What is the best way to clean perch. How to quickly clean a perch from scales with boiling water and other methods? Removal of scales along with skin

If a young hostess decides to cook a perch dish, her idea can end in failure. The scales of this fish are removed with great difficulty, therefore it often clogs the entire kitchen, and the fins injure the hands. What to do - refuse tasty and healthy dish? No, just remember how to quickly scale a perch.

Historians claim that the perch was a frequent guest on the table of our ancestors. Since then, nothing has changed, because dishes from this fish are very tasty and nutritious, they are called real dietary delicacies. However, due to the difficulty of cleaning, the preparation of these inhabitants of the reservoirs can seem too troublesome. But don't professional chefs really know how to quickly clean a perch from scales? Of course, they have this skill, and everyone can learn from their experience.

We clean perch without problems

Many housewives are pleasantly surprised that there are many easy ways to make river fish part with scales. But whichever one you choose, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is worth familiarizing yourself with all the secrets of completing this culinary task.

Knitted gloves should be worn before cleaning perch to avoid slipping, getting dirty and injuring the hands. Also, you should first cut off the sharp fins and separate the head of the fish.

Use of kitchen utensils

Nowadays, shops are filled with wonders of technology. Technological progress has not bypassed those who like to cook dishes from perch. To remove scales from this inhabitant of a river or sea will help:

  • special scissors or scrapers;
  • kitchen board with clip.

Fix the fish on the board and feel free to use the cleaner or - in case of its absence - a well-sharpened steel knife with a wide and thick blade. It is desirable that the handle of the device is made of non-slip metal. But at the same time, be prepared for the fact that the “clothing” of the perch will scatter in different directions. To prevent this from happening, instead of scissors and a board, you can purchase a drum machine for cleaning fish: just put the perch inside and pour water on it so that the problem is solved without any extra effort.

Removing the scales along with the skin

Before removing the scales, hold the perch in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Then proceed to the main work:

  • put the fish on a cutting board;
  • with a sharp knife, cut the perch skin in the direction of the head;
  • pry off the skin with a knife and carefully remove it, moving from the top of the back to the tail.

Thanks to the dexterity of your hands, the scales will disappear along with the skin.

If you need to remove one from small perches, it is enough to make 2 cuts along the upper fin to the tail. Now the fish is ready for salting or chopping for minced meat. But if the perch is fried without the skin, it will be less tasty: eaters will have to do without a fragrant crisp.

Temperature changes

Most housewives think that best method, suggesting how to clean the perch from scales - dousing with boiling water. Indeed, temperature changes in this case work wonders. Proceed like this:

  • put the fish in a single layer in the sink;
  • boil 1.5 liters of water;
  • pour perch with boiling water;
  • Using a spatula, turn the fish over and again pour freshly boiled water over it.

After 2 minutes you can start cleaning. Don't be surprised - it will be so easy to remove the scales that you can do it with your fingers! But before that, you need to use scissors to cut off the prickly fins and remove the gills.

Perch should not be scalded for too long, otherwise the skin will begin to peel off after the scales. By the way, in the matter of cleaning this fish, cold is a worthy competitor to heat. The fish will part with the scales "without protest" if it is placed in the freezer for an hour.

Surely the culinary experts thought about how they cleaned perch in the old days. Maybe then it was already known about the amazing power of temperature difference or special scissors? Of course not, but our grandmothers coped with this task no worse than their contemporaries. They put the perches in a basin and generously sprinkled with salt, and then calmly went to rest. The fish was ready for cleaning only in the morning.

The summer fishing season is in full swing, which means that many fishermen will bring home their catch at least once. In this article, we will learn how to get rid of the scales of the "striped robber" and not mess up the kitchen.

How to clean perch from scales

Among the fishing fraternity, there are a huge number of options for cleaning the "striped robber". We decided to choose five of the most popular and tell you about them.

Option number 1. How to clean a perch with scissors?

This is the most popular of the methods below because of its simplicity and the minimum required tools.

What do you need? Scissors, knife, cutting board.

What to do? Cut off the tail and fins with scissors. Using a knife, cut off the head. At an angle of 30 degrees, we put the knife blade on the surface of the fish, and jerky movements we separate the scales from the body of the fish. The main thing is to clean diagonally from the bottom of the fish to the upper fin. By the way, some craftsmen in this matter have gone in a slightly different direction and will easily answer the question - how to clean a perch from scales with scissors? It turns out it's very simple! Using exactly the same technology as a knife. By the way, yes, during cleaning, the scales will not scatter so much if the tail of the fish is fixed. As an option - a clothespin to the board.

Option number 2. Cleaning with boiling water

Is it really possible to clean perch with boiling water? Of course yes! The main thing here is the temperature difference (water \ fish). If this rule is followed, then cleaning the fish so that the scales do not fly will be easy to do. However, there are also disadvantages in this - if the water is too hot, you can not only burn yourself, but also boil the perch.

What do you need? Scissors, a knife, a full kettle of boiling water,

What to do? Using scissors, cut off all the fins. With the help of a knife - gills. Next, put the perches in the sink. Boil a full kettle of water. Water the striped ones on one side, then turn over and water again. You will be surprised, but the scales will move away from the fish very simply and easily.

Option number 3. How to skin a fish?

A very interesting way, using which you protect the kitchen space from flying scales when cleaning perch.

What do you need? Scissors, knife, refrigerator, gloves, cutting board.

What to do? We remove the fins with scissors, and the head with a knife. We place the "blank" in the freezer for an hour. We put on gloves, take out the fish and put it on a cutting board, and make an incision in the skin from head to tail along the ridge. We pry off the skin with the tip of the knife, and, neatly like a stocking, remove the skin from both sides, starting from the upper back to the tail.

Option number 4. Cleaning perch with salt

What do you need? Rock salt, scissors, knife, perch deboning cup

What to do? Freshly caught perches are thoroughly washed under the tap. We do not cut the fins. Put the fish on a tray, sprinkle with salt and roll on all sides. In this video, we leave a tray with fish for the night. The next morning, rinse the carcasses thoroughly from salt. The scales will soften well and will move away from the skin without problems.

Option number 5. Independent inventions

In the last, fifth cleaning option, we decided to consider some interesting homemade products that will help you quickly clean the fish.

So, at the end of last summer Anna() talked about how to make a simple and convenient fish cleaner with your own hands in a few minutes. "" - so she called her.

But we found this invention for cleaning perch on the Internet. Code name - "everything went to the economy"!

And finally, we want to show you two absolutely incredible ways, which we would advise you to use with great care ... It turns out that you can clean perch not only in traditional ways, but also in very strange ones ... How do you like these options?

Video: Cleaning perch at home

Friends, here you have learned five simple and effective ways to clean the "striped robbers". However, we are sure that there are many more of them in nature! So the question is, which method do you use? Of the ones we listed? Or is there some kind of your own, developed over the years, and passed down from generation to generation?

How to quickly clean a perch from scales? This question is of interest not only to housewives, but also to many fishermen who often go to catch this particular delicious fish. In the presented article, we decided to reveal a few secrets of cleaning the mentioned product. If you use our advice, you will never need a lot of time to carry out this laborious and not very pleasant process again.

General information

Before telling you about how to quickly clean a perch from scales, I would like to say a few words about the product itself.

As you know, this fish belongs to the perch family. She has sharp fins in the lower, as well as in the upper part of the body. It should also be said that it differs from the other in that it has rather small and firmly seated scales. That is why so many housewives are interested in the question of how to quickly clean the perch from scales.

As a rule, the weight presented ranges from 850 g to 1.4 kg. But often experienced fishermen meet larger specimens. Perch lives in fresh rivers, reservoirs and even in the sea.

Application in cooking

Perch is a very tasty fish that can be boiled, steamed, salted and fried. So, there is an incredible number of all kinds of recipes, using which you can make completely different dishes and snacks. And here the logical question arises as to whether it is necessary to clean the perch at all. Of course, yes. But, unfortunately, as mentioned above, the scales of the presented fish cling very tightly to the body. In addition, perch's fins are so sharp that they can easily be injured during processing. In this regard, in the presented article, we decided to tell you about how to quickly clean the perch from scales. If you follow these tips, this process will not seem so difficult to you.

Details on how to clean perch from scales

The first thing the hostess should know is that fresh perch is much easier to clean than stale one. First you need to cut off all the fins from the acquired fish, using scissors for this. This is necessary so that they do not prick in the future. Next, you need to cut off the head of the fish. After that, you need to put on gloves and arm yourself with cutlery. Pressing the tail of the perch to using a fork, use a sharp knife to pry off the scales and carefully remove it. It is most convenient to carry out this procedure from the belly to the back.

Negative features of this method

Now you know how to clean the scales of a perch. However, this method has a significant disadvantage. It consists in the fact that the scales scatter almost throughout the kitchen. In addition, the presented method requires special efforts and a lot of free time. In this regard, we want to tell you about another tricky way.

How to remove the scales from the perch along with the skin?

This method can be used if you do not want to disturb the order in your kitchen. To do this, fresh fish must be cut off all the fins and head, and then briefly placed in the freezer. When the perch is slightly frozen, it should be taken out, put on a cutting board and, prying off the skin with a knife, it is easy to remove it along with all the scales.

Cons of the method

The presented cleaning of perch from scales is well suited for those who plan to make minced fish from fish or just pickle it. As for frying and cooking, this method is undesirable.

Cleaning fish in the field

If the question of how to clean a perch from scales is asked not by the hostess, but by the fisherman, then we suggest using the following method.

So, it is necessary to nail iron corks taken from beer bottles to a convenient and simple wooden stick. You may need about 5-7 lids for this. By the way, instead of such a device, it is permissible to use an ordinary old grater.

After the device is ready, it can be immediately used for its intended purpose. Ribbed lids are required to scrape off all the scales from the perch. However, it is desirable to carry out this process on the street, since the scales will scatter in all directions.

The easiest way

If you don't want to clean freshwater fish with a knife, but do not want to make special devices, they can be purchased at any hardware store.

It should be noted that today the goods market has wide range of universal devices specially designed for cleaning fish. A huge advantage of such devices is that they have a pocket for collecting scales. That is why they can clean perch not only in the field, but also at home. However, when buying such devices, you should pay special attention to their quality, including the thickness of the metal. After all, if this product is made of thin material, then during the cleaning of the fish it can bend or even break.

Sea bass cleaning

As mentioned above, perch can be found both in freshwater rivers and in salty seas. However, they are allowed to be cleaned in exactly the same ways. Although it should be noted that sea bass is a very spiny fish that has venom glands on its fins. And if a person pricks about them, then the wound can hurt a lot for a long time. That is why before cleaning this fish, be sure to wear gloves and first cut off all the fins.

To everything else, you can safely add a few of the following tips:

  1. Before directly cleaning the sea bass, it should be dipped in boiling water for a few seconds. The main thing is not to overdo it. Otherwise, the skin of the fish may peel off along with the scales.
  2. To greatly facilitate the process of cleaning such fish, it should be put in a container, covered with coarse rock salt and left in this form overnight. In the morning, perches can be easily and quickly descaled using a regular knife.
  3. If you plan to smoke perch, then you should not peel it at all.

Cleaning small fish

Surely many fishermen know that in winter time most of the year, small fish are caught. It is, of course, very tasty, but there are too many problems with it. It is better to clean such a perch immediately after catching along with the skin. To do this, you need to make 2 cuts along the upper fin (from head to tail). By the way, the knife should be as sharp as possible. Next, the skin along with the scales should be carefully removed, helping yourself with both hands.

Using this method, you can clean a large number of small fish in a few minutes. However, it should be noted that the main disadvantage of this method is that you will not get a crisp when frying perch in a pan. Although nothing will dare prevent you from enjoying the tender meat of freshly caught fish.

Housewives who often cook fish dishes should certainly know how to quickly clean the perch from scales. This skill is useful not only at home, but also when fishing, as perch is one of the most popular and easy to catch fish. Perch fish soup has a delicate aroma and high taste, so knowing how to clean a perch is undoubtedly worth it, despite the fact that sometimes this fish is not very big.

About the benefits of sea and river perch

River perch is well caught in many rivers and lakes of central Russia. Also, fresh river perch can be purchased at agricultural markets and spontaneous markets from private fishermen. This fish is well caught both in winter and summer.

Sea bass, as a rule, is mass-produced in the Far East, as well as in Japan. It is usually sold frozen. It is more profitable to buy fish with heads, as it is cheaper. However, if the hostess removes the head before frying or boiling, it is better to buy perch carcasses without a head. Perch fillets are not for sale, so in any case, the fish will have to be cleaned, and for this it does not hurt to practice a little.

Many housewives believe that it is not worth bothering with cleaning the perch, anyway, there are a lot of bones in this fish. Indeed, both river and sea varieties are considered bony, but small bones are perfectly absorbed by the body and do not harm the teeth. They are rich in calcium and are useful not only for humans, but also for cats. Nutrition experts recommend at least two to three times a week to include dishes from river and sea bass in the usual diet, especially for those who observe Orthodox fasts or do not eat meat for other reasons, because:

Recently, there have been reports in the press and on television that sea bass should not be eaten due to the high concentration of mercury in its meat. However, this fish should not be excluded from the diet. If the perch lives in a polluted area, a certain amount of heavy metals may indeed be present in its meat. But this amount is so negligible that it will not cause significant harm to health. In order to really get mercury poisoning, you need to eat sea bass every day several times a day for several years. This is hardly possible.

This problem does not concern river perches at all, since they are usually found in clean river water, as a rule, they are not caught in polluted rivers.

Before cleaning the perch from scales quickly and efficiently, the fish must be washed and the fins trimmed. The most convenient way to do this is with special chef's scissors designed for cutting fish and meat.

Scissors must be sharp. There is a well-known rule: the sharper the knife or scissors, the more difficult it is to cut yourself. This principle can be explained very easily: when a knife or scissors is blunt, a person makes physical efforts, presses hard on the blade, and can cut himself. When the blade is sharp, no effort is needed, and therefore it is difficult to cut yourself.

When the hostess gets rid of the fins, the sequence of actions will be as follows:

Very small river bass intended for soup can be left unpeeled, just get rid of the scales and cut off the spiny fins. After the broth is cooked, such fish is simply pulled out. If you don’t want to carry around cleaning the scales, you can cook the “trifle” in a bag of gauze or thin linen, then the scales will not get into the soup.

After the carcasses are cleaned, they must be washed under running cold water and dried with paper towels. After that, they can be put into boiling water for cooking fish broth or placed in a hot pan for frying. It is best to fry fish in a cast iron skillet. Carcasses are placed only in hot oil, otherwise they will simply stick to the surface, fall apart, turn out tasteless and unappetizing.

How to avoid injury while brushing

Cleaning a perch for a hostess inexperienced in this matter can result in serious injuries. In order for this not to happen, you must:

  • Trim the spines and fins immediately;
  • Use only sharply sharpened tools for cleaning;
  • Scraping off the scales is not with a knife, but with a special device for cleaning fish. This contraption is available at any hardware store and is a long metal stick with a notched loop at the end. With these cloves, the scales are carefully scraped off the carcass, while it does not crumble around, but falls into the loop and remains there;
  • Very carefully open the belly;
  • Clean the fish not on weight, but only on a solid and even, not staggering table surface.

If, nevertheless, a nuisance occurred, and the hostess got hurt, it is necessary to immediately treat the wound with the help of improvised means - brilliant green or hydrogen peroxide. After that, it is necessary to close the injury site with a band-aid or put on a special fingertip. If an infection accidentally gets into the wound, the causative agents of a dangerous disease, salmonellosis, can rapidly multiply in a fish dish or in other dishes prepared by this hostess.

It is strictly forbidden to cook food with open finger injuries; professional chefs and ordinary housewives. But it is best to avoid injury as much as possible, and for this, care must be taken during cleaning.

How to fry fish

You need to know not only how to clean sea bass, but also how to properly fry this tasty and nutritious fish. It is very easy to do this. It is necessary to put the pan on the fire and heat the vegetable oil. It is best to use sunflower, as it gives fish dishes a characteristic flavor.

When the oil is already hot, carcasses are placed in the pan. They should not lie close to each other, otherwise you may not get a golden crust. Before frying, perches are usually rolled in flour, but breadcrumbs can also be used. Those who do not like the crust can put the fish in the pan directly without sprinkling.

After the perches are fried on one side, they are turned over with an iron spatula. At this point, you can add sliced ​​\u200b\u200brings or half rings onion By the end of frying, it will just have time to acquire a golden color. Do not add the onion at the very beginning of cooking, otherwise it will burn.

You can add a little garlic, as well as spices for fish dishes. Perch is salted, covered with a lid, reduce the heat and fry until fully cooked. The finished dish can be sprinkled with finely chopped fresh dill, its aroma goes very well with the smell of fish.

You can serve sea bass on the table with boiled potatoes, vegetable salad or boiled pasta.

Correctly cleaning sea and river fish, even small ones, is not at all as difficult as it might seem at first glance. The main thing in this matter is patience, attentiveness and caution.. Having the right tools and their sharpness also plays a big role. At first, the hostess may work a little slowly, but then, when the skill is perfected to perfection, she can easily clean the perches “at speed”. It is undoubtedly worth messing around with cleaning this fish, because it is very tasty, nutritious and fragrant.

This dish impresses with its aroma and taste. Fried perch with a crispy golden crust. What could be better?

Those who caught and cooked this fish know well the cooked perch - just a delicious meal. However, there is a real problem in the way of preparing this dish - this is cleaning the fish. Do perch need to be cleaned? Of course, yes. But after cleaning, the hands will be punctured by sharp fins, and besides, perch scales will be literally everywhere. How to clean a perch without labor and hassle? The easiest way is to lower the caught fish into boiling water for literally a second. After such a procedure, the scales will be removed quickly, but, alas, along with the skin. This means that you can forget about the crispy crust that most cooks strive for.

There are several ways to clean fish. During them, the taste of the perch will not suffer, and the hands will remain safe and sound. You can clean river and sea bass in the same way, but for such an “operation” each of these types of fish has its own little secrets.

How to clean perch. General rules

Knife or fork?

If you have to carve a perch at home, then first remove the head and fins, and then put the fish in the freezer. After the fish freezes and has already had time to defrost a little, then pry off the skin with a knife. The scales in this way can be removed quite quickly, while the scales will not fly in different directions. That is, the entire kitchen will not be covered with them.

A fork, like a knife, is always at hand in every kitchen. It can also be used as a tool to fight scales. Long teeth can easily pick up dense perch scales. And it doesn't matter what size the fish is. However, despite the fact that this method seems simple, it is actually quite laborious and a little inconvenient.

What else can you clean perch with?

The knife and fork can be put aside and armed with a special device for cleaning perch. By the way, you can do it yourself. And the efficiency will be much higher than from the usual cutlery. In order to make a miracle tool, you only need an ordinary kitchen grater. Take a round wooden stick, at least 3 centimeters in diameter. Then cut their graters on the most prickly and shallow side, and then, using pre-prepared cloves, nail the grater overlap to the stick.

How to quickly clean a perch?

With this device, you can clean fish of any size, and not only perch. However, according to experienced anglers, you can not pretend to be a needleworker, and clean the perch with a simple vegetable grater. Another option for a special grater can be made from beer caps from glass bottles. They need to be screwed to a board or wooden spatula. Everything. The perch cleaning tool is ready. The sharp denticles of the cork are able to cope with the scales of the fish.

Sea Bass Cleansing Secrets

Sea bass is a bony fish that is equipped with venom glands on its fins. It's pretty easy to hit them. And the injection is accompanied by painful local inflammation. Therefore, cleaning sea bass is quite careful.

The best method is when the perch completely gets rid of both the scales and the skin. However, you can leave the skin in place, armed with a sharp knife. Special attention it is worth paying attention to the so-called waterline. There, as a rule, a lot of scales accumulate, with which you have to work. To avoid injuring your hands on the prickly fins while cleaning the fish, put on knitted construction gloves.

Secrets of cleaning river perch

To prevent the perch from rushing and sliding during cleaning, its tail can be nailed to a cutting board or held with pliers. It is best to clean fresh fish. If the scales dry out a little, then it will be more difficult to remove it. Spiny fins are best cut off with scissors.

Perch recipe with vegetable julienne

Once the scales are removed from the perch, you can start cutting the fish. Some advise gutting the fish through the back. But this method can cause some inconvenience, so take out the insides of the perch through the abdomen or the place where the head once was. Then cut the perch to the right and left of the dorsal fin and pull the fin hard towards you. The same procedure should be repeated with the anal fin of the fish. In general, for a quick and painless cleaning of a perch, you need some skill, experience and, most importantly, patience. After a few fish, you will have all this, and cleaning will no longer seem like hell.

How to cook perch?

Perch is most often fried. You can put a fish of any size in the pan, as long as it just fits. Before frying, the perch must be cleaned and butchered. Remove all entrails, gills and fins. If there is caviar, then it should not be thrown away, but simply put next to it. Rinse the fish thoroughly with cold water. Pour 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a cast iron skillet. Salt the fish and put it in a heated frying pan. Turn over after 5-7 minutes. And at the same time, add caviar and cover with a lid. After 8-10 minutes, an amazingly simple and tasty dish will be ready.


When frying, perches remain intact, that is, they do not fall apart. The dish can even be cooked along with the scales. While eating, it is easily removed in layers. Caviar is fried in whole lumps. Fried perch can be eaten both hot and cold. On the table, fish can be served with a side dish (mashed potatoes or just boiled potatoes are perfect), and without it. You can decorate the dish with dill and parsley.

Many people prefer not to fry perch, but to cook fish soup from it. This soup is easy and simple to make. For the dish, you need to prepare in advance 1 kilogram of fish, 800 grams of potatoes, 150 grams of onions and the same amount of carrots, peppercorns, bay leaves, salt and pepper, herbs. This amount of products is intended for a 4-liter pan.


First you need to clean the fish. Pour the tail and head with cold water and cook for about half an hour. Then take them out and forget about them (they will no longer be needed). The broth, if desired, can be filtered. Perch cut into small pieces across. The length of each should be no more than 4 centimeters. Cut the onion and sauté. We rub the carrots on a medium grater and send to the onion.

Cut potatoes into cubes, add to boiling broth. We salt and pepper everything. When the broth with potatoes boils, add the fish and cook for about 10 minutes. Next, add the bay leaf and peppercorns. And let the soup brew for about 30 minutes. Serve with greens on the table.

The editors of the site wish you easy cooking and a great catch!
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