Chum salmon differs from trout and salmon in a lower fat content, but otherwise is quite similar to them: the same family, the same pulp structure, the same color. And by the presence of small bones, chum salmon will not make you regret choosing. You can cook it for the first and second. Soup from this fish turns out to be dietary, but with a rich taste (especially if you use the head, tail and fins - primordially "soup" fish parts). As a main course, it's nice to serve steaks or chum salmon fillets, but they bake it whole much less often, but it's not very clear why.
It is necessary
- - Chum salmon;
- - vegetables for soup;
- - vegetables for a side dish;
- - vegetable or butter;
- - flour;
- - salt, spices
- - lemon;
- - knives and scissors for cutting;
- - cutting board;
- - baking dish in the oven;
- - frying pan.
Instructions
Step 1
When buying chilled chum salmon, carefully examine it for freshness. Still, it happens that unscrupulous sellers slip stale goods. In the case of fish, purchasing it can be fraught with serious poisoning. Therefore, even in a fish store, listen to the smell: any hint of poor quality is a reason to refuse to buy. Next, inspect the scales: it should be moderately shiny and fit snugly to the carcass. Protruding bones and in places torn pulp indicate that this is not a chilled product, but a thawed one. And how many times he defrosted - no one will know. Frozen chum salmon in a number of outlets is even more preferable than chilled. For example, in a store with low traffic, it is not necessary to expect that the entire supply of fresh fish will be dismantled in a couple of days.
Step 2
Cut chum salmon depending on what you decided to cook from it. Put the heads freed from the gills and all other soup parts on the ear. Rinse them well and fill them with cold water. Bring to a boil, remove foam, salt. Cook until tender, then remove with a slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl and let cool slightly. Disassemble into pulp, being careful not to come across small bones. Put carrots, potatoes and onions into the broth with an interval of 5 minutes. Put the flesh of the chum salmon last, season with bay leaves and black peppercorns, if necessary, add a little salt. Cook until vegetables are ready, serve, sprinkle with chopped herbs.
Step 3
Chum salmon is really rarely cooked whole, but this does not mean at all that this cooking method is taboo. Cut the fish as in the previous version, but do not remove the head and tail, leave it not to the carcass. Prepare a baking sheet or a special roaster for fish, brush with oil. Rub the chum salmon with salt and white pepper, sprinkle with lemon juice, and put a few slices of this sour fruit inside. Bake in the oven, but try not to overexpose. A carcass weighing about a kilogram will last 20 minutes at 140-160 degrees. Longer cooking, as well as cooking at greater heat, is fraught with the fact that you overexpose the fish, it will either turn out dry or fall apart when served.
Step 4
Cut the peeled chum into steaks if you are going to fry in chunks. Season with salt and pepper, bread in flour, shake off the excess, fry in boiling oil, poured about 1 cm. When a light golden crust appears on the bottom edge of the steaks, turn the chum salmon. Keep on fire until tender, serve with boiled potatoes, vegetable puree or brown rice.
Step 5
If desired, cook chum steaks stewed in white wine sauce. All preliminary preparation of fish for this dish should be carried out as described above, except for breading in flour. In refined olive oil, fry each sprig of thyme and sage, add chopped shallots and a clove of garlic, pour in white wine, season with salt and pepper. Cook the sauce until half is left. Put the chum salmon in a refractory dish with sides, pour over the sauce, simmer on the gas or in the oven for about 6-7 minutes, then carefully turn the pieces over and keep on the fire for about the same. It is better to serve baked vegetables or grilled vegetables with stewed fish - eggplant, bell peppers, zucchini. A good option is to boil the asparagus. But here, too, it is extremely important to observe the temperature and time balance of cooking. Asparagus is always better to be slightly undercooked than overexposed on the fire.
Step 6
Fillet the chum salmon if you want to cook boneless pieces of fish. Leave or remove the skin is at your discretion. Usually, if you bake, it is better to cook fillets with skin, and if you fry in batter, you can remove it. For the correct fillet separation, place the carcass parallel to the edge of the table. Take a knife with a long, narrow blade and cut the fish almost to the very head. Feel the rib bone, turn the knife horizontally and use a sawing motion to move to the tail. Turn the chum over and do the same operation on the other side. You have two fillets, from which you need to remove the small bones. It is more convenient to do this with tweezers. Try to be careful not to damage or tear the fillets. Wash and pat dry, season with spices, and season. There may be options here, because you don't have to limit yourself to flour or breadcrumbs. For chum salmon, dried and ground garden herbs, walnut or hazelnut shavings, almond flour are suitable as breading. Fry breaded fillets as usual and serve with vegetable salad.
Step 7
Sometimes the fillet does not work, the pulp breaks. Dont be upset. Make wonderful fish zrazy out of it. To do this, pass the chum salmon through a meat grinder or punch with a blender along with onions, add a couple of eggs and a little breadcrumbs to the minced meat (if you stick to a healthy diet - bran), salt, mix very well. You should get a moderately thick minced meat without free liquid. Make the filling by mixing chopped boiled eggs with green onions. Make a flat cake out of minced fish, put the egg and onion mass and add a small piece of butter each, pinch the edges, bread in flour or breadcrumbs. Fry the zrazy in the same way as you would with cutlets. The best side dish is mashed potatoes and crispy pickle quarters.
