How to stuff pike step by step recipe. Stuffed pike in the oven

Alexander Gushchin

I can’t vouch for the taste, but it will be hot :)

Content

If you are planning a grand feast, but you haven’t come up with anything interesting yet, then try baking a whole pike. You can stuff the fish with whatever you can find: rice, mushrooms, potatoes and even spinach. Learn all the intricacies of preparing this dish.

How to cook stuffed pike

A complex dish suitable for any celebration - pike with various fillings. The advantage of this fish is that you can buy it in the store throughout the year. To prevent the preparation of stuffed pike from turning into a real test for the housewife, it is first important to choose the right carcass. To do this, take note of the following tips:

• To choose a good fish, pay attention to the mucus that covers the scales. It is necessary for good maneuverability of the fish in the water, and also tells the buyer about the freshness of the carcass.
• The next selection criterion is the color of the tissues under the gills. If you lift the outer shell of the gills, the meat inside should be a bright, rich pink hue.
• Stuffing pike will be easier, and the finished dish will be tastier if you buy fish that are under two years old. Its approximate weight is 1.5-2 kg, and its length is 45-50 centimeters.
• To remove the smell of mud and algae, fish can be soaked in vinegar with water or lemon juice with spices.

Stuffing for stuffed pike

Stuffed pike is also good because you can fill its insides with almost anything you can find in the refrigerator. Traditionally, the filling for stuffed pike consists of a mixture of stewed vegetables, a soaked white loaf and a few grams of lard. In such a classic composition, the last component plays an important role. Lard impregnates the inside with fat and prevents the skin from remaining dry after frying. Fish also goes well with unusual foods, for example: fresh mushrooms, eggs and soft cream cheese.

How to cut pike for stuffing

You can put any filling into the fish, but first it must be properly cut. There are three options for step-by-step processing:

1. Cut up the pike whole for stuffing. To do this, a small transverse incision is made near the head, the entrails are carefully removed, and the backbone is separated from the meat using a sharp knife.
2. How to stuff pike from the ridge side? Start peeling the fish from the head, making 2 cuts along the ridge. Gently push the meat apart, pull the ridge towards you along with the dorsal fin and intestines.
3. Before stuffing peeled pike, you must carefully remove the skin from the fish without damaging it. Prying the meat with a sharp knife, pull off the skin, and when reaching the tail, cut off the ridge with scissors. After such cutting, it is necessary to wash the skin with water.

How to decorate stuffed pike

Pike has long been called the queen of fish: not only for its taste, but also for its presentable appearance on the holiday table. In order for a dish to attract the attention of guests and arouse appetite, you need to be able to present it. You can decorate the stuffed pike with lettuce, mayonnaise, pomegranate seeds, lemon and olives. Although they don’t eat the pike’s head, they always put it on the dish to create a holistic impression.

Stuffed pike recipes

You can make delicious steamed cutlets from large pike, and use the bones of the fish for your fish soup. However, if you are lucky enough to buy fish up to two kilograms, it would be a sin to let the tender meat go into meatballs. Try stuffing it, especially since there are a lot of options. For example, in Israel, stuffed fish is boiled in onion skins, in Europe the carcass is stuffed with spinach, and in Russia there is an excellent recipe for stuffed pike with rice. Try baking fish using one of the suggested options.

Stuffed pike in the oven

• Cooking time: 40 minutes.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 120 kcal per 100 g.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: European.

Stuffed pike is almost always prepared in the oven, and this recipe with photos is no exception. As a filling, try using frozen or fresh spinach leaves; fortunately, these greens are sold in the store all year round, which cannot be said about some other types. In summer, the fish will be stuffed with sorrel, beet or carrot tops. And if you bake pike with garlic, it will become even tastier.

Ingredients:

• pike – 1.2-1.5 kg;
• spinach – 4 bunches;
• cream cheese – 400 g;
• horseradish - 4 tbsp. l.;
• eggs – 4 pcs.;
• salt.

Cooking method:

1. Clean the fish by removing the entrails and the spine and bones through the spine.
2. Wash the spinach thoroughly to remove sand, dry with a towel and chop.
3. In a food processor, beat the eggs with the cream cheese.
4. Combine spinach, egg-cream mixture and horseradish.
5. Place the fish belly down and stuff the carcass through the cut in the back.
6. Wrap the fish in parchment and place on a baking sheet. There is no need to sew up the skin.
7. Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pike stuffed with mushrooms

• Cooking time: 1 hour.
• Number of servings: 3-4 servings.
• Calorie content of the dish: 130 kcal per 100 g.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

Pike stuffed with mushrooms turns out especially tasty if you add a little cream to the filling. Even medium-fat milk will do, since you won’t have to beat it until it’s thick. As for mushrooms, here you can completely rely on your intuition. Both artificial champignons and noble porcini mushrooms are suitable. However, it is not recommended for chefs to use dried ones. Learn how to cook and decorate fish from a recipe with photos.

Ingredients:

• mushrooms – 8 pcs.;
• pike – 1 pc.;
• cream – 1 tbsp;
• white wine – 1 tbsp.;
• sour cream – 200 g;
• starch - 1 tbsp. l.;
• thyme – 2 sprigs;
• parsley - a bunch.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the fish along the ridge, remove the entrails and bones. Rinse and let dry a little.
2. Boil fresh champignons in white wine for about 5 minutes, drain in a colander.
3. Boil the cream, add starch dissolved in water in a thin stream.
4. Chop the parsley and thyme sprigs. Mix with cream.
5. Cut the mushrooms into cubes and mix with the creamy mixture.
6. Fill the insides of the pike with this mixture and sew up the back with thread.
7. Coat the fish with sour cream on top and place on a baking sheet.
8. Bake until fully cooked at 180 degrees.

Jewish stuffed pike

• Cooking time: 1 hour.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 146 kcal.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: Jewish.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

Jewish stuffed pike, or gefilte fish, is a signature dish for any holiday in Israel. Every housewife knows how to cook pike correctly, and does it in her own way, which is necessarily different from the neighbor’s version. As a result, there are millions of recipes for the dish. Try to make delicious fish with a simple vegetable filling in the Jewish style.

Ingredients:

• pike – 1 pc.;
• egg – 1 pc.;
• onions – 4 pcs.;
• sugar – 1 tsp;
• vegetable oil – 50 ml;
• bread crumbs – 2 tbsp. l.;
• carrots – 2 pcs.;
• onion peel - 1 handful;
• allspice – 3-4 pcs.;
• bay leaf – 1 pc.

Cooking method:

1. Carefully separate the spine from the fillet. Don't cut off the head.
2. Peel and fry half the onion, just chop the other part coarsely.
3. Grind the pike fillet in a meat grinder and mix with onion.
4. Add egg, seasonings, sugar, breading to the mixture and stir.
5. Fill the insides with minced meat, do not put the filling too tightly. Sew up the hole.
6. Make broth from carrots, onions and fish bones. There is no need to pepper or salt the water.
7. Place the onion skins into the bowl, and then the fish.
8. After an hour, remove from heat, drain the water, and put the carcass in the cold to cool.

Pike stuffed with rice

• Cooking time: 2.5 hours.
• Number of servings: 5 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 198 kcal per 100 g.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

Stuffing pike is a simple process. All you need is to spoon the minced meat into the pre-peeled skin. However, even here there are some nuances. The filling does not need to be diligently compacted with a spoon, otherwise the skin will burst during baking and the appearance of the dish will be ruined. If you stuff fish with rice, as in the following step-by-step photo recipe, then boil and cool the cereal in advance.

Ingredients:

• pike – 1 kg;
• rice cereal – 100 g;
• carrot – 1 pc.;
• Crimean onion – 1 pc.;
• egg – 1 pc.

Cooking method:

1. Separate the skin from the bones. Remove all bones from the pulp.
2. Grind the onion with carrots and fish fillet in a blender.
3. Add your favorite spices, add herbs if you like. Mix everything.
4. Mix boiled rice with minced meat. Fill the skin with the mixture.
5. Place the carcass on foil, put the head on it, and wrap it up.
6. Bake fish at a temperature of 180 degrees.
7. After an hour and a half, open the foil and continue baking.
8. Ready pike stuffed with rice looks beautiful on a plate with lemon slices and mayonnaise mesh.

Stuffed jellied pike

• Cooking time: 1 hour.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 156 kcal.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

There are many options for stuffing pike. Some people love this dish with a creamy filling, others prefer to add dried apricots, apples and even pineapples. However, pike looks best in jellied form. In addition, there is no need to prepare the broth in advance: you will get it while cooking the stuffed fish. Be sure to add a little gelatin to the broth, otherwise your aspic will simply remain liquid.

Ingredients:

• pike – 1 pc.;
• semolina – 2 tbsp. l.;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• carrot – 1 pc.;
• gelatin – 1 sachet;
• wheat bread - 2 slices;
• milk – 1/3 cup;
• black pepper - to taste;
• nutmeg - a pinch.

Cooking method:

1. Gut the insides without damaging the skin.
2. Grind the fillet in a food processor along with the onion.
3. Soak slices of bread in milk and add them to the minced meat along with semolina.
4. Place the filling on the skin and give it the shape of a fish.
5. Bandage the carcass so that the gauze tightens the skin well.
6. Make broth from fish bones and carrots.
7. Boil the carcass for a quarter of an hour in water, then cool.
8. Place pieces of fish and carrots in deep salad bowls.
9. Pour the contents with broth mixed with gelatin. No need to stir.
10. The stuffed jellied pike should stand in the cold for 5-6 hours until it completely hardens.

Stuffed pike in foil

• Cooking time: 60 minutes.
• Number of servings: 2 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 120 kcal.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

Stuffed pike in foil turns out to be especially tasty, because it is actually cooked in its own juice. This step-by-step recipe uses mashed potatoes for the filling, not just fish fillet with bread crumbs, which makes the dish juicier. Fish stuffed in this way keeps its shape perfectly during and after frying, so there will be no problems with decorating the dish. Find out how to make this holiday treat.

Ingredients:

• pike – 1 pc.;
• lard – 200 g;
• potatoes – 2 pcs.;
• garlic – 2 heads;
• soy sauce – 1 tbsp. l.;
• juice of half a lemon.

Cooking method:

1. Clean the fish. Remove the fillet and separate the bones from the meat.
2. The fillet along with potatoes and lard must be chopped in a blender.
3. Add sauce and lemon juice, salt and pepper to the minced meat. Stir with a silicone spatula.
4. Fill the skin with minced meat. Carefully sew the skin of the fish together. Place the carcass in foil.
5. Place the pan in the oven for 1 hour.

Video: how to properly stuff pike

Dad went fishing and caught a pike. And she says in a human voice:

- Let me go, Emelya, I will fulfill your three wishes.

But, I’m not Emelya! - Dad answered.

“Then I won’t do it!” - said the pike and landed on our table.

Stuffed fish is a wonderful dish that will suit any holiday table. Of course, if it's not a sweet table. According to the recipe that I will offer you today, you can cook any other large fish. For example, you can take river pike perch. Like pike, pike perch is a rather dry fish in itself, so this recipe will be very useful. The essence of the recipe is that dry fish fillets are removed from the skin, ground in a meat grinder into minced meat with lard and cheese, which in turn add tenderness to the fish dish and make it fattier. The minced meat is then placed back into the skin, which resembles the shape of a stocking. As a result, the fish looks presentable, is easy to cut, and is quickly eaten.

Stuffed pike with lard and cheese can be served either cold or hot. And a beautiful presentation will make a delicious fish dish also a wonderful table decoration.

So, get acquainted! The most delicious pike baked in the oven.

Ingredients:

• 1 pike weighing approximately 1.5 kg;
• 1 piece of loaf;
• 200 g lard;
• 1 processed cheese;
• 1 small onion;
• 1 egg;
• 1 tsp oregano spices;
• salt and pepper to taste.

For decoration:

• any vegetables and herbs to taste;
• mayonnaise;
• 1 lemon.

Recipe for stuffed pike in the oven

Stuffed pike can be a real festive dish. Despite its apparent complexity, you can easily prepare this appetizer if you read the detailed description of the basic recipes for stuffing fish.

How to cook stuffed pike?

To do this, you need to remove the skin from the fish and cut it:

Ingredients:

• pike – about 1000 g,
• onions – 2 pcs.
• bread – 200 g,
• eggs – 3 pcs.,
• milk - 250 ml,
• butter and vegetable oil - 50 g each,
• ground black pepper, salt.

Advice:

To make the filling tender and airy, you need to beat it well with a metal whisk, or even better in a food processor with a mixer. In this case, you need to add eggs one at a time, season with salt and pepper. Pour in some of the milk left over from soaking the bread. Beat, if necessary, add more milk, do not be afraid that the minced meat will turn out liquid. If you beat it well, it will be fluffy.

The question of how long to bake stuffed pike should be decided depending on its size and oven capabilities. A kilogram will be baked for about an hour at a temperature of 195 degrees.

Pike with rice

You can use different fillings for minced meat, and everyone decides how to stuff pike for baking depending on their own preferences. For example, buckwheat, millet with chopped egg and onion, boiled carrots or rice.

Ingredients:

• pike - 1000 g,
• rice - 120 g,
• carrots - 1 pc.,
• onion - 2 pcs.,
• butter and vegetable oil - 50 g each,
• egg - 1 pc.,
• dill – 3 sprigs,
• ground pepper and salt.

Stuffed pike with mushrooms

The dish turns out very tasty when the minced meat is cooked with mushrooms. If you get an already gutted fish without entrails and with a cut belly, then you can cut off the head to the middle, cut the spine of the fish at the base of the head. Use a knife to separate the meat from the skin. Next, proceed as in the first recipe, do not forget to remove the gills.

You can take dried mushrooms for minced meat, then you will need to soak them for 10 hours in advance, and then drain the water. These mushrooms have a bright taste and you need to take a little of them, about 50 grams. You can use oyster mushrooms or champignons, as they are available all year round. Pike stuffed with mushrooms and vegetables has a richer taste; for this, as a rule, onions and carrots are used, and sometimes grated potatoes are added. It turns out very tasty if you chop and fry one eggplant for minced meat.

Ingredients:

• pike – 1000 g,
• fresh mushrooms – 250 g,
• onions – 2 pcs.,
• carrots – 1 pc.,
• bread - 200 g,
• milk - 150 ml,
• egg – 1 pc.,
• butter – 80 ml,
• vegetable oil – 60 ml,
• salt and pepper.

Delicious recipe for cooking whole pike:

If you want to surprise your guests by preparing something unusual, then you should pay attention to such a dish as stuffed pike in the oven. It is extremely impressive and very tasty. You can choose the filling option according to your taste. Most often, vegetables, pre-cooked cereals, eggs, mushrooms, and cheese are used.

To cook stuffed pike in the oven so that the dish looks beautiful, you need to choose the right fish. For stuffing, you should choose fresh fish. Before buying, pay attention to the scales; they should be slippery due to the mucus covering the fish’s body. The presence of not dried mucus indicates that the pike was caught recently.

Another indicator of freshness is the gills. The fabrics underneath should be painted bright pink or red.

Many people do not like pike because of the characteristic smell of mud; to remove it, you can soak the cleaned pike in water with vinegar or lemon juice.

Interesting facts: there are legends among people that pikes can live for several centuries and grow over 5 meters in length. However, scientists claim that this type of fish lives no more than 33 years. And throughout its life, the pike grows. Therefore, the larger the specimen, the older it is.

How to cut a pike?

Of course, stuffed pike, baked whole, looks extremely impressive. Especially if you decorate the fish beautifully. But when preparing this dish, there is one difficult point - you need to remove the skin from the pike with a stocking without damaging it. To perform this operation, you must have a sharp knife, as well as some skills.

Sequence of actions:

• Carefully remove scales from the fish. Already at this stage, difficulties may arise, since the scales are covered with a layer of mucus, so the pike will slip out of your hands. To make the job easier, you can dip your fingers in coarse salt to make them slip less. It is best to clean fish with special tools, but you can get by with a knife. When cleaning, you need to be as careful as possible so as not to damage the skin;
• Use kitchen scissors to cut off the fins;
• cut off the head and extract the insides through the resulting hole. You also need to remove the film lining the abdomen from the inside;
• we remove the gills from the head, we will then place it on the stuffed carcass so that the fish appears whole;
• Now begins the most difficult stage of skin removal. To do the job, we use a sharp knife, which we use to make a circular cut, separating the skin from the meat;
• remove the skin in the direction from the top to the tail, gradually turn out the skin with a thin layer of meat, cutting with a knife in a circle;

• We cut off the remains of the fins from the inside with a knife, they should remain on the skin;
• Having reached the tail, you need to carefully cut the spinal bone so that the tail remains part of the skin.

Advice! If you were unable to avoid small tears when skinning the pike, don’t be upset, just sew them up with a needle and thread. But don't forget to remove the threads before serving.

Stuffed pike - a simple option

If you can’t carefully remove the skin from a pike with a stocking, then use this recipe.

• 1 pike weighing about 1.2 kg;
• 2 onions;
• 1 carrot;
• 100 gr. stale loaf;
• 1 egg;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
• salt to taste;
• 4 bay leaves;
• 10 black peppercorns;
• 3 peas of allspice.

We clean the pike of scales, being careful not to damage the skin. We cut off the head and remove the insides through this cut. Cut crosswise into pieces 4 cm thick. Place each piece cut side up and, using a sharp knife, cut out the middle, leaving a 5 mm thick layer of meat on the skin. As a result, we will get rings, which we will fill with minced meat.

Read also: Pumpkin fried in a frying pan – 10 recipes

We cut off the pulp from the cut out centers. Place the head and bones of the fish in a saucepan, add half an onion and a small piece of carrot, add water until it just covers the contents and cook for about an hour, skimming off the foam. Add salt after boiling. Strain the finished broth.

Fry the remaining onions and carrots. Soak the stale loaf in milk. Let's pass through a meat grinder pieces of fish pulp, fried vegetables, garlic and a loaf squeezed out of excess milk. It is better to twist the minced meat 2 or 3 times. Salt and pepper the filling, beat the raw egg into the minced meat and mix well.

Fill the previously prepared fish rings with minced meat. Place the pieces in a frying pan with high sides. Add the strained broth so that the liquid does not reach the top edge of the pieces. Let it simmer for half an hour. Serve the stuffed pike with a vegetable side dish.

Pike stuffed with rice, baked in the oven

You can prepare the filling for pike with rice. It is better to take long-grain rice, or even better to use a mixture of long-grain and wild rice.

• 1 pike weighing 1-1.5 kg;
• 100 gr. rice;
• 1 large carrot;
• 2 onions;
• 1 egg;
• salt, allspice, herbs to taste;
• for serving - a little mayonnaise, lemon, a few cranberries.

We clean the pike from scales and cut off the head. We take out the gills from the head. Then carefully remove the skin with a stocking. It is advisable to leave a thin layer of meat on the skin. Having reached the tail, we cut the ridge so that the tail remains on the skin.

We cut the flesh of the fish from the bones, trying to select even the smallest bones. Chop 1 onion and fry in a frying pan, boil the carrots until half cooked. Pass the pike pulp and fried onions through a meat grinder or grind in a blender. Boil the rice in salted water until tender. Then place in a colander and rinse with cold water. Cut the carrots into small cubes.

Mix minced pike with carrots and finely chopped herbs. Mix everything well, add salt and add lemon pepper to the filling.

Advice! If you don’t like carrots, you can replace it with red bell pepper, cut into small squares.

Fill the pike skin with the filling; you need to fill it evenly, but do not stuff it too tightly, otherwise the skin will burst during baking.

Cut the remaining onion into thin rings. Fold the foil in half and grease it with oil. Spread a thin layer of onion rings. Place the fish belly down on the onion. We attach the head to the pike carcass. Lift the foil and fold it over. Make sure that the top of the foil does not touch the fish. Using a fork or toothpick, make several holes in the top of the foil. This is necessary for steam to escape.

Read also: Salmon in cream sauce – 9 recipes

Bake for 1.5 hours at 180 degrees. Then very carefully remove the top layer of foil and put the baking sheet back in the oven for 30 minutes so that the pike browns. Carefully transfer the fish to a plate, decorate with a mesh of mayonnaise, thin slices of lemon and cranberries.

Stuffed pike “Banquet” in foil

This is a classic banquet dish that will decorate any holiday table.

• 1 pike weighing 1-1.2 kg;
• 2 slices of white loaf;
• 1 egg;
• 50 gr. butter;
• 0.25 glasses of milk;
• 1 onion;
• salt, ground black pepper to taste;
• 0.25 lemon;
• 6 bay leaves.

We clean a fresh pike, cut off the head and remove the skin with a stocking, turning it towards the tail. Set the prepared skin aside. Remove the pike meat from the bones. Soak the loaf in milk.

We pass the fish and soaked bread through a meat grinder. It is better to pass it through a fine sieve 2-3 times. This will achieve the greatest uniformity. Add softened butter and a raw egg to the minced meat, beat everything very thoroughly until a fluffy mass is obtained. Season with salt and pepper.

We fill the skin with the prepared minced meat; there is no need to compact it too tightly, otherwise the skin will burst.

We will bake the pike in foil. Fold the foil in half and grease with vegetable oil. Then we lay out a line of bay leaves and place the pike belly down on this line. We attach the head (don’t forget to remove the gills from it in advance).

Lightly salt the fish on top and pour juice squeezed from lemon over it. Lift the edges of the foil, connect and tuck, leaving a hole in the center for steam to escape. Pour half a glass of water through the hole into the foil pan. Bake in the oven for 1.5-2 hours at 180 degrees.

Then take out the baking sheet and let the pike cool without removing it from the foil. Serve cold, garnished with lemon slices and a mayonnaise mesh.

Stuffed pike with mushrooms

In this recipe, the pike filling is prepared with mushrooms. It is best to take fresh or frozen champignons, but you can use other mushrooms, but they must be boiled first.

• 1 pike weighing 1.2-1.5 kg;
• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• 300 gr. champignons;
• 1 egg;
• 150 gr. lard;
• salt, pepper, seasoning for fish;
• butter.

We clean the pike, cut off the head and remove the skin from the carcass with a thin layer of meat using a stocking. Remove the gills from the head. Remove the meat from the bones and pass it through a meat grinder 2 times.

Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots, fry the vegetables in vegetable oil until the vegetables are ready. Then mix the frying with the minced meat and grind it through the meat grinder again, adding lard. Mix everything well, adding salt and pepper.

Wash the champignons and cut them into pieces. Fry the mushrooms in vegetable oil, salt and pepper them. Let the mushrooms cool slightly and mix them with the prepared minced meat. Beat the raw egg into the minced meat and mix well again.

Fill the pike skin with the prepared filling. Place the fish on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment. Sew the head on with a few stitches. Using toothpicks, lift the fins and open the pike's mouth. In this form, our fish will look more impressive. Grease the fish with butter and place in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour at 180 degrees.

Not everyone will decide to cook stuffed pike. The queen of the festive table requires due attention. However, your efforts will be justified and will not go unnoticed. If you know how to stuff pike correctly, then the dish, especially if it is beautifully decorated, will create a real sensation!

For many, pike is unacceptable in its finished form due to the characteristic smell of mud. We'll fix everything. Frying a large amount of onions and carrots is added to the filling, which interrupts the characteristic aroma of pike. And to give the minced fish juiciness, you should definitely put a small piece of fresh lard in it. There are a few more tricks for preparing delicious stuffed pike, which I am happy to share in the recipe.

The most important point is to choose the right fish. First of all, you should pay attention to the smell. Fresh pike has a pungent fishy aroma. The mucus that covers it should be transparent. It is worth looking under the gill bone. Only caught fish have gills of a rich red or pink color without spots or darkening. The skin of a high-quality pike is densely covered with scales, without cracks or tears. I do not recommend stuffing fish over 1.5 kg. It is difficult to remove the skin from a large pike without damaging it, and few people have a huge oven at home.

Cooking time: 40 minutes / Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• pike 1 kg
• 3 large onions (1 for broth + 2 for filling)
• 2 large carrots (1 for filling + 1 for baking fish)
• yesterday's loaf 300 grams
• eggs 3 pieces
• large beets 1 piece
• milk 300 ml
• spices to taste
• salt 1 teaspoon
• 2 cloves
• bay leaf 1 piece
• fresh lard 150 grams
• vegetable oil for frying 2 tbsp. spoons

For decoration

• fresh herbs 1 bunch
• olives 10 pieces
• mayonnaise or sour cream 100 ml

Preparation

We clean the pike from scales, being careful not to damage the skin. Using kitchen scissors, cut out the gills from the head. We make cuts near the lowest fin (where the large intestine ends) and near the head. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the film to separate the insides. We plunge our hand deep into the pike and pull out the giblets. We do this very carefully so as not to rupture the gallbladder. If such an incident does occur, you should immediately completely immerse the fish in cold water and add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of table salt and 2 tbsp. spoons of vinegar 9%. Leave the pike in this solution for 30 minutes, then rinse thoroughly under running water.



Take a rolling pin or any other wooden object. We hit the fish on each side, making 10 blows. “Beating” the pike will soften the meat, which will make it easier to remove the skin later.



Using a sharp knife, cut off the head of the fish from the body.



We begin to gradually separate the skin from the meat from the side of the head with a sharp knife. We do this in a circle, pulling the skin towards itself. We cut off the lower and upper fins with scissors so that they remain on the skin.



Gradually trimming and turning out the skin of the pike, we reach the tail. We cut off the bone at the tail so that the tail fin remains intact.



Separate the meat from the spine.



Place the bones in a saucepan, add about 700 ml of water, add the peeled onion, cloves and bay leaf. Let it simmer over low heat for forty minutes. After the broth boils, be sure to skim off the foam.



Let's prepare the filling. Place yesterday's loaf in a bowl and fill it with milk. Let the bread rise for 15 minutes.



Cut the onion into cubes, grate the carrots and sauté in a frying pan with the addition of 1 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil until transparent. Place the lard in a blender and grind. Then add more hot fried vegetables and mix everything together. They will melt the lard. If you don't have a blender, use a meat grinder.



We pass the pike meat through a meat grinder several times or, if you have a powerful blender, grind the fillet in it. Place the minced fish in a bowl, add vegetables with lard and the loaf, squeezing it out of the milk. Separate the yolks from the whites. For now, put only the yolks into the filling, add spices to taste and salt. Mix.



Pour the whites into a deep bowl, add a pinch of salt and beat with a mixer into a fluffy foam.



Now mix the whites into the minced fish in small portions - they will give the finished filling a more airy consistency.



Stuff the pike skin and head with fish mixture.



Cut the carrots and beets into pieces and place on a baking tray. Place the stuffed pike carcass and head on top of the vegetables.



Pour the broth over the fish and vegetables, straining it through a sieve.



Grease the foil with vegetable oil and cover the fish on top. Place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees to bake for 40 minutes.



After 20 minutes, remove the foil from the fish and leave it in the oven for another 20 minutes so that a golden brown crust forms on the pike.



Let the pike cool completely, as it is customary to serve it cold. Place the fish on a plate filled with herbs, along with the head, so as to create the appearance of a whole pike. We place black olives in the eye sockets and mouth. Fill a pastry syringe with mayonnaise or sour cream and decorate the carcass and head on top. If desired, you can form roses from additionally cooked carrots and decorate the finished dish with them.