Giant Danio Fish

Preparations before cooking

Posted in
08:07
Preparing your seafood for cooking is essential for creating a fine dish to be served. But how?
Here are some steps to do to prepare your seafood for cooking:

 Fish:
Removing the fish's scales is essential unless you are gonna fillet the fish or remove its skin. Steps to Removing Its Scales :

 Step one - Rinse your fish under cold running water, this will help loosen the scales of the fish.
Step two - Place fish on top of several sheets of newspaper. This is done as when scaling the fish , its scales will drop onto the newspaper , thus allowing a easier clean up later.

 Step three - Hold the fish firmly by its tail, with the blunt edge of the knife, scrape away its scales starting from its tail end to its head.
Step four - Rinse fish under running water to get rid of any scales that had not fallen onto the newspaper.

 Step five - Turn over to the other side and repeat steps three and four.

 Step six - Ensure all scales are removed by running your finger against the grain of the fish.

 Tip: To ensure the moist and juiciness of fish, remove its scales however leave the skin on while cooking, this is as most of the moisture and flavor is found within the skin of the fish. If skin were to be removed, you could find that fish had dried out quite a lot and turns somewhat flavorless, particularly when grilling or baking it.

 Removal of the guts if cooking the fish whole, cannot be avoided! If the internal organs were left inside the fish, it would ruin the taste and flavor of the fish and could leave your tummy upset. Steps to Removing Internal Organs :

 Step one - Using a sharp knife, slit open the abdomen of the fish. Start just behind the gills to just above the tail.
Step two - Scrape out the internal organs and discard them onto old newspaper, wrap the entrails before throwing them away.

 Step three - To save water,wash the fish in half-filled basin of cold water to clean and remove any traces of blood, instead of under a running tap.

 Step four - Rub the inside of the fish with a little salt. This is to help get rid of the smell , before using or storing fish.
Step five - The inside of the fish should now be empty and ready be stored or cooked!
Tip : Cook the fish while it's still fresh! Frozen fish should be cooked and eaten within a few days. Once thawed , fish should not be frozen again as the quality of fish has deteriorated.(worsen)

 Not all fish needs to be skinned , but if you want to do so , here are the steps.
Steps to skinning fish :

 Step one - Make a cut with a sharp knife across the skin of the fish, just below the head. 

Step two - Loosen the skin with your fingers and then pull it down towards the tail in one big strip.
Step three - Cut the skin off with the knife.

Step four - Repeat steps one, two, three for the other side.

 If you do not want to cook your fish whole, filleting your fish can be the next alternative! Steps to Fillet a Fish : 
                                                                                      *step 1
Step one - Place scaled fish on a chopping board. Using a pair of scissors, trim off the fins by the head on each side and  any fins that runs along the top and the underside of the fish.
*Step 2
Step two - Using the tip of your knife, pierce the stomach of your fish using the small hole by its tail as a guide. Run the knife from the tail towards the head, cutting open the stomach. Clean out the contents of the stomach and rinse the fish in cold running water.(removing internal organs)

Step three -Place fish back onto chopping board and make a long cut around the head, just below the gills on both sides. (remove the head)                                            *Step 3 ->
Step four -With the tail facing toward you, run the knife down the spine to the tail in a gentle slicing (no sawing action), working the blade between the spine and the flesh. Repeat until the fillet begins to come away - lift the fillet to check your progress.
^^Step5*
Step five - When you reach the rib bones, allow knife to follow shape of fish and slice over the bones. Once removed the fillet, place aside.

 Step six - Flip fish and repeat steps four and five with the second fillet, this time starting at the tail and working towards the head.

 Shellfish : 

 All shellfish should be cleaned throughly before actually cooking it.Things to do :

 -Scrub clean any hard outer shell
or Remove any hard outer shell before cooking (your choice)



 How to prepare molluscs :

 Step one - Scrub molluscs clean

 Step two - Allow molluscs to soak in a clean, salted water bath.This allows the living molluscs to get rid of any mud or sand when shell is opened in clean water. 


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