Nail care

How to stuff pike in the oven. Baked stuffed pike in the oven

Stuffed pike recipe. Today we will prepare a real decoration for any table, the queen of New Year's Eve (and not only), a dish with a golden crust and a creamy filling of spicy pieces of dried apricots and tender fish fillets - stuffed pike!

Cooking on your own

I prepared this dish many times, and not always everything went smoothly and perfectly: the thin skin tore during stuffing, the finished pike disintegrated before my eyes, the minced meat turned out tasteless and loose. Many of my friends still prefer to order stuffed pike in a restaurant rather than cook it themselves, considering cooking a waste of time. However, this state of affairs can and should be corrected, because self-cooked stuffed pike is much tastier!

I will tell you how to flawlessly remove the skin from fish in literally 2 minutes, I will share what exactly you need to add to the filling so that it turns out juicy and just melts in your mouth, how to bake stuffed pike so that it retains its shape. And as a pleasant addition to such an amazing dish, we will prepare a unique sauce from refreshing lemon juice, golden honey, delicate olive oil and crispy mustard seeds. We will decorate two dishes with it: baked stuffed pike and its ideal complement - the vegetable salad “Fatush”, which is an original combination of fresh cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, lettuce with fried apple and quail eggs.

Preparing the starting components

Pike. This fish does not belong to the category of cheap fish, so you need to choose it with special care. There are two criteria when choosing pike: freshness and naturalness. The optimal period for buying pike is March-April and October-November - the time when this fish actively bites. During this period, pike eats well and moves a lot, which gives its meat richness and a special taste. But good, high-quality fish can be bought at any time of the year.
Remember that ungutted, fresh pike can be stored for no more than a day, after which the insides begin to deteriorate. If we are going to store the fish longer, we need to thoroughly gut it, rinse it and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (in the freezer for up to 3 months). To choose a quality pike, you need to pay attention to the mucus that is on the surface of the fish. If it is absent on the pike, it means that the fish has been lying there for a long time and is stale. In addition, on a good pike, the scales cover the skin in an even layer; otherwise, the fish does not receive enough calcium, which significantly reduces its nutritional value.
We look at the gills - they should be dark red, fresh and not have an unpleasant odor. The eyes of a quality fish are transparent, unclouded, and shiny. Press the surface of the pike with your finger - the depression after the dent should quickly recover, that is, the fish meat should be elastic. Pike under 2 years of age and weighing 1.5-2 kilograms are ideal for stuffing. In addition, to prepare our dish, the fish must be at least 45-50 centimeters (length from fingertips to elbow). It is not worth buying smaller fish, as it contains a lot of small bones and little meat. If the pike is more than half a meter, this indicates that it is more than 2 years old and is not suitable for stuffing. But such large specimens are excellent for making cutlets.
Loaf. To prepare minced pike, you will need a “yesterday’s” loaf, not a fresh one. Only such a loaf will make the minced meat airy and will not weigh it down.

How to cook stuffed pike

Ingredients:

1.5-2 kilograms of pike
2 eggs
200 grams of loaf
300 milliliters milk (3.2% fat)
3 carrots
5 dried apricots
1 onion
70 grams of lard
2 bay leaves
Salt, pepper - to taste
Black peppercorns
2 beets

Cooking process:

Let's start preparing the pike. Many of you are very afraid of tearing or damaging the skin of the fish, but we will do everything so that the “stocking” of the pike remains intact. Pour water into a large, deep bowl and begin to clean the fish in the water. A special device that I made for cleaning fish is very suitable for this. On a regular wooden spatula (for stirring food), you need to secure several metal bottle caps with nails, with the teeth facing you. You will have an excellent device for cleaning fish!
We lower the tail part of the carcass into the water, holding it, and begin to clean the scales from head to tail. The part that is being cleaned must be in water so that the scales do not scatter to the sides.
The scales have been removed - now you need to clean the fish from the entrails and gills. We place the pike on its side, with its belly towards you. We take scissors and make an incision near the caudal fin on the abdomen - at the place where the long intestine ends.
Now we open the gill box and remove the gills, cutting them off at the base of the head. We remove the insides through the resulting hole, being careful not to damage the gallbladder. If this does happen, then you need to quickly soak the pike in a salt or vinegar solution, rinse it and use it when preparing cutlets, since such fish is no longer suitable for stuffing.
At this stage we remove the eyes of the pike. We pierce the eye socket with a knife and, prying it up, remove the eyes. The carcass is ready.
Now we will remove the skin. And to do this carefully and without tearing, you need to lightly beat the pike with a rolling pin. During this process, the fish's muscles weaken and the meat does not adhere as tightly to the skin. We make 8-10 strikes on the pike on each side.
We make a cut under the upper fin and cut off the head. We turn the pike with the cut towards us, insert the knife between the skin and the meat and trim the ridge under the skin in a circular motion. We pull the skeleton towards us, gradually separating the meat from the skin. The main thing is not just to remove the skin, but to trim the meat and pull the skin towards itself. When we get to the fins, we need to carefully trim the meat along with the fin so as not to damage the skin.
We approached the tail, the “stocking” was almost removed and all that remained was to cut off the tail. Let's do it.
The skin has been removed, but a small amount of meat remains. We remove it with a spoon so that the meat goes into minced meat. Before turning the stocking out, you need to pepper and add salt to it so that the finished dish is not bland.
Let's start separating the meat from the bones to prepare minced meat. Carefully cut off all the pulp.
Place the ridge, previously cut into pieces (for convenience), into a saucepan with cold water. Place 1 whole onion, bay leaves and 6 black peppercorns in a saucepan. Place the container on the fire and cook the broth for 40 minutes over low heat.
While the broth is cooking, we will prepare the filling. Cut the loaf in half and use only half of the bread. We first cut off the crust from it so that its pieces do not get caught in the minced meat. Fill the loaf with milk and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, steam the dried apricots to make them softer and juicier. We use dried apricots for color and a pleasant sour taste.
Peel the onion and cut into small cubes. We also peel and grate the carrots on a large-mesh grater.
Pour 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a frying pan and fry the onion until transparent and only then add the carrots. Saute everything for 5 minutes under a closed lid.
We pass the fish fillet through a meat grinder (with a fine grid) 2 times so that it becomes airy.
We cut off the rind from the lard, cut it into pieces and pass it through a meat grinder.
Without cooling the stewed vegetables, we send them to the meat grinder after the lard. After the vegetables, grind the white bread soaked in milk (no need to drain the milk). Mix the prepared minced meat.
Separate the whites from the yolks. Place the whites in a bowl and beat them, and add the yolks to the minced meat.
Dry the dried apricots and cut into small cubes. We send it to minced fish. Add some salt and season with ground black pepper.
An important moment has come: mix the filling with your hands, not with a spatula or spoon. This will make it more uniform and fluffy. But that's not all! We need to beat the filling so that excess air escapes. To do this, lift everything and throw it into the center of the container 8-10 times. As soon as you notice that the minced meat has become denser, you can consider it ready.
Beat the whites into a stiff foam using a mixer or fork. It is this ingredient that will make the filling tender and retain the shape of the fish. We introduce the whites into the minced meat very carefully, stirring from bottom to top, and stir briefly, just a little.
We take the pike “stocking” in one hand and fill it with minced meat with the other. When filling, you need to lightly press the filling towards the tail part so that everything is compacted well. The cut of the skin should end at the cut of the minced meat; under no circumstances should there be any voids.
All that remains is to stuff the pike's head - fill the gill boxes with minced meat. Turn on the oven, we need to preheat it to 180 0 C.
In the meantime, we will prepare a vegetable bed that will prevent the pike from burning during baking. Peel the beets and carrots and cut them into slices.
Place carrot slices on a baking sheet in the center, and beets around them so that they do not turn the pike red. If desired, you can add sweet peppers, onions and celery or parsnip root to these vegetables.
Let's return to the fish broth - it's ready. During this time it became much thicker, the bones were completely boiled. Discard the onion and strain the broth through a fine sieve.
Place the pike belly down on a baking sheet and place the head next to it. Pour the broth over the fish (for a one and a half kilogram pike you need approximately 700 milliliters of broth).
Grease the foil with vegetable oil and cover the pike with it. Place the pike in the oven to bake at 180C for 40 minutes. 20 minutes after the start of baking, we cook the fish under foil, and then remove the foil to allow the fish to brown.
Time is up, the fish is baked. Now we need to check its readiness. To do this, carefully remove the fin from the “stocking”. If it comes out easily, then the fish is ready. Unfortunately, stuffed pike is served only cold, so we need to let it cool.

How to make sweet and sour sauce for fish

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons liquid honey

Cooking process:

Squeeze 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into a deep container. To do this, the fruits need to be thoroughly mashed or rolled on the table with force.
Add 2 teaspoons of mustard grains to the juice and begin to whisk everything thoroughly with a whisk until a whitish tint appears.
Now it’s the turn of liquid honey - add it and mix. Add some salt to the sauce and continue whisking until a fluffy mass is formed.
While vigorously stirring the sauce with a whisk, gradually add vegetable oil. The sauce has turned light brown, which means it is ready. Pour it into a gravy boat.

Cut the cucumber into cubes with a side of 1 centimeter, and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

Place lettuce leaves in a deep salad bowl, add chopped cucumbers and tomatoes.

The apples are fried - place them on a paper towel and let cool. Place the cooled apples in a salad bowl.

Cool the boiled quail eggs and peel them. Cut each egg in half.

Place the egg halves in a salad bowl, pour the sauce over everything and mix gently. Fatush salad is ready!

Important points in preparation

To easily remove the skin from the pike, you need to hit it several times with a rolling pin.
The finished dish will not smell like mud if you add onions to the filling. Onion juices “block” the smell of mud without interfering with the taste of fish.
To make the filling in the stuffed pike juicy, you need to first add lard to it. Lard fats will give the filling extraordinary juiciness.
Stuffed pike will retain its shape during baking if you carefully beat the filling with your hands.
The filling in the pike will be tender if you add whipped egg whites to it.

The chic, festive dishes are ready and all we have to do is serve everything to the table. We decorate the pike with beautifully chopped shallots (we make a “crown” on its head), and place an olive in the place of the eye sockets. Carefully place cherry tomatoes and lemon slices on the carcass. First cut the pike into portions, place it on a plate in a circle, and place the head in the center. Serve with sweet and sour sauce and Fatush salad.

Conclusion

Juicy, tender, soft, aromatic, incredibly tasty dish - “Stuffed Pike”! Fatush salad is ideal for such a truly royal table. Enjoy your meal!

Stuffed pike is a real festive dish that all guests will definitely want to try. Properly cooked stuffed pike can drive you crazy with its taste from the first bite - the main thing is that you choose the ideal ratio of minced meat and spices.

Of course, creating this culinary masterpiece is a very troublesome and difficult task, especially for beginners, but each time you will do it better and better. It is advisable to purchase or catch large fish for stuffing, but in the absence of such, you can stuff small ones, up to 1 kg in weight. When planning to serve stuffed pike on the holiday table, also bake its head in the oven; you don’t have to do this for yourself and your family!

Ingredients

1 pike
3 slices of bread
100 ml milk or cream
1 large carrot
1 large onion
1 chicken egg
0.5 tsp. ground dried garlic
3 pinches of black pepper
0.5 tsp. salt

Preparation

1. Clean the pike of scales, carefully removing them even from hard-to-reach places. Let's cut off the head of the “queen of the rivers” and remove all the insides through the hole, and then wash it inside and out several times. Cutting the skin in a circle with a knife, remove it from the pike carcass, like a stocking. If you accidentally tear or cut the skin, it doesn’t matter, you can always sew it up with a needle and thread. We cut the ridge near the tail and rinse the removed skin in water. Then use a knife to carefully remove the meat from the bone and place it in a bowl. If you come across small bones, then, if possible, remove them after the large ones, but this is not so important - small bones will be ground in a meat grinder. When the meat is completely cleaned, pass it through a meat grinder about 4-5 times, installing a grid with small holes. For the last time, along with the meat, we will pass peeled and washed onions and carrots, and bread slices soaked in milk. Add salt, ground black pepper, ground dried garlic and mix gently.

2. Add the chicken egg and mix the minced meat again so that there is no air left in it. It is best to use an egg from poultry - your minced meat will turn out more yellow.

3. Loosely stuff the washed pike skin with minced meat and sew it on top. If there are other holes, then sew them up too when stuffing the carcass. Lubricate the carcass with vegetable oil, as well as the head of the fish. We will also grease the baking sheet with vegetable oil and place our preparations on it. Be sure to pierce the stuffed carcass in several places with a large needle, otherwise it will burst during baking. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake its contents for about 35-40 minutes at a temperature of 180C. If the carcass turns brown before the cooking time ends, cover it with foil. Be sure to let the baked fish cool, otherwise it will spread when cutting, and only then cut it into portions.

Stuffed pike in the oven is an incredibly tasty fish delicacy, the creation of which requires not only a lot of patience, but also endurance. The one who can prepare such a dish at home himself and have it turn out juicy and excellent is rightfully considered a true cook! Stuffed pike is the main fish appetizer at all celebrations and therefore it must be a table decoration.

So, it's time to prepare stuffed pike baked in the oven...

To ensure success, select only fresh fish by sniffing it and lifting the gills. Ideally, the pike should still be breathing when you acquire it. Buy lard right away, otherwise the fish, stuffed only with its own pulp and breadcrumbs, will remain dry and not juicy.

Since my crackers are made from whole wheat grains, I soaked them in warm milk in advance so that they would just swell by the time they were added to the minced meat.

Then you will need to clean all the fish from scales using a sharp knife or a special device for cleaning fish. Let's cut off her head and take out all the insides, being careful not to damage the gallbladder. The insides come out perfectly. We wash all parts of the fish and lightly beat the carcass so that the meat comes off the skin more easily.

By inserting a knife under the skin, we free it from the pulp and ridge. We will act very carefully, since any cut on the skin is an extra hole for the filling to come out. Using a knife, remove the pulp from the ridge and bones and add it to the container.

Chop the washed and peeled onions and garlic there.

Then wash and chop the lard.

Let's add all the spices.

Together with the soaked breadcrumbs, grind everything in a food processor or pass through a meat grinder several times. This way you will also get rid of unwanted bones in the minced meat if they accidentally got there.

Stuff the removed skin with the prepared filling, compacting it a little from the inside, but trying not to tear it under any circumstances! We sew the edges with culinary thread, since the toothpicks will not pierce the thick skin.

Place the pike carcass along with the head on a mold, which we first grease with vegetable oil. We also coat the carcass with butter to create a crust. Add the head and put the mold in the oven at 160-170C for 70-80 minutes, keeping an eye on the surface. Don't forget to make several punctures in the skin so that air escapes during baking and the pike does not tear.

Stuffed pike baked in the oven is ready. Garnish the king pike as desired and serve, cutting into portions.

Have a nice day!

Thanks to my father-in-law (an avid fisherman), a pike appeared in the house.

Pike ~ 600g, slice of loaf soaked in milk, 1 egg, ~ 30g. butter, 1 onion, salt, pepper, lemon juice.

I know that many people boil stuffed pike, but I decided to bake it. Let's get started.

Clean the fish, remove the gills and eyes. Lightly beat the carcass with a wooden spatula to make it easier to remove the skin. Make a cut under the head to the ridge, break it. You can simply cut off the head, which is what I did with the first fish. But I decided to tinker with the second one :) Remove the insides. Making cuts in a circle between the skin and meat, remove the skin with a stocking. To better preserve the skin, it is better to trim so that a small (1~2mm) layer of meat remains on the skin. Trim the meat near the fins so that the fins remain with the skin.

Break the ridge at the tail.

Separate the remaining meat from the skin.

Put the skin aside, remembering to turn it inside out :)

For minced meat:

Pass the meat, removed from the backbone and skin, with onions and bread three times through a meat grinder. Add softened butter, egg, salt and pepper. You can add some chopped green onions and grated carrots - for beauty on the cut.

Beat into a fluffy mass.

Fill the skin and head with this minced meat.

Do not fill it too tightly, otherwise the skin may burst during baking.

Cover a baking sheet with foil. Lay out a line of bay leaves on the foil and place the stuffed skin on them. Attach the head to the body (if cut off).

Lightly salt the pike on top and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Place the baking sheet in the oven for 1 hour at t=190°C.

All. We take out the pike, put it in a suitable dish (I don’t have one), decorate it, and rejoice - I did it! :))

Slice and...

Bon appetit!

A delicious, juicy beauty, baked whole in the oven, will be a wonderful decoration for the holiday table.

It's easy to prepare stuffed pike with lard. The main thing is to get it - catch it, buy it, or beg it from the person who caught it. And then everything is simple: peel, stuff and bake.

Prepare the necessary ingredients for cooking stuffed pike with lard in the oven.

Break the bread into 2-3 pieces and soak in kefir or milk.

Wash the pike and remove the gills, then remove the scales.

Cut off the head and remove the entrails without cutting the belly.

Now comes the most painstaking part: removing the skin. To do this, you need to use the sharp tip of a knife to disconnect it from the meat and slowly, slowly, cutting, move from the head to the tail. This must be done carefully so as not to cut or damage the skin. Otherwise, it will burst during stuffing or baking. When you get to the tail itself, you need to cut the ridge with a knife and turn the skin inside out.