way that it covers the fish, put finely chopped onion and carrot, put on medium heat. The broth should be moderately boiled, then add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tbsp. a spoonful of lemon juice. Cooking time is calculated based on the weight of the fish, on average it is 5 minutes. for every 500 g. Once the fish is cooked, it is served at the table with a side dish of vegetables or rice.

To cook pollock soup, you need to take:

1 kg of fish;
6 pcs potatoes;
2 pcs. medium-sized carrots;
1 onion;
bay leaf, parsley root, allspice, greens;
salt.

We cook according to the instructions:

Fish is cut and removed offal, fins, head, tail.
They put on broth of medium strength to boil the broth, when boiling add salt, onion, pepper, bay leaf. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Wash the potatoes and cut into cubes.
Carrots and parsley root are washed, chopped into strips.
Fresh herbs finely chopped.
From the pan, fish, onion, bay leaf, and stock are filtered.
Pour potatoes, boil for seven minutes. Then add carrots, parsley root, fish, disassembled into pieces.
Cook for about 20 minutes, add if necessary.

Also, cereals can be added to the soup, for example, rice or wheat.

Steaming fish: recipe

To prepare flavorful and juicy steamed fish you will need:

fillet of any fish - 700 g;
soy sauce - 2 tbsp. spoons;
a few feathers of green onions;
ginger root;
olive oil.

Instruction:

The fish fillet is washed under running water. Blot with a paper towel. Then put in a container in which the fish will be cooked.
Half the green onions are chopped with feathers of 3 cm each. Peel the ginger root and cut into several thin slices. Onion and ginger are spread on top of the fish fillet. The tank is installed in a double boiler and fish is cooked until cooked. How long does it take to cook fish? Above was indicated information about the time, which depends on the type of fish.
The remaining half of the onion is finely chopped. Ginger root is rubbed on a fine grater, it will take about 1 teaspoon. A little olive oil is poured into the pan and for 2-3 minutes. fry onions with ginger, add soy sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes over low heat.
Boiled fish is spread on a plate and watered with ginger dressing. Serve a dish with a salad of vegetables, potatoes or rice.

Cooking fish in a slow cooker: time and recipe

Today, a crock-pot is an integral assistant to many housewives. How long does it take to cook fish in this fixture?

Cooking can be done in several modes, the time depends on this.

Double boiler - 20 minutes.
Extinguishing - 40 minutes.
If you want to cook soup, then the necessary ingredients are placed in the bowl and the “Soup” program is selected, the time is 1 hour.

Consider a steaming recipe. To prepare the fish you will need:

pollock - 2 pcs.;
fresh parsley and dill umbrellas;
seasoning for fish;
salt.