Cutting sturgeon at home: practical recommendations

Many people are madly in love with fish and seafood. A skilled hostess will be able to cook truly royal dishes from sturgeon.

Who is the sturgeon

Sturgeon, like well-known sterlet or beluga, belongs to the family of sturgeon freshwater fish. It is almost impossible to buy such a delicacy, caught in natural habitats. Commercial fishing of this fish is prohibited, as individuals reach maturity only in the 8th year of life, and the species was at risk of extinction. For sale, sturgeon is grown in specialized freshwater nurseries and sold live. When buying fish, do not pay attention to the fins, as they are always dark in color. The average weight of an adult sturgeon ranges from 15 to 30 kg, but young individuals weighing about 3 kg are put up for sale.

Growths on the skin

Butchering of the sturgeon begins with its preliminary freezing, for which the carcass must be put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or kept in the freezer for about an hour, but no more, otherwise you can freeze it. Slightly frozen fish are much more convenient to cut and remove excess frozen blood.
After it is frozen, the cutting of sturgeon begins. To do this, cut off the head along with the head fins. It should be borne in mind that in raw fish there is a screech poisonous to the human body. Moreover, her intestines are a carrier of spore-forming sticks, so it is very important to learn how to clean the sturgeon correctly. Everyone is able to learn this.

After the sturgeon’s head is cut off, with a sharp knife along the entire body to the anal fin, carefully open the belly and pull out the insides. We do this carefully, trying not to crush the gallbladder, since bile is poisonous to humans. In the presence of caviar, it is separated from the remaining viscera and washed with water.

If we talk about how to clean sturgeon safely, it is better to do this with gloves, in order to avoid getting puncture wounds. The growths along the body of the fish are easily cut with an ordinary knife, as well as the dorsal ones, and to remove plaques it must be doused with boiling water.

It is not necessary to clean the scales, as with other fish, the skin is also not removed, especially when cooking over an open fire. On this, the cutting of the sturgeon is completed, now it remains to cook.

Viziga (Vyaziga)

Viziga, or Vyaziga, is the dorsal chord (veins) passing through the vertebral cartilage of a fish. Cutting sturgeon differs from cleaning other fish in that it is mandatory to get a screech out of it. If you do not immediately pull it out, it begins to secrete poison. After heat treatment, it acquires a gelatinous state.

If you need to save the whole carcass, then in order to pull out the screech, two cuts are made - one along the head to the vertebral cartilage, and the second along the tail, the vertebra is broken. In the place of the fault, a white screech will be visible, about 3 mm in diameter, and it must be slowly extended so as not to break. If the carcass will be cut into pieces, it is even easier to pull out the screech - you need to cut off the head and tail, turn the carcass perpendicularly, and it will slip out.

Head and fins

After the sturgeon’s head has been cut off along with the pectoral fins, it is necessary to remove the gills (gill membranes, which are attached to the gill opening, but do not form folds). From the head you can cook a delicious ear.

The easiest way to cook fish soup from a sturgeon’s head is to chop it in half, rinse it under running water, put in a saucepan, pour boiling water, add salt, spices, pepper, carrots, onion whole and cook for 30 minutes (before the meat starts to move away from heads). You need to pull out the head, strain the broth, add potatoes, barley, and so on to taste.

Sturgeon dishes

The methods for preparing sturgeon are no different from preparing other types of fish. It can be baked in the oven, boiled ear or cooked barbecue, fried in a skillet or grill, steamed or used as a filling for baking. And what kind of cutlets and kebabs are obtained from it! Given the bright taste, fat content and the absence of small bones, the fish becomes ideal for any dishes.

One of the most delicious and beautiful dishes on the festive table has always been stuffed sturgeon. To do this, the whole carcass (with head and tail) needs to be cut, as described above, to pull out the insides, making an incision from the anal fin towards the head. Any filling, for example, from potatoes, carrots and greens (the filling must be ready) fits into the resulting niche. The incision should be sewn with thread, sturgeon carcass must be salted, pepper, top with spices or mayonnaise and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes in foil. Then the foil should be removed and baked without it to obtain a golden crust.

Whatever way you cook sturgeon, the dish will surely please you and your loved ones with unsurpassed taste.