How quickly to defrost the fish before cooking?

After a working day, the landlady takes over the "second shift": she prepares dinner, erases, tidies up the apartment. Hungry moans are already heard from the room, and the woman can not decide how quickly to defrost the fish. Meat of water inhabitants is very exacting to the correct treatment, if you hurry and put it under a jet of hot water, for dinner the family will get an unpleasant, shapeless mess. Do you want the bird that has been lying in the fridge for a week to get freshness of freshly caught fish - hurry slowly.

How to choose a quality product?

The easiest way is not to thaw a carcass, but to buy a fresh product or live fish. Unfortunately, this option is not always available, and from the store we often bring a piece that hardness can compete with a stone or a block of ice in which an incomprehensible frozen creature can be seen. A delicious dish can be prepared only if it is properly thawed the pulp and immediately proceed to culinary creativity. Perhaps you will do everything as it should, and in the package instead of a delicious fillet will be an incomprehensible mash. This happens if the fish has already thawed, and then it was again frozen in the refrigerator.

Advice

Do not buy frozen fish from random sellers on the market. Tender meat of aquatic inhabitants requires that it be treated correctly. It is frozen on special equipment, the process must pass very quickly, then the pulp will retain its structure and useful qualities. Fishermen, fishing in the nearest pond, store their catch in a domestic refrigerator, where a completely different temperature regime.

When buying a large frozen carcass, think about how to prepare it. If you have a large family or there is a serious celebration, there will be no problems, everything will immediately go to the frying pan. When such a volume of food per day is not eaten, try to buy smaller fish or chopped slices. When you re-freeze in a home refrigerator, the pulp not only loses its useful properties, but also falls apart when the next cooking. Especially seriously it is necessary to concern to breeds with gentle meat.

Sellers can put on the counter not freshfrozen fish, and the carcass, which is unknown how many times thawed and again sent to the freezer. This can happen with breakdowns of freezing equipment, improper temperature in the refrigerator, and sometimes it is done specifically so that the pulp, lying in the water, absorbed it, and the weight of the goods increased. You can determine for yourself what's on the window.

The following features indicate that the goods are of high quality.

1. Smooth body of silvery color with no damage, dents and stains.
2. Gills are red or pink.
3. No smells of ammonia, rancid fat and other flavors not found in fresh fish.
4. A thin layer of ice glaze is allowed, which should be smooth and transparent, without lumps.

Advice

In order not to suffer from rapid thawing, think through the menu in advance and defrost the fish in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. For small pieces it will take about 6 hours, they will be ready for frying while you are at work or asleep.

Vagaries of frozen fish

Mammalian meat consists of interconnected fibers, so if the defrost is not properly defrosted, only taste and useful properties can be affected. That because of this piece of beef lost its shape and fell apart, you need to try very hard. The flesh of the aquatic inhabitants consists of plates that are loosely fastened together. Unintelligent handling of the product before cooking results in the fillet losing juice, deforming, becoming a shapeless mass.

When choosing the defrosting method, it must be taken into account that the most high-quality product will be obtained only when the fish thaws very slowly. If you wait for guests and want to feed them with a great dish, take care of it in advance. It is best to place the carcass on the lower shelf in the fridge on the eve. The fish will preserve the juice, will not absorb excess moisture, and the structure of its meat will not be disturbed. If the product requires cutting, treat it until it has thawed to the finish: it is much easier to clean and cut a lightly frozen carcass.

Board

To ensure that your hands do not freeze, wear woolen tops and rubber gloves on top of them.

Much depends on the breed of fish. The harder and coarser its meat, the longer it can be stored in the refrigerator and less affected by improper defrosting. If you do not want to tire yourself with careful preparation of the product before cooking, buy cheap pollock, it's not so pitiful to spoil it, like an expensive trout. If you are going to grind the fillet for minced meat for cutlets, the safety of the structure also does not play a big role.

Methods of defrosting fish

If the type and taste of food does not matter to you, you value your time higher than the quality of the dish, you can not unfreeze the fish fillets. Put the pieces in a frying pan with preheated oil, cover with a lid, as the water will evaporate with strong sprays, and fry until done. In a similar way, you can cook only semi-finished products, with an uncleaned fish, it is only permissible to handle it if you want to eat it with fins, scales and guts.

When deciding how to unfreeze the fish, choose one of the options:

• in the microwave;
• in cold water;
• in the steamer;
• with a hairdryer.

Each of the ways has its pros and cons and is suitable for a specific situation. When choosing a method of thawing, you need to consider both the fish species, the size of the chunk, and the recipe for further preparation.

In the microwave it is possible to unfrozen small rocks or a pre-cut carcass. Place the product in a special container, put the program "defrosting".Do not forget to change the pieces from time to time, otherwise the slices will be almost hot, and others will be icy. It will not take half an hour, as you put the juicy fillet in a frying pan.

When defrosting in a "wet" way, try not to put the carcass in the water. If you just throw it in a pot of liquid, the meat will absorb moisture and become watery. Pack the fish in a plastic bag, put it in the sink, half-close the drain hole and open the cold tap. If the water meter is installed in the apartment, and you like to save, fill the sink with cold water, from time to time release the liquid and fill the sink again. The process will take about an hour, but you can sprinkle the salt on the fish, then it will sweat faster. If, even with this method, you are afraid that you pay too much for the water, place the bag with the fillet in a saucepan and from time to time change the liquid. Money will go less, but more time.

When it's hot outside, you can put the fish in a bowl, cover it from flies and leave it in a warm place. In winter, you can put around the battery, but still the process will take almost the whole day. The fact is that the air conducts heat poorly, around the carcass formed a cold atmosphere. To accelerate thawing, you need to create a circulation of air currents. You can try to apply the device, which is in the nightstand for every woman, - a hair dryer. Set the average temperature and blow the open bag with fish from a distance of about 20 cm. If you correctly guide the air stream, you can start preparing the dish after about half an hour. Some housewives warm the oven to a low temperature, turn off the heat and put the carcass for defrosting.

Advice

Frozen fish before cooking put in milk, after 15 minutes you can start cooking. With this treatment, the taste improves, and the pulp becomes tender.

If you want to cook a steam dish, place the fillet in a steamer or on a special stand in the multivark, turn on the weakest mode and process the pieces until defrosting, this will take no more than 20 minutes. Fish does not come into contact with water and does not lose useful properties. When the semi-finished product is rolled back, turn on the necessary program, and very soon you can invite the family to the table.

There is no ideal way to properly defrost fish, try to master all methods and apply them in the right situation. If you come to your guests real gourmets, do not be lazy to go to a specialized store and buy live fish from the aquarium. To prepare an ordinary dinner, a frozen carcass will also suit, experienced cooks can cook a thawed hake so that guests do not distinguish it from delicacies. You can learn only in practice, try different methods, and soon the question of how to unfreeze fish will not be a difficult problem for you.

Read the article on how to clean the carp