How to remove scales from carp. Tips and features for cleaning carp before cooking

The breeds are quite common in our country. You can prepare many delicious dishes from carp. But before you start implementing any recipe, you need to competently and quickly get rid of the inedible elements of this fish. Few people know how to properly clean carp. It has a very dense cover of small scales. It is very difficult to remove these scales from the fish. Therefore, the question of how to clean carp quickly and correctly remains always relevant. The fishermen themselves and their wives are trying to come up with new tricks that would help them in such a useful and not very pleasant activity. For lovers fish dishes Making your own is sometimes not easy.

Multi-step cleaning methods

Through trial and error, they came up with ways to wash the carp from the mucus present on its carcass, and how to clean the carp from scales and other inedible parts. We list the most popular of them, often used by people due to their availability and effectiveness.

The carp is cleaned in three approaches. But before cleaning the fish, they first prepare it and wash it of mucus and dirt. Then the scales are removed from the surface of the fish carcass. The final step in cleaning carp will be to remove the giblets and wash the cleaned product.

Washing the fish

The carp must be washed in large quantities cold water. It is more convenient to do this under pressure. During this procedure, you need to cut off all the fins using large kitchen scissors.

Wipe the washed fish with a clean rag or paper towels.

How to clean carp from scales quickly and without harm to the kitchen

In fact, there is a special device that allows you to remove dense scales from a fish without much effort. The device looks like a grater, which is used to remove scales. The process is easy and does not create as much debris as if using a regular knife. However, this device can also create chaos in your kitchen.

Basin with water

How to clean carp so that the kitchen also remains clean? During the procedure using a knife or special devices, shiny scales still fly around the kitchen. In the future, while the housewife is fiddling with it, they dry out and stick quite firmly to the surfaces. This makes them difficult to remove from dishes and walls. A way was invented to clean carp in water.

For this purpose it is filled cold water deep basin and the cleaning itself is carried out in this basin. We lower the fish into it and clean off the dense, firmly adhered scales with water.

Polyethylene bag

For those who do not like to spend a lot of time in water (during the cleaning process), the following method is suitable. For example, how to clean carp in a plastic bag. To do this, the fish carcass is placed in a spacious bag so that you can freely work in it with your hands; the scales are cleaned in the bag. After finishing processing the fish, the bag must be tightly tied and thrown into the trash.

To make it easier for scales to come off the fish, use the following trick - dip the fish in boiling water, hold it in it for a little while and start cleaning. Do not overcook, otherwise you will end up with fish soup sooner than you expected: the fish may cook in boiling water.

We get rid of the giblets and cut up the fish

And now about how to clean carp from giblets. When outer side the fish looks more appetizing, we begin cutting up the carcass. We cut through the belly with a knife and clean out all the insides. You need to be especially careful when handling the gall bladder; if it is pierced, the taste of the fish will be irreparably spoiled. Pay special attention to removing the dark film lining the belly of the fish. This film also spoils the taste, so we remove it carefully, but so as not to damage the pulp.

The final step will be removing the head and washing the carp carcass. If necessary, cut it into pieces.

Carp in sweet and sour sauce

Products:

• cut carp - at least a kilogram;
• cornstarch;
• vegetable oil without aroma;
• a handful of pine nuts (peeled) - optional.

For the sauce:

• half a glass of cold water and tomato sauce, you can take ketchup;
• 2 tablespoons sugar;
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar;
• fresh ginger root - about one centimeter;
• white part of leek - 1 piece;
• 1-2 small spoons of starch (corn);
• salt - to taste.

Process

Separate the fillet from the gutted carp from the backbone. This must be done in such a way that the skin and some of the pulp still remain attached to the tail.

Place the fillet skin side down on the table surface and make several cuts in it at an angle. It is important not to damage the skin of the carp, then the dish will turn out more beautiful. Do this procedure on both sides of the fillet.

Bread the fish meat and head in starch and fry in vegetable oil. If you don't like the fish head that will be in the prepared dish, you can leave it out.

Preparing the sauce

To prepare the sauce, mix in a bowl tomato paste and water until smooth. While mixing the paste with water, you need to add sugar, salt and vinegar to the future sauce. Its taste should be sweet and sour. Add sugar or salt (or vinegar) according to your preference if you need it.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and add ginger and onion, cut into small pieces. Pour the prepared starch into the frying pan. To do this, you need to dilute it in water in a one-to-one ratio (how many tablespoons of starch, so many tablespoons of water). Bring the resulting mixture to a boil and add the remaining oil from frying the fillets. Boil the tomato sauce for about five minutes.

Serving the dish

Place the fish with the head (or without) beautifully on a flat dish. Pour a delicate sweet and sour sauce on top of the fried carp and garnish with nuts. There are practically no restrictions on decorating the dish. You can add vegetables to the sauce, and then there will be no need for nuts.

Fried carp

Pour milk over the fish pieces for thirty minutes. At this time, prepare a batter from three eggs. You also need to prepare two tablespoons of breadcrumbs and flour. Salt.

Remove the carp pieces from the milk and roll in salted flour. Then dip in beaten egg and roll again, this time in breadcrumbs. Place the fish in a frying pan with hot vegetable oil. Fry the carp on both sides until golden brown. This will take approximately 15 minutes.

Each of us has faced the problem of cleaning fresh fish. When fish appears in the house, in our case it will be freshwater-lake fish, grown in artificial reservoirs for industrial purposes, very healthy fish carp. There are several types of this delicious fish - from mirror carp, which has practically no scales, to ordinary freshwater carp, before cooking which we are faced with the problem of how to clean the carp?

Carp is a special fish, with small scales and requires delicate cleaning to remove the protective layer. We will now look at several options for cleaning carp.

Where to start?

Take the carp and rinse it thoroughly under high pressure of water - this will give you the opportunity to completely wash off all the dirt and accumulated mucus from it.

If your carp was not bought at the market or in a store, but was caught in a pond using some kind of fishing gear, then you still need to remove the bait from its mouth. Carp is not a picky fish and is caught not only with corn or peas, but also with worms and maggots. Accordingly, you are unlikely to like it if you find such a surprise in the finished dish.

To do this, you just need to expose him with his mouth open to a high pressure of water, under the pressure of which everything unnecessary will be washed away, or resort to the help of some kind of hook. Please note that this procedure is necessary if you cook the whole carp and do not cut off its head.

Once you have washed off the dirt and cleared the carp's mouth of any bait, you can begin the main step of cleaning the carp.

Important! Even if you decide to cook carp without a head, under no circumstances rush to cut off its head before cleaning, as during the cleaning process it will be uncomfortable for you to hold it and the carcass will slip out.

How to clean carp? — Quick and easy ways

The procedure for cleaning carp is actually not very complicated, unlike predatory river and sea fish species. Let's look at several options for cleaning carp.

Option 1

To clean the carp, we need a cutting board and a sharp knife:

1. Place the carp, previously cleaned of dirt and mucus, on a cutting board.
2. Since carp have small scales, they will fly apart when cleaned. different sides. To avoid this, you can place the fish in a large container - a bucket, basin, sink, or put the carp in a plastic bag and clean it in the middle.
3. Starting from the tail, with short sharp movements, prying up the scales, we move towards the head.
4. To prevent the fish from sliding on the board, you should apply a little force to the knife and, to prevent it from slipping out of your hands, hold the carp by the gills.
5. First, we completely clean one side from the tail to the head, then the other, and only after that proceed to cutting the abdominal cavity, having first washed the carp of scales so that they do not get into the middle of the fish.

Important! You shouldn’t press the knife too hard on the fish, as you can damage the carcass itself. The abdominal cavity may rupture, making further cleaning difficult.

Option 2

In order to clean carp without resorting to all sorts of improvised means in the form of basins and pans, just place it in boiled water for 45-60 seconds (depending on the size of the fish). Do not keep the carcass in water longer than this time, otherwise you will get it already cooked and you will not be able to prepare your favorite dish from it.

Important! After the procedure, the carp scales will become soft and docile for further mechanical processing. It will be easy for you to clean the scales, which will no longer fly around under a slight pressure of water.

Cleaning the abdominal cavity of carp

We looked at two options for cleaning carp from scales, and now let's move on to cutting the abdominal cavity of your fish. To do this:

1. Place the carcass again on a cutting board, after brushing it with lemon juice. Lemon juice will protect your board from the corrosive smell of fish. You can also soak your hands in juice or wear protective gloves.
2. Take a sharp knife and make two small transverse cuts - near the head and at the end of the abdominal cavity closer to the tail, and make a large longitudinal cut from head to tail, ripping open the belly of the carcass.
3. Carefully remove the liver and gall bladder so that it does not rupture. If you were unable to do this carefully, rub the places where the bile got in with salt or cut them out.
4. Then remove all remaining insides and rinse with water.

Important! To prevent the fish from slipping out of your hands, you need to rub the scales with salt and periodically dip your fingers in the salt.

The last stage of cleaning

All we have to do is remove the unnecessary fish fins. We do it like this:

1. The upper fin is removed using two lateral longitudinal cuts.
2. The side fins do not need to be cut, but simply pulled out.
3. We remove the lower rear fin in the same way as the upper one, only the cuts are made deeper, since the fin itself is located deep in the tail part of the fish and is the driving mechanism.

The only thing left to do, if you cook the fish whole, is to cut out the gills and eyes with a knife. So we looked at ways to clean carp. Now, if you haven’t figured out how to prepare it yet, we offer a few simple recipes so that you get a delicious dish for an everyday home dinner or a holiday table.

There are a lot of different recipes for how to cook carp and any other fish. You can find them in special cookbooks and on the Internet. Based on your own skills, imagination and free time, you can prepare absolutely any of the dishes offered to you. To simplify the task of not only cleaning carp, but also preparing it, we have selected several options that we think are interesting. We hope you decide to put them into practice.

Baked carp with vegetables

Baked fish with vegetables is not only tasty, but also dietary dish. And preparing it will not take much of your time and will not require significant financial expenses, since you will most likely find most of the products in your refrigerator.

Products:

• 1 carp
• 100 grams of smoked lard.
• 250 ml sour cream.
• 3-4 bell peppers.
• 7-8 pieces of potatoes.
• 3 onions.
• 3-4 tomatoes.
• 100 grams of butter.
• Ground red pepper.
• Flour.
• Salt.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the carp along the ribs into pieces and stuff the rib part with lard.
2. Rub with pepper and salt.
3. Cut the potatoes into small pieces and cook until half cooked.
4. Afterwards, place the potatoes in a hot frying pan, greased with oil, and place the fish on top. Finally, add a layer of tomatoes, peppers and onions.
5. Pour melted water over it all butter and bake in the oven at a temperature of 220-250 degrees until cooked, at the end pouring generously with mixed flour and sour cream.

Carp aspic

Jellied is an amazingly tender and beautiful dish if prepared correctly. And this is very easy to do if you follow the following recipe.

Products:

Cooking method:

1. Place the carp pieces on a plate, skin side up, and pour boiling vinegar over them.
2. Cut the celery and parsley roots into small pieces. Cook with the addition of bay leaves and cloves over low heat for 10-15 minutes.
3. Place the carp in the resulting broth and cook for another 15-20 minutes.
4. Soak gelatin in cold water. When the grains become transparent, you need to drain the excess water and combine the gelatin with the broth.
5. Boil all this, strain, cool.
6. Separate the fish fillet from the bone and place in the pan.
7. Pour in the jelly, let cool and harden.

Important! When serving, you can decorate with lemon slices and herbs.

Good to know about fish:

We hope that from this article you received the necessary information on how to clean and cook carp and were able to cope with the idea of ​​​​cooking without much hassle.

Carp, or carp, is river fish, which is famous for its abundance of dense but tasty meat and special approach for processing bones. Before cleaning carp, you need to familiarize yourself with a number of specific points. Despite the apparent density of scales and skin, these individuals require careful handling. If the fish was caught independently, then, if possible, it should be cleaned directly in nature. This will not affect the taste of the product in any way, but it will save you from a lot of hassle.

Features of mandatory training

There won’t be many problems with cleaning carp if you organize the process correctly and it all starts with preparation. First of all, you need to choose the right tool. The scales of the fish are large and fit quite tightly. In order not to spend too much time removing them, it is better to arm yourself with a vegetable peeler or a specialized device. As a last resort, you can get by with a fork, spoon or the blunt side of a knife. Using a homemade grater gives good results. We simply nail several metal threaded plugs to a wooden plank and place the workpiece on a comfortable handle.

Tip: If the fish is very large, its meat will be tough. To soften the product, after cleaning and gutting it should be soaked in very fresh and low-fat milk for half an hour. Even in the case of small fish, this will not be superfluous.

In addition, the preparation process will include the following points:

1. We move all the tools to the bathroom. This is the optimal place for cleaning carp; everything in the kitchen will be covered with scales.
2. The fish must be thoroughly moistened with cool water; it is very difficult to remove dried scales.
3. We cut the fins in advance with scissors. They are quite sharp and you can get hurt when handling them.

If it is obvious that the scales adhere very tightly to the surface of the skin, the carp should be scalded with boiling water or immersed in hot water for 20-30 seconds. Just don’t process the fish for too long; it will start to cook.

Cleaning carp from scales

There are no specific recommendations for removing scales from the surface of carp. There are only a few suggestions for organizing the process, the observance of which will allow minimal staining of everything around and reduce the procedure time:

• The easiest way to clean fish is by placing it in a container of water. But you don’t need to fill the bathtub for this; it’s better to use a large basin. Large scales can clog the drain.

Tip: The gills and insides of carp are places where bacteria actively multiply. Fish should be cleaned immediately after purchasing or catching, otherwise its taste will steadily deteriorate.

• If the carcasses are small, they are cleaned inside a plastic bag. After manipulation, you only need to throw away the contents and rinse the workpieces.
• It is better to nail a large fish to a wooden base and pull it firmly by the head. Then we clean, moving from the tail to the head.

During the manipulation, particularly problematic areas are scalded with boiling water, and if the fish is slippery, rub it with salt.

How to properly gut carp?

After the fish has been scaled, it must be gutted. To do this, lay the carcass belly up and rip it open with a sharp knife, making a shallow cut from head to tail. We remove the insides, the thick brown film, cut out the gills or completely cut off the head. All that remains is to thoroughly rinse the workpiece under cold running water and you can begin heat treating it.

The fish should be kept in the refrigerator or cold water all the time before cooking. You should not leave it at room temperature, even for a few minutes, as this may negatively affect the aroma and taste of the meat. Only thoroughly washed product, dried with paper towels, can be put into the refrigerator.

Carp is an artificially bred breed of fish; in nature, the closest relative of carp is carp. China is considered the homeland of carp, where Chinese emperors loved to feast on dishes made from this fish. Over time, carp came to Europe, where it is currently bred on an industrial scale and is highly valued in cooking. To make the dish tasty, the carp must be properly cleaned and cut.

Carp is a large and healthy fish

Carp meat is very healthy, as it contains many different minerals, vitamins and other substances necessary for the normal functioning of the human body. The presence of iodine in meat improves blood composition, normalizes metabolism, and prevents endocrine disorders. The high phosphorus content has a beneficial effect on the functioning of brain cells. The meat of this fish contains antioxidants that preserve our youth and protect the body's cells from the negative effects of free radicals. Eating carp is recommended for people watching their weight - the meat is well absorbed by the body and satiates without extra calories.

Cleaning fresh carp at home

Carp, whether large mirror carp, which is covered with a small amount of scales, or regular freshwater carp, which is covered with small scales, requires cleaning before cooking. A regular knife will do for this procedure. If you do not have the necessary skills, take a knife that is not very sharp. To avoid injury, you can use a spoon or fork. To clean fish, they also use metal scrapers, which you can buy in a store, or a vegetable peeler with a longitudinal blade - with it the work will be easier and faster.

How to clean live fish quickly and accurately

Before cleaning, the carp must be thoroughly rinsed with cold water to remove mucus and dirt. If the mucus is not washed off, the fish will slide along the surface - the cleaning process will be difficult.

If the carp is cooked without the head, do not cut it off before cleaning, because it is convenient to hold the fish while doing work.

You can clean the carp on the kitchen table, but in this case the scales will fly to the sides, and then you will have to clean them up for a long time. To prevent this from happening, it is recommended to clean the carp from scales in water - directly in the sink or in a suitable-sized container. You can place the carp in a tight bag and clean it inside the bag, then the scales will remain there.

You need to clean the fish in the direction from the tail to the head, holding it by the tail.

1. Before you start cleaning, place the washed carp in a suitable container and pour boiling water on both sides - the scales will soften and it will be easy to clean.
2. We place the carp with its head towards us, hold it by the tail and, in the direction from the tail to the head, clean the fish on both sides with a knife or scraper.
3. Wash the carp well.

How to clean a carcass from scales using the “removal of chain mail” method

This cleaning method requires a sharp knife with a thin and long blade.

1. We insert a knife from the side of the tail between the skin and scales.

   The knife used to remove scales using this method should be thin and sharp.

2. We trim the scales, gradually moving the knife forward. It is advisable not to immediately cut through the scales - they stretch and the knife does not damage the skin.
3. We cut off the place where the scales attach to the bone near the head - we get “chain mail”.
4. We repeat the process on the other side.

How to cut carp

After the carp is scaled, it must be properly cut. The process involves removing the entrails, gills, fins, and preparing the fillets.

How to gut it properly

How to cut this fish

Video: filleting carp without gutting

Before cutting into fillets, the carp also needs to be washed and scaled, but you don’t have to gut it.

Cleaning and cutting frozen fish

Frozen fish must be thawed before cleaning and cutting. To preserve as many useful substances as possible, the fish is placed in water with added salt at the rate of one teaspoon per kilogram of defrosted product. Otherwise, you need to proceed in the same way as with live fish.

As you can see, the process of cleaning and cutting carp is not that complicated. Let dishes prepared from this tasty and healthy fish decorate your table both on weekdays and on holidays.

Carp is a very tasty and at the same time healthy fish. You can use it to prepare many dishes, both festive and everyday. There are several varieties of carp: mirror, Thai, Japanese and the most common freshwater. They can be baked, fried, pickled, smoked, stewed and even boiled. Most often, ordinary carp and mirror carp are used in cooking.

Regardless of what dish is being prepared, the carp should be properly cleaned beforehand, otherwise the final taste may be spoiled.

Any housewife at least once in her life has faced the question of how to clean carp. There is nothing super complicated in this process. Carp requires a gentle attitude towards itself, so you need to clean it according to all the rules. fish scales tends to scatter throughout the kitchen, thereby increasing the need for subsequent cleaning. To prevent this from happening and to avoid having to wash tables and floors for a long time, you must follow the instructions.

Features of carp

Carp is an unpretentious fish and can be caught using almost any bait. It can be attracted either by corn or peas, or by worms or maggots. Before preparing a dish, it is imperative to remove the bait from the mouth so that it does not end up in the finished dish.

To remove the bait, you need to open the carp's mouth and expose it to a fairly high pressure of cold water. Thus, the water will wash away all excess. If you can’t get the bait, then you can use a hook.

Before you start cleaning the carp, you should rinse it and remove any remaining bait.

If the dish will be prepared without the head, you don’t have to waste time on this, but simply cut it off.

Choosing a tool for cleaning carp

A regular sharp knife is mainly used to clean fish. You can also purchase a special scraper designed for this process; it is a very convenient tool for inexperienced housewives.

Outside the home, improvised means are used. A homemade grater is suitable: for this, tin beer caps are attached to a wooden board. You can also remove scales from carp using a canned food can with holes made in the bottom using nails.

Preparing for cleaning

If the carp is still alive, it must be killed, since cleaning live fish is neither convenient nor humane. You can either leave her on the street for a while until she suffocates, or hit her on the head with the handle of a knife, and only then can you begin the process.

To make it easier to remove scales, you can pour boiling water over the carcass

To begin with, you need to wet the fish generously so that the scales get wet, and immediately begin the main process, since it will be quite difficult to clean dry fish. If the carcass large sizes, then the scales will be thick and quite difficult to clean. To make the work easier, you can dip it in boiling water for a few minutes.

Carp cleaning

The main question that arises during the work: how to clean carp so that the scales do not fly away in different directions? During cleaning, the fish should be held by the tail, while the head should be facing the person cleaning it. Tips to facilitate this process are also highlighted:

• You can place the carcass in a bowl of cold water and clean it there. In this case, the scales will not scatter throughout the kitchen, but will all remain in the water.
• No less effective option– place the fish in a plastic bag and clean the inside. This way all the waste will be in the bag.
• To make the carcass easy to clean, you can place it in the sink, pouring boiling water over it. It would be a good idea to cover the table with film and the board with newspaper. This will prevent the fish from sliding on the surface, which will make cleaning much easier.

You can simply clean carp in the sink

To the question of how to quickly clean carp, there is useful recommendations. To avoid fiddling with fish for a long time, you need to follow the instructions. The fish is cleaned strictly from the tail to the head. First, the scales are removed from one side, then from the other. You need to pay special attention to the place where the abdomen is located. This is where it is most difficult to clean.

Processing process

After the fish is scaled, it must be gutted. To do this, you need to place the carcass on a cutting board covered with newspaper, belly up, and make a cut towards the tail from the head. Next, remove all the giblets, including the bubble along with the brown film. If the carp contains caviar or milt, you can take them out and cook them separately, or you can leave them inside and bake them as is. When removing the insides, you must be careful not to damage the gallbladder. If this does happen, the fish will taste bitter and will be impossible to eat.

Whether to cut off the head or leave it depends on what kind of dish will be prepared from it; sometimes it is enough to just remove the gills and eyes. After cleaning, rinse the fish on top and outside, and begin cooking.

If necessary, in addition to scales, you can get rid of other unnecessary components on the carcass

How to cut fins

After completing all the above procedures, all that remains is to get rid of unnecessary fins:

• to remove the upper fin, you need to make two cuts on both sides and cut out the fin itself;
• the fins that are located on the sides can simply be pulled out by hand;
• to get the lower fin at the base of the tail, you need to make fairly deep cuts on both sides and cut it out with a knife.

Only carp that is caught or bought fresh at the market is much easier to clean than frozen carp. Therefore, there is no need to postpone the cleaning process until later, but it is better to do it right away.

How to properly cut carp - you will learn about this from the video: