Pies with a squeal or an original fish snack from it are traditional Russian dishes along with borsch and pickle. They will appeal to any modern Russian, at least a little interested in the customs and recipes of their ancestors. But what is a screech? This question should be addressed in more detail.
general information
Viziga, or Vyazig, is a chord in sturgeons. It is located along the spine, is a long dense cord of soft vesicular cell tissue, covered with a connecting layer with cartilage included in it. What is a screech is now more or less clear. I wonder what kind of fish it is found in.
Where to looking for?
As mentioned earlier, the screech is found in those fish that belong to the sturgeon family. This is, first of all, sterlet, stellate sturgeon, beluga, kaluga, spike. The fish of this family are quite large. For example, beluga reaches 4 meters in length.
Sturgeons are a subclass of cartilaginous ganoids. They are freshwater or migratory. They are highly fertile. For special value representatives of sturgeons are called "red fish". Of great commercial importance is their meat, black caviar, bubble, and, in fact, screech. What is this, we have already considered.
Sturgeons are caught in the Volga and Ural deltas, as well as in Iran. Special fish hatcheries around the world are widespread. Well, you can get sturgeon representatives for your table, of course, on any grocery market or in a store.
Why remove?
The fish chord is removed from the carcass, because during the thermal treatment of the fish, the wiggle is deformed, spoiling the appearance of the product. The finished representative of the sturgeon will turn out to be curved, which will look unattractive. Therefore, the question arises of the need to remove the chords.
How to pull out a screech?
So, the fish is on the table. Now we have to cut it. The process consists of several stages:
1. First of all, remove the mucus from the surface. To do this, heat the water and water the fish. If the growths are hard, you can cut them.
2. Remove the skin (if required by the cooking recipe) according to the principle of stocking. We put it near the head and lead to the tail.
3. Next, cut the abdomen and get the caviar or milk. They can also be used as food. Both caviar and milk are valuable delicacies.
4. Gall bladder is removed carefully to prevent damage. Otherwise, the meat will get a bitter aftertaste.
5. Remove all films from the abdomen, thoroughly wash the fish under running water.
6. Next, the stage of removing the squeal from the sturgeon begins. What it is? This is an important point in cutting fish. First we make cuts at the tail and at the head. They should be so deep as to reach the white lace. Large fish need to make several such holes. We hook the chord with a fork, tweezers or pliers, carefully remove the screech, not allowing it to break. We move from the tail in the head.
How to simplify the process?
Faced with the need to remove squeals from the sterlet, any housewife understands that this procedure is not easy. Is there any way to make my life easier? Yes, if you pre-freeze the fish, and then carry out the chord removal process. The peel will not be preserved, this should be borne in mind. But then it will be possible to cook steaks, barbecue, bake in the oven.
The purchased fish is washed for 20 minutes under running water, rinsed with boiling water, cleaned in the freezer for a couple of hours. Further, the process is similar to cutting unfrozen sterlet or any other sturgeon fish.
If the representative of the sturgeon is large, first it is worth pulling the fin on the chest, with a knife, cut holes throughout the carcass, reaching the cartilage. Then remove the head, remove the bugs on the back, fins. At the tail, make an incision, extend the chord with a knife or fork. You can incise the abdomen and, removing all the insides and washing the fish from there, then remove the screech.
For fresh large fish, the blasting method is used. To do this, the carcass is cut into two halves on the back (layer). In this case, the chord is very easy to get intact, with a whole cord.
Toxic or not squealing?
Many housewives ask this question if they have not previously met with representatives of sturgeons and did not prepare dishes from them. Nowadays, the screech is often thrown out along with other fish waste - gills and entrails.
But the screech is not poisonous, it has an original taste. It contains vitamins A, C, group B, minerals. However, you should be aware that the visa is quickly deteriorating, so you should not store it for a long time.
How to cook?
In Russia in ancient times pies with a squeal were popular. For their preparation, the chord is washed, boiled in spices and spices for about four hours on low heat. Then they scroll into the minced meat, add onions, lavrushka, boiled rice and steep eggs, salt, pepper. The filling is used in the preparation of pies, adding a little broth in them for taste, where the chord was cooked.
In addition to pies with a screech, a lot of original dishes can be prepared from the chord. For example, Fedor Chaliapin was very fond of a shrimp snack from horseradish.
To implement the idea, you will need 300 grams of vizig (3 chords), 50 grams of dry white wine, two eggs, 4 salted gherkins, two tbsp. l sour cream, 1 tsp mustard, dill, tarragon.
To prepare it, the removed screech is soaked in salt water for 4 hours. Then scroll to the minced meat, adding greens to taste. Dill and tarragon are perfect. Add a little white wine and stew under the lid. Then mixed with finely chopped pickles, grated boiled egg, sour cream and horseradish. The appetizer is ready!
So, we examined what a screech is, what its value consists of and how to use it in food.