If you are in the hands of an unfinished sterlet, consider that you are very lucky. For cooking, you can use all its parts, even the fins and tail. She has wonderful taste and is a delicacy. Cutting a sterlet is not so difficult, but there are several key points to consider.
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You will need
- -sterlet
- large knife with a thick blade
- - wide cutting board
- -colander
- -boiling water
Instruction manual
1
Rinse the fish, transfer to a large wooden board. Remove the head first. To do this, under the pectoral fins, make an incision along the oblique to the head and cut the cartilage. The pectoral fins are located almost next to the head.
2
From the head remove the eyes, cut the gills. Rinse your hair well. You need to use it for an hour, or immediately put it in the freezer. Gills need to be thrown away.
3
Remove large ossified scales on the side of the abdomen and on the sides of the carcass. You need to clean from tail to head. Then, free the sterlet’s back from sharp “spikes”, they are also called bugs. Direct the blade of the knife away from you and do not hold the bugs with your hands.
4
Cut the abdomen from the tail to the head. Gut the fish, remove the entrails.
5
Make a neat incision on the tail to the spine about a centimeter from the fin. No need to cut completely. Slowly rotate the tail around its axis and twist the screech, the lace located near the spinal column. This is the most important part of carving a sterlet. The screech must be removed all. If it breaks, make a cut above and remove the remainder with a thick needle. Put off the cut tail to the head.
6
Peel the fish off the skin. To do this, take the knife as when peeling potatoes, grab the peel in the tail and pull it towards you. It is removed simply as a cover. If you have difficulty removing the skin, scald the fish with boiling water.
7
Lay the fish in front of you with the back up and cut perpendicularly to its length into links 1.5–2 cm thick starting from the head.
8
Put the resulting pieces in a colander and pour over boiling water. This is necessary so that they retain their shape during further heat treatment. Scalping helps to avoid clots of protein on fish links.
9
From the cut parts of the sterlet you can cook a wonderful ear, casseroles, fry, bake or smoke. For preparing soups, the head, fins and tail are best suited.
note
It is strictly forbidden to use sterlet with a viziga.
Useful advice
If you want to cook the whole fish, with the head, the back bugs need to be removed after cooking, otherwise the fish may lose shape.