What is the best way to defrost a fish in order to cook it quickly and tasty?

After a working day, the hostess enters the “second shift”: prepares dinner, erases, tidies the apartment. Hungry moans are already heard from the room, and the woman still cannot decide how to quickly defrost the fish. The meat of aquatic inhabitants is very demanding for proper processing, if you hurry and put it under a stream of hot water, for dinner the family will receive a tasteless shapeless mess. If you want the carcass, which has been lying in the refrigerator for a week, to acquire the freshness of the freshly caught fish - hurry up slowly.

How to choose a quality product?

The easiest way is not to defrost the 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 can be hard to argue with a stone, or a block of ice, in which you see an incomprehensible frozen creature. A delicious dish can be prepared only if you properly defrost the pulp and immediately start cooking. Perhaps you will do everything as you need, but instead of a delicious fillet, the package will contain an incomprehensible mess. This happens if the fish has already thawed, and then it was again frozen in the refrigerator.

Tip

Do not buy frozen fish from random sellers in the market. The tender meat of aquatic creatures requires that it be handled correctly. It is frozen on special equipment, the process should go 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 the temperature is completely different.

When buying a large frozen carcass, think about how you are going to cook it. If you have a large family or a serious celebration is planned, there will be no problems, everything will go to the pan right away. When you do not eat such a volume of food per day, try to buy smaller fish or sliced. When re-frozen in a home refrigerator, the pulp not only loses its useful properties, but also falls apart when the next preparation is made. Especially seriously you need to treat breeds with tender meat.

Sellers can put on the counter not fresh-frozen fish, but a carcass, which is unknown how many times it thawed and again went to the freezer. This can happen if the freezing equipment breaks down, the temperature in the refrigerator is not right, and sometimes it is done on purpose so that the pulp, lying in the water, will absorb it, and the weight of the goods will increase. You can determine for yourself what is laid out on the window.

The following signs indicate that the product is of high quality.

1. Smooth carcass of silver color without damage, dents or stains.
2. Gills are red or pink.
3. Lack of odors of ammonia, rancid fat and other aromas not peculiar to fresh fish.
4. A thin layer of icing is allowed, which should be even and transparent, without lumps.

Tip

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

The vagaries of frozen fish

The meat of mammals consists of interconnected fibers, therefore, if improperly thawed, only taste and beneficial properties can suffer. That because of this a piece of beef lost its shape and fell apart, you need to try very hard. The pulp of aquatic inhabitants consists of plates loosely bonded to each other.Inadequate handling of the product before cooking leads to the fact that the fillet loses juice, is deformed, turns into a shapeless mass.

When choosing a method of defrosting, one must take into account that the best quality product will be obtained only when the fish thaws very slowly. If you are waiting for guests and want to feed them a magnificent dish, take care of this in advance. It’s best to place the carcass on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator the day before. The fish will retain juice, does not absorb excess moisture, and the structure of its meat will not be disturbed. If the product requires cutting, start processing until it has thawed to the end: cleaning and cutting a slightly iced carcass is much easier.

Tip

To prevent hands from freezing during this work, put on wool and rubber gloves over them.

Much depends on the breed of fish. The tougher and coarser its meat, the longer it can be stored in the refrigerator and will suffer less if improperly defrosted. If you do not want to bore yourself with thorough preparation of the product before frying, buy cheap pollock, it is not so pathetic to spoil it, like 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 much to you, you value your time higher than the quality of the dish, you can not defrost the fish fillet. Put the slices in a frying pan with heated oil, cover with a lid, as the water will evaporate with strong splashes, and fry until cooked. In this way, only semi-finished products can be cooked, uncleaned fish can only be handled this way when you want to eat it with fins, scales and intestines.

When deciding how to defrost a fish, select one of the options:

• in the microwave;
• in cold water;
• in a double boiler;
• with a hairdryer.

Each of the methods has its pros and cons and is suitable for a specific situation. When choosing a thawing method, one must take into account the breed of fish, the size of the piece, and the recipe for further preparation.

Small breeds or pre-chopped carcasses can be thawed in the microwave. Place the product in a special container, put the program “defrost”. Do not forget from time to time to swap pieces, otherwise some slices will be almost hot, and others still icy. In less than half an hour, you put the juicy fillet in a skillet.

When defrosting in a “wet” way, try to prevent the carcass from lying directly 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 faucet. If a water meter is installed in the apartment, but you like to save money, fill the sink with cold water, from time to time release the liquid and refill the sink. The process will take about an hour, but you can sprinkle the fish with salt, then it thaws faster. If even with this method you are afraid that you will pay too much for water, put the bag of fillets in a saucepan and change the liquid from time to time. It will take less money, and more time.

When the weather is hot outside, you can put the fish in a bowl, cover from flies and leave it in a warm place. In winter, you can put it near the battery, but still the process will take almost the whole day. The fact is that the air does not conduct heat well, a cold atmosphere forms around the carcass. To accelerate thawing, it is necessary to create a circulation of air currents. You can try to use the device in each woman’s nightstand - a hairdryer. Set the average temperature and blow the open bag of fish from a distance of about 20 cm. If you correctly direct the air stream, after about half an hour you can start cooking. Some housewives preheat the oven to a low temperature, turn off the heat and place the carcass for defrosting there.

Tip

Before cooking, put the thawed fish in milk, after 15 minutes you can start cooking. With this treatment, the taste improves and the flesh becomes tender.

If you want to cook a steam dish, put the fillet in a double boiler or on a special stand in the slow cooker, turn on the weakest mode and process the pieces until thawed, it will take no more than 20 minutes. The fish does not come in contact with water and does not lose its beneficial properties. When the semi-finished product thaws, turn on the necessary program, and very soon you can invite the family to the table.

There is no ideal way to properly defrost a fish; try to master all the methods and apply them in the right situation. If real gourmets come to visit you, do not be too lazy to go to a specialty store and buy live fish from the aquarium. Frozen carcass is also suitable for preparing a usual dinner, experienced chefs can cook a thawed hake so that guests can not distinguish it from gourmet breeds. You can only learn in practice, try different methods, and soon the question of how to unfreeze fish will not be a difficult problem for you.

Check out the article on how to clean carp