The vegetables have been boiled, the mayonnaise has been bought, everyone is in anticipation of the signature “herring under a fur coat” salad, and only the salted herring lies alone on the table, showing no interest in what is happening. A knife is picked up, an attitude of slight confusion and a silent question in the eyes, which is repeated in a whisper on the lips - how to peel a herring?
Mom, my dear person, slowly enters the kitchen, rustling her slippers and sniffling her nose!
Mom is an honored catering worker, with a background in technical school, working as a waitress, cook, and pastry chef. Everyone respects her, sometimes you want to be like her.
She unceremoniously takes the knife from me, rolls up her sleeves like a proprietor and says:
- Look, now I’ll show you how to quickly remove the bones from a herring.
Having made a confident cut, the executioner cuts off the head. He turns around and grumpily goes to the sink, washes the knife and starts sharpening.
– The knife must be sharp, otherwise your work will turn into a nightmare.
Work continues. Sliding the knife smoothly from the place that just recently crowned the head, she makes a cut along the abdomen. From start to finish. He takes out all the insides, scrapes off the remains and throws them in the trash. 
After such dirty work, the cutting area does not look the best. Mom starts doing a little cleaning. He washes the inside of the fish under the tap, removing the internal films that can be caught with your nails. After the saddle, it is taken to the cutting board. 
Work continues. Holding the silver body of the herring with one hand, she makes another cut along the entire back. This is the beginning of the second stage. 
With confident movements, using her thumb, she slightly lifts one half of the fish, thereby separating it from the ridge. The fillet is easy to manipulate. 
There was one herring - now there are two halves. Now it's cleaning again. All small specks that were not visible before are removed. 
Grabbing the edge of the ridge and lifting it slightly, she pulls it out of the herring and proceeds to search for the remaining bones. 
Having striped along the edge of each half in the area where the belly used to be, cut off a small strip along the entire length and set it aside. This part does not look appetizing, so no questions arise here. 
Turning part of the herring upside down, mom tries to grab the edge of the skin with her nails. This doesn't happen right away. Then the thin skin breaks, and all attempts start all over again. Finally, triumphantly stepping from foot to foot (she succeeded) slowly, centimeter by centimeter, she exposes the side of the herring, shiny with fat. 
Mom throws the knife into the sink, then washes her hands for a long time, sniffing each time to see if there is any herring aroma left on them. He turns to face me, presses my nose as if it were a button and says: “Study, student!” This is how quickly a herring is cleaned. 
This is a classic approach to cutting herring. This is what they do in restaurants, because the result is a beautiful fillet that is not embarrassing to serve.
This is the most elegant way to cut herring. The result is a fillet divided into four parts. It’s unlikely to be suitable for slicing on a holiday table, but when it’s all your own or for salads, it’s fine.
As you can see, getting fillets is not difficult. It’s much more difficult to figure out how to serve herring in an original way. Here are some ideas for inspiration.
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Having decided to treat her family or guests to salted herring, the housewife will wonder how to clean it. Herring is not served to the table uncleaned. You can make delicious cold appetizers from salted fish: salad under a fur coat, minced meat, rolls, or simply eat it with boiled potatoes, cut into pieces and sprinkle with sunflower oil. Before preparing any dish from herring, you have to remove the bones and often remove the skin.
For cleaning salted fish, it is better to have a separate cutting board, but you can wrap it in regular cling film and work on it. You cannot clean fish on newspaper, as the paint sticks to the product and, consequently, to the stomach. Medical gloves will help protect your hands from unpleasant odors.
To work you will need:
There are several ways to clean salted herring.
The fish is removed only from the bones, leaving the skin. This is how the herring is prepared for serving as a cold appetizer, by cutting it into pieces and sprinkling with chopped fresh or pickled onions or herbs.
This is how herring is cut in the Far East when there is a lot of fish to process. First, the carcass is gutted and the head is separated. Then:
The result is three pieces of pure flesh: the back and two fillets.
Everyone understands that cutting herring takes a very long time and therefore they try to buy it ready-made in the store. I don’t think anyone has thought about how they make it there and what kind of fish it is from. After all, you won’t be able to see what kind of gills it had or what its eyes looked like. So, they salt or marinate store-bought fish, mainly those that begin to disappear or are not sold for a long time. That is, it has a poor quality appearance.
By the way: the herring’s eyes should not be cloudy; they are transparent and slightly convex. Fresh fish should have red gills.
That’s why the best way is to buy fresh herring yourself. Then you want to salt it () or pickle it, see how to pickle it in this article. And then you can use it in any salads or just eat it with onions and potatoes. But to do this, you need to learn how to properly cut fish so that it does not look like minced meat.
Tip: When cutting herring, be careful, there are a lot of small bones in it.
This way you will learn how to easily and quickly cut fish for your delicious dishes.
For this we need:
1. Make the knife at an angle of 45° and cut off the head along the fin on both sides.
2. Take scissors in your hands and cut the abdomen.
3. Then remove the intestines. You can use milk or caviar at your discretion.
4. We begin to make an incision along the back, from the head to the tail, and cut off the dorsal fin.
5. We begin to remove the skin from the head. Then remove the tail.
6. Using your fingers along the ridge, separate the fillet from the bone.
7. Remove the vertebral bone.
8. Remove the small bones that remain on the fillet with tweezers.
That's all, the fillet is ready.
I would like to offer another very good and convenient cutting method that you will also like.
1. We do everything as in the first method, before cutting into fillets.
2. Make a cut in the middle of the tail.
3. Take the separated tails and twist the fish 360°. We pull the tails in different directions. All bones should remain on the back.
4. Now remove the fillet from the bone with your hands.
Ready-made fillets can be used for any salads, including only after being cut into pieces.
To make it clearer, I suggest watching the video.
That's all, as you can see, handling fish is a pleasure, easy and simple. But then you can cut it into portions and garnish with onions. Pour in oil and serve. This appetizer goes perfectly with strong drinks. And I say goodbye to you, see you soon!
Herring can rightfully be called “the most popular fish”, loved by both adults and children. It is affordable, so many can afford it. This lightly salted fish is used as a simple snack, and is also included in salad recipes, for example, for preparing the famous “fur coat” and appetizers.
The most unpleasant thing about herring is cleaning, since for many it is a very difficult and painstaking task. In fact, if you know some tricks, you can clean the fish quickly and without much difficulty. Below are the most popular and effective cleaning methods that everyone can master.
To begin with, you need to choose the right and high-quality herring that will not disappoint in taste.
That is why it is better to buy a whole carcass, since it is easy to check how long it has been lying on the counter and whether the fish is worthy of ending up on your table. To choose the right herring, pay attention to the color of the gills.
In quality fish they are dark red, elastic and do not fall apart. Look into the fish's eyes, which should not be cloudy. Do not buy herring that is in spicy brines, as this is how sellers disguise spoiled fish.
Cleaning the herring is done using the following equipment: a cutting board, a sharp knife, tweezers for removing small bones, a plastic bag and napkins. It's best to have a separate board for cleaning the herring, but another option is to wrap it in several layers of cling film. Many people use newspaper to avoid staining the board, but this is a serious mistake, since the printing ink ends up on the fish and, consequently, in the stomach. To avoid an unpleasant fishy smell on your hands later, be sure to wear medical gloves. If the smell remains, use lemon juice. It will help remove the fishy flavor from the board as well.
The most common cleaning method involves several stages:
If the fish will be used to prepare an appetizer or salad, or if you want to get separate clean pieces of fillet, then you need to remove the bones.
There are several ways to quickly cope with this task.
It is worth noting that the fresher the fish, the easier it will be to separate the meat from the bones.
To release the other half of the fillet, repeat the steps, pulling out the backbone. If bones remain, use tweezers, which can be used to remove them without much effort. All that remains is to cut the fillet into pieces.
If everything was done correctly, then in one hand there will be a ridge with a back, and in the second - two parts of the abdomen. All that remains is to separate the back from the bones and the fillet is considered ready for use. This cutting option is not suitable for raw herring.
The task is to squeeze your fingers, making squeezing movements, and thereby separate the meat from the ridge. First, in this way, separate one half of the fillet, and then the second. This cleaning option is ideal if the herring is fresh and well defrosted.
Now you know how to properly clean herring at home. Use the options provided to find the most suitable option for you.
