It seems that there is nothing easier than the process of cooking fried fish. However, not all so simple. Even an experienced housewife sometimes fails to make delicious and appetizing fried fish. Most often, when cooking this dish, cooks face such a problem - the fish is falling apart. Why is this happening and how to cope with it?
Why does a fish fall apart when frying
There are several reasons for fish to fall apart during the roasting process. It is necessary to disassemble each in more detail:
- Most often, the fish that has been subjected to multiple freezing falls apart. Usually there is a lot of ice on such fish. It also has a dull skin that can be deformed. Carcasses stuck together with one another also indicate that the fish had repeatedly thawed and frozen again. It is better not to buy such fish, and if bought, cook it in foil or process it into mincemeat.
- Inadequate frying temperature is another reason for fish decay during frying.
- Moving and turning fish too often causes it to become loose.
- Some fish varieties fall apart during frying in any case due to the peculiarities of the meat structure. For example, cod refers to such fish. Even if the cod is caught a couple of hours ago, during frying it will still break into pieces.
How to properly fry a fish so that it does not fall apart into pieces
Preparing fish for frying
- To keep the pieces of fish their shape during frying, they should be sprinkled with salt and left in this form for 15-20 minutes. Also, fish meat will not be so loose if you soak the frozen fish carcass in a salt solution for a couple of hours. The solution should be prepared on the basis of the following proportions: 1 tablespoon of salt per 1 liter of water at room temperature. After this manipulation, cook the fish, as indicated by the recipe, just eliminate the addition of salt.
- The hostess advises the frozen fish not to be completely thawed. Ice that is present on the fish should melt completely, but its fillets should be frost-bitten. Following this trick increases the likelihood that the fish will not fall apart during frying.
- It is recommended to hold sturgeon fish before frying in hot water for about 3 minutes and then rinse with cold water.
- It is very important to pay attention to the breading. Due to the breading, the fish does not stick to the pan, which means that there is less chance to deform its pieces. The easiest way to roll sliced pieces of fish in flour. By the way, in order not to scatter flour throughout the room, you can pour it into a bag and put pieces of fish there. You just need to shake the bag, and the fish is already in the flour. Instead of flour, you can use crackers. Crackers should be crushed thoroughly - their structure should resemble flour. If desired, spices can also be added to the flour and bread crumbs.
- You can fry fish not in breading, but in batter. The advantage of the batter is that it preserves the juiciness of the product, in this case fish. A batter can be prepared in various ways. Here is the easiest: 2 chicken eggs mix with a fork, then gradually add flour to them. Flour can take both wheat and oatmeal and rice. In the mixture add a little salt with pepper. As a result, you should have a mass that is similar in texture to thick sour cream.
Technology of cooking fried fish
In order for the fish not to fall apart during frying, you must also follow the technology of its preparation:
- First you need to warm up the pan well. After the pan has heated, add vegetable oil to it. For aroma, a small amount of butter is added to vegetable oil. Pay attention: there should be enough oil in the pan so that the pieces of fish are half full. Due to this, the fish appears golden brown. By the way, if you do not want to lose the crisp, do not cover the dish with a lid.
- Place the pieces of fish on a red-hot frying pan and fry them for the first 5-7 minutes, without turning, over medium heat. Once a golden crust is formed, the fish should be gently turned over to the other side and fry for about 3-5 minutes. If this time is not enough, fry the fish longer. On average, a fish roast takes 3 to 10 minutes per side.