How to remove black skin from a flounder. Recommendations for cleaning flounder

This type of sea fish is one of the most popular and most bought today, because such a seafood has an excellent taste. However, if the fish is not cooked correctly, then the dish can be bitter and have an unpleasant specific smell, which is why we offer you a detailed article to help you, which describes step by step how to fry flounder in a pan. In fact, frying a marine life is not difficult and takes very little time, but without special knowledge regarding cleaning and frying a carcass, a tasty treat cannot be made.

How to clean a flounder correctly

Before we start frying the fish, we need to prepare it well, that is, clean it of everything superfluous. The flounder has a two-sided color: on the one hand - white, on the other - black. It is in the dark side of the carcass that bitterness is contained, which can ruin the whole dish if the black film is not removed. However, bitterness in a dark skin occurs when the fish is an adult or has already been frozen many times.

If you use a fresh young carcass, then it will not be bitter, even if you do not free it from the black film. In general, in order to prevent the manifestation of all unpleasant tastes and the specific smell of fish, it is enough to clean it correctly. Below is a step by step guide on how to do it quickly at home.

Rules for cleaning flounder at home

We wash the carcass under running water.
We begin to gut the washed fish (we use a knife and scissors for this):

we cut off the head with a kitchen knife, making a C-shaped cutout on the carcass, that is, a neat semicircle should be obtained in place of the head;
using scissors, remove all fins (lateral, upper, tail), but be careful, because they are quite sharp;
then proceed to cleaning the carcass from the insides. To do this, we put the fish with a light side to the top (this will help us see where the insides end) and gradually begin to get the tripe through the “head”. You can also clean through the side hole, only for this you have to cut the carcass on the side;
We remove the black skin from any convenient side, prying the skin with a knife. If the skin is difficult to remove, then cut it with a knife along with a small layer of meat;
we scrape off the scales against the direction of its growth, so it will be faster and easier to clean the seafood;
do not forget to remove small spikes from the fish, especially a lot of them on the dark side of the carcass;
Finally, we wash the cut fish in water, carefully wipe its entire surface with our fingers so that the remnants of cleaning are washed off. But be careful not to hurt yourself on the bone.

How delicious to fry flounder in a pan

Ingredients

Flounder fresh or frozen- 3 pcs. + -
- taste + -
- 2 pcs. + -
— 2 pinches or to taste + -
- not necessary + -
— on the tip of a knife or to taste + -
- for frying + -

Cooking flounder in a pan in pieces

Having figured out how to properly clean the flounder, you can proceed directly to its frying. Since we have removed everything unnecessary from the fish, you can be absolutely sure that the dish will turn out without bitterness and without smell. Rather, the smell will be, but not the initially unpleasant, but fragrant and fragrant, from which the head will go round. According to this recipe, we will fry the flounder in a pan in pieces, seasoning them to taste with your favorite spices.

When we clean the fish, cut it into pieces, rinse them under running water, transfer the liquid to a colander to drain.

If you use a frozen carcass for frying, then do not forget to let it thaw before cleaning. There are two ways to defrost fish: either at room temperature, or transfer it from the freezer to the top / middle shelf for slow defrosting in advance. It is impossible to freeze and defrost fish several times, this affects not only the taste, but also the quality of the product.

Whisk the eggs with a whisk.
Salt, pepper the fish pieces, sprinkle with lemon or lime juice (but this is not necessary).
We dip the fish parts in turn into the egg batter, after which we roll them in a plate with flour (or in breadcrumbs). Then again we put the fish in a batter, after - again in flour. Thus, we bread the sea fish twice.
We heat the frying pan in vegetable oil, put the fish parts chopped and rolled in flour (breadcrumbs) into it, cover them with a lid and fry for 5 minutes until browned. All this time, cook the fish on medium heat.
After 5 minutes, with a spatula, turn the pieces over to the other side and continue to cook them for the same amount, but under an open lid.

This completes the simple cooking of fried flounder in a pan. Ready-made fish can be served with winter preserves, mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables, salads or cereals.

Watch our video from the chef - how to fry flounder in a pan

Another step-by-step recipe with a photo of frying flounder in a pan involves adding hot spices to the dish. After such preparation, we will get delicious, albeit spicy, sirloin parts, which will be an excellent addition to many appetizers and main courses. Frying spicy flounder in a pan is no different from the first recipe, except for the stage of marinating the finished fried fillet.

Ingredients

Flounder fillet - 400 g;
Vegetable oil - for frying;
Onions - 2 pcs.;
Salt - to taste;
Black and red ground pepper - to taste;
Mayonnaise - 125 g;
Wheat flour - for breading.

How to deliciously fry flounder fillet without smell

We cut (along) each fillet in half, breading the parts in flour mixed with salt and black pepper.
We spread the fillet pieces, rolled in flour, into a hot frying pan, fry them over medium heat on both sides until the sides of the fish are reddened.
On one side, grease the fried halves of the fish fillet with mayonnaise, stirred with hot red pepper.
Put finely chopped onion on top of the fish and cover one half with the other so that the spicy mayonnaise sauce and chopped onion are in the middle.
In this form, we leave the fish for half an hour so that it is thoroughly soaked, after which we serve fragrant fish parts with a side dish to the table.

If you come across medium-sized carcasses, try frying the whole flounder. The cooking technology is classic: fish cleaning, breading, roasting over a fire until golden brown.

Secrets of delicious fried flounder

To prevent the fish from falling apart when frying, always cook it only in a hot frying pan. Wait until the pan begins to "hiss" and splash with oil (but do not bring it to a boil), then lay your pieces, fillets or the whole carcass. As a rule, on average, it takes about 5 minutes to heat up the pan, but the time for each housewife may vary, depending on the type of pan and the thickness of its bottom.
Before frying, it is strongly recommended that the fish be breaded (2 or even 3 times) and dipped in batter.
You do not need to fry the fish for long, because the meat is tender and runs the risk of overcooking. Any experienced housewife knows how much time is optimal for frying flounder: 5-7 minutes on both sides under an open lid over medium heat is enough.
To make the fish fragrant and acquire an even more original taste, tender meat can be rubbed with garlic before breading and sprinkled with lemon juice, and then left to marinate for a while. It is also recommended to use spices at your discretion. Suitable for dressing: Provencal herbs, nutmeg, oregano, thyme, basil, marjoram, thyme, celery, etc.

There are quite a few options on how to fry flounder in a pan, and any of them will definitely give you a tender, juicy dish with excellent taste and smell. Do not forget to use our simple recommendations on how to properly clean and how many minutes to fry the fish until cooked, and then the success of your culinary venture is inevitable.

Enjoy your meal!

Flounder is a fish with tender white meat, the taste of which is loved by many. But before starting a detailed story about how to clean flounder fish and whether it should be done at all, I would like to say a few words about its beneficial properties. Just want to note that the flounder contains very little fat - about 3%. And this means that it is the best fit for diet food.

This fish can easily be eaten without harming a weakened body, or during various diets. The calorie content of flounder is only 83 kcal per 100 g of product. In addition, this fish is rich in vitamins A, B, E, pantothenic and nicotinic acid, riboflavin, pyridoxine and thiamine. It is also known that flounder meat is a powerful aphrodisiac.

As for the content of minerals in fish, it is very diverse. Flounder contains phosphorus salts, which make strong bones, teeth, hair and nails, and also give a healthy color to the skin. Fish also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which prevent the development of cancer and help cure bronchitis, iodine, which helps with thyroid diseases, and amino acids, which help reduce blood cholesterol levels.

Many housewives are wondering if it is necessary to clean the flounder at all? Perhaps cleaning this fish is not so common. You just need to remove the skin from it. To do this, you need a knife and a cutting board. To begin with, the fish must be washed under a stream of slightly warm water and cut off its fins, while the scales do not need to be cleaned. Next, you need to make a cut along one side of the fish. The incision must be carefully pry off and gradually remove the skin from the tail to the head. If it is not possible to remove the skin completely, the head can be cut off. I would like to note that if the flounder is small, then you can fry it in the skin. But at the same time there will be a specific sea smell, which not everyone likes.

How to clean a flounder to get a fillet?

Many recipes use fish fillets. Therefore, many will be interested in how to properly clean the flounder in order to get a beautiful whole fillet. So, to cook a fish fillet, you need to do the following. Wash it well and place it on a cutting board with the head facing away from you. First you need to make a V-shaped incision at the head, and then a vertical incision along the entire back. Next, you need to pry a cut near the head with a knife and go to the bottom, thus separating one half of the fillet. The second half of the fish is also separated, and then the head is cut off and the spinal bone is removed.

cooking fish

to make boiled fish tastier, you can put quite a bit of dill in the broth;
during frying, it is best to put the fish down with the dark side;
to make the stewed flounder appetizing, you can put a few tablespoons of mayonnaise during cooking.

And for those who have already learned how to clean flounder, but have never cooked this appetizing fish or just don’t know what to cook for dinner, we offer a simple recipe.

Flounder baked with tomatoes

Flounder is a marine fish, which is distinguished by an unusual carcass shape. This scares off some housewives who find flounder difficult to clean and cook. In fact, it is even easier to process this fish than the varieties we are used to, and how many delicious dishes you can cook from it ... So we offer you to master the simple technology of cleaning flounder, and as a reward for this achievement we will give some interesting recipes.

Preliminary preparation

First of all, the flounder is washed. If the carcass has not been gutted before, then all the insides are removed from it, after which they are washed again with water. Next, cut off all the fins with a sharp knife.

Skin removal

The scales of the flounder are not cleaned; instead, the skin is removed from it. To do this, the fish is laid on, a long, but not deep cut is made along one side, the skin is pryed off with a knife in the tail area, and then, acting with the thumb, separate it from the meat, moving towards the head. When the fragment of the separated skin is large enough, it is grasped with the right hand, the carcass is pressed against the board with the left and the skin is completely torn off. This procedure ends with the separation of the head.

By the way, the skin from the flounder is not always removed. Sometimes, when the carcass is too small, the fish is fried just like that. True, not everyone likes the specific sea smell, which in this case acquires a finished dish. For those who are not afraid of this, we will explain how to prepare the flounder for frying along with the skin. Place the fish on a cutting board with the tail facing you. An incision is made in the shape of the letter V in the head area. Then, moving from the head to the tail, an incision is made along the back, gradually deepening it, both halves of the fillet are separated, the ridge is removed, and the head is cut off.

As you can see, cleaning the flounder and its further processing does not present any great difficulties, so you should not be afraid of this. And now, a few promised recipes.

Baked flounder with tomatoes

One of the methods described above is cleaned, and then a pound of flounder is divided into pieces. Each portion is sprinkled with lemon juice, placed in a deep plate, covered and put in the refrigerator for 3 hours, allowing to marinate. During this time, tomatoes are prepared: 5 fruits are poured over with boiling water, the skin is removed, the peeled pulp is cut into cubes. Next, grease the baking dish with oil, put the fish on the bottom, and the tomatoes on top. All this is put on the middle shelf of the oven, baked for half an hour at 180 degrees. When serving, flounder with tomatoes is decorated with lemon rings.

Stuffed flounder

Until cooked, boil 3 peeled potato tubers, grind them to a puree consistency, add the yolk of 1 egg, a tablespoon of butter, add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Finely chop 100 g of boiled crab meat, spread it to mashed potatoes, mix everything thoroughly.

200 g of bacon are cut into strips, flounder fillet is laid on them - 1 piece into 2 strips. Such blanks are carefully covered with previously prepared mashed potatoes, rolled all this into rolls, and placed in a baking dish. The dish is prepared for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, after which a handful of seedless grapes are scattered over the surface of the dish, the form is returned to the oven for 5 minutes, after which the finished fish is laid out on plates and served.

Flounder with carrots

Peel 4 carrots, cut them into strips, combine with chopped parsley, add a teaspoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. All this is mixed, the resulting mass is placed on the bottom of a greased baking dish, covered with waxed paper, put in the microwave, turned on at full power, setting the timer for 5 minutes. After half the time, the operation of the furnace is stopped, the contents of the mold are mixed, after which the process is started again. Next, the flounder fillet is prepared, carrots with greens are placed in the center of each piece, the corners are folded to the center. Mustard is added to a teaspoon of honey on the tip of a knife, the sauce is mixed until smooth, greased with fish preparations, which are placed in the same form, again covered with waxed paper and baked for 2 minutes at full power. Then the fillets are turned over and cooked for another 1-3 minutes, depending on their size. Ready flounder with carrots is kept under paper for about 2 minutes, then laid out on plates and served without wasting time.

Fried flounder with chili

Half a kilo of flounder is cut into strips, rolled in flour, dipped in a beaten egg, sprinkled with coconut flakes. Pour a lot of vegetable oil into the pan, heat it strongly over high heat, fry the fish until cooked, transfer it to paper towels, wrap it up to keep the heat longer. In another pan, in a small amount of oil with a teaspoon of chili powder, fry chopped ginger root and 1 clove of garlic. After 2 minutes, add tomato paste, soy sauce, lemon juice - 2 tbsp of each ingredient. spoons, and also make a teaspoon of brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste. The sauce is kept on fire for another 3 minutes, they are poured over the finished fish and served on the table, garnished with sprigs of greens.

Cooked flounder has a tender juicy white meat, as well as a great taste. In addition, this fish has one important property - a small amount of bones, which is very convenient when eating.

Flounder meat contains 20% of proteins with a balanced composition of amino acids necessary for the human body, as well as: - vitamins A, B and E, - phosphorus, - iodine, - fatty acids. Regular consumption of flounder brings invaluable benefits to a person, however, in order to get the maximum of valuable substances from it, the fish must be properly processed and cleaned.

Primary processing of flounder

Primary processing is the defrosting of the flounder, which is often done incorrectly and leads to a deterioration in the taste of the fish. Also, the primary processing includes the separation of inedible parts and the cleaning of the flounder from the insides.

To properly defrost the flounder, you need to fill it with several liters of cold water, adding 15 grams of salt to it. With traditional defrosting, the fish loses about 8% of useful trace elements, while the salted solution minimizes this loss. Depending on its size, flounder can thaw from 2 to 4 hours.

Frozen flounder fillets must be thawed exclusively without water and at room temperature in order to preserve the nutrients of the product

When defrosting at home, do not beat the flounder and do not carry out any other “violent” manipulations with it, otherwise the product will lose a lot of natural juice, which contains a large amount of vitamins.

We clean the flounder correctly

To clean the flounder from scales and entrails correctly, put the defrosted fish with black skin up. Separate the head with an oblique cut and make an incision with a sharp knife along the fish to the very tail, ripping the belly of the flounder. To remove the entrails and scale from the underside, slide your thumb between the meat and the upper skin of the flounder, carefully separate the skin from the tail and clean the vertebrae of blood. Remove the fins and rinse the flounder under cold running water.

Many people neglect such marine fish as flounder. And very in vain! Its meat is considered a delicacy, similar in taste to chicken. Protein is easily digestible, contains minerals and vitamins useful for the body. But most importantly, flounder is a low-calorie product. It is ideal for people who watch their figure.

Despite such usefulness, flounder is rarely found on the table. Because of her unusual appearance, the housewives do not know how to clean her. There is nothing special or complicated about this. Thanks to this article, you will learn how to butcher fish.

How to clean a flounder - carcass preparation

If you did not catch the flounder yourself, but bought it in a store, then it is already gutted. It is necessary to defrost fish in a natural way. Leave it in the bag and put it in the refrigerator.
To speed up the melting process, you can use a little trick. Fill the container with cold water, dissolve the salt in it. Add it at the rate of 1 kg of meat - 1 teaspoon of spice. Completely immerse the product in water and wait for it to completely defrost.

Important! Do not use warm and, especially, hot water to prepare the flounder. It will destroy the protein, make the meat flabby and lose its important qualities, and spoil the taste.

Wash the carcass, which is completely thawed, under running water. Clean it well of mucus, plants and sand.
Since it is very difficult to clean the scales from the flounder, just cut it off.

How to clean a flounder - milling

In most cases, the carcass is first milled, and then cooked. This cutting option involves cooking flounder in small pieces.

Pat the washed fish dry with paper towels. Cut off the fins with a knife. If there are gills, then pull them out.

Advice. Use a milling knife that should be sharp. With it, it will be much more convenient for you to cut meat.

Make a cut across the tail fin. At the same time, do not cut it off completely, but only cut it to the ridge.

Insert the knife under the skin and move it towards the head as shown in the picture. Try to move the knife along the ridge so as not to damage the meat.

Start to gradually separate the meat from the skeleton. Start cutting it from where you inserted the knife.

Hold the fish on top with one hand, cut the fillet with the other. Move towards the head. It is important not to rush, otherwise you can tear the meat.

Cut the fillet off the head and cut around the stomach. Here's what you should get.

Flip the fish over to the light side, and repeat all previous filleting steps.

Fins and muscles from them will remain on the second part of the meat. Trim the edges, they are unsuitable for cooking.

If you want to cook flounder without skin, then it must be removed. Place the fillet on a table or cutting board, meat side up. Pry the skin slightly with a knife, position it perpendicular to the fillet and move towards the head. Hold the meat with your other hand.

You can cut the finished fillet into pieces or cook as a whole.

How to clean a flounder - skinning

Some dishes require whole fish to be cooked. If you do not like the specific smell that the skin gives to the meat, then remove it.

Rinse the flounder as well, dry it from moisture. This will keep your hands from slipping while you work.

Lay the fish on the table with the dark side towards you. Make an incision at the caudal fin, insert your finger into it, then tear off the skin towards the head.

Hold the carcass with your other hand. Remove all the skin on one side of the carcass in this way. Repeat these steps on the white part of the flounder, if necessary.

Cut off the head and stomach. The fish is ready for further cooking.

Since the structure of this type of fish is different from most others, it is necessary to cut off the head and gut it last. When you take out the stomach, try not to hurt the gallbladder. It can completely ruin the taste.
It is easy to remove the skin from fresh fish. Therefore, do not postpone this process for a long time. Even if you want to freeze meat, first remove the skin, and then send it to the freezer.
To remove the specific fishy smell, put the flounder in milk for 15-20 minutes. This will make the meat more tender and palatable.
When the skin is still dry and difficult to clean, wet it and leave it for 10 minutes. Then get to work.

Do not refuse to buy such useful fish as flounder. If you follow the recommendations and tips in the article, you will quickly clean the fish and enjoy its unusual taste. Enjoy your meal!

There is another way to quickly clean the flounder and cut it into steaks. Watch it on video: