Catfish aspic

In order to amaze guests, you don’t necessarily have to resort to dishes that are indescribable due to the difficulty of making or the rarity of the goods. New is usually well-forgotten old, and now we will tell you how to create aspic from catfish, which will add not only contrast, but also aesthetics to the table.

Jellied fish was a popular dish for a long time because it allowed you to construct a holiday appetizer from ordinary and most ordinary goods.

It's time to bring back jellied fish from oblivion, especially if we are talking about such delicious meat as catfish. In addition to phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur and calcium, it contains a number of other microelements.

Despite the relatively high fat content, catfish meat is also suitable for athletes, because it contains a lot of protein.

Well, housewives adore this fish for its small number of bones; in order to get fillets, simply cut off the meat from the backbone, without picking or removing anything else.

Is gelatin necessary?

But catfish is a big fish, so what do we still need for making aspic?

If we are talking about fasting days, then you should use agar or boil the head with fins for a long time.
If we are preparing for an ordinary feast and only have fish fillets as raw materials, we add regular gelatin.

We remember that there are practically no gelling substances in catfish, so you need to cook the bony parts for a very, very long time, at least 2 - 2.5 hours, so that the tremors harden without the use of gelatin.

But you shouldn’t keep the fillet in water for more than half an hour, otherwise the meat will boil into mush.

Traditional catfish jellied

Ingredients

Som – 1-1.2 kg + –
Onion - 1 pc. + –
Carrots - 1 pc. + –
Parsley – 20 g or a piece 1-1.5 cm + –
Celery – 20 g or a piece 1-1.5 cm + –
Bay leaf - 4 pcs. + –
Dark peppercorns - 6-8 pcs. + –
Salt - 1.5 tbsp. or to taste + –
Green peas – 1 can + –
Gelatin – 1 package + –

How to cook aspic

We wash the catfish and cut it up if we have a whole small fish. If we already have chopped pieces in front of us, put them immediately in a saucepan and fill half a finger with water.

Let it cool at room temperature, and then take the catfish aspic out into the cold. In 3-4 hours it will be ready to serve.

Catfish head aspic

This recipe is not bad because it does not use gelatin. Yes, and you need to allocate a lot of time for it.

We cut up the catfish, cut off the fins and head, cut off the meat from the backbone and put everything in a pan.
Fill with water so that it covers the pieces, add salt and put on fire.
Meanwhile, peel the onions and carrots. If they are small, it is better to take a couple of pieces - this will make the taste more intense.
Bring everything to a boil, then turn down the heat - it should be quite small and add vegetables cut into quarters (if they are large), 2-3 bay leaves, 6-7 dark peppercorns, 1-2 cm of celery root or parsley Let it cook for another hour.
Chop the remaining meat into portions and after time add to the head and fins.
Again, after boiling, remove any foam if it arises and keep it under the lid for 20 - 25 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces.
At this time, set 2-3 chicken eggs or a dozen quail eggs to boil - they will be useful for decoration.
Then we take out the meat and cool it, and cook the broth for another 15 minutes, after which we filter it. Turn off the eggs and also cool.

Place the pieces of cooked catfish on portioned plates or in one deep, beautiful dish.

How to decorate catfish aspic

1. Pour the cooled broth over them so that it covers them, and put them in the cold.

2. Meanwhile, cut the chicken eggs into quarters or lengthwise into thin slices, and the quail eggs into halves.

Catfish aspic

Having tasted a huge number of dishes from mustachioed fish, for contrast, you can create a jellied catfish. The process is simple and not very troublesome. Little time is required for production. After cooling, the best appetizer can be served. There is no need to eat defrosted fish for jellied dishes.

Catfish meat is a pleasant pinkish color, tender in taste, reminiscent of chicken meat and does not smell of fish at all. The heads of large specimens also contain a lot of meat, enough to make jelly. A cool appetizer - catfish jellied - is good in hot weather and will pleasantly diversify the table for any special occasion.

Due to the extreme tenderness of the meat of boiled catfish, it is easier to pour the jelly into small portioned containers; otherwise, when serving, it is difficult to cut the aspic into even pieces.

How to prepare catfish aspic

The fish is cleaned by removing the scales. Gutted, removing the insides. All excess is cut off: heads, fins, gills, tails. Large fish are cut into pieces about three cm wide.

For the broth, use classic onions and carrots; if desired, add other roots - parsley, celery.

Suitable for decoration: hard-boiled eggs, green peas, lemon, sprigs and leaves of herbs, olives, tomato pieces.

When serving, garnish with additional fresh herbs and can be served with seasonings.

Recipe for catfish aspic with the addition of agar or gelatin

Carrots - 1-2 pcs.
Onion - 1 pc.
Food agar or gelatin - 20 grams per 1 liter of broth
Lemon - 1 pc.
Bay leaf - 1-2 pcs.
Black and aromatic pepper - a few peas
Parsley (greens)
Salt to taste.

The carrots are washed using a vegetable brush, but not peeled.

Boil vegetable broth from onions, carrots and parsley sprigs for 20 minutes. Add catfish fillets. Cook for 15 minutes, removing the foam so that the broth is clear. Shortly before the end of cooking, add salt, peppercorns, and bay leaves. The finished fish and carrots are removed and the onions are thrown away. The broth is strained. Agar is carefully stirred in a small amount, pouring in a narrow stream. The diluted liquid is poured into the broth and brought to a boil. Gelatin is previously soaked for an hour in cool water.

Pieces of fish are placed in a bowl for jelly, carrots are added, and the broth is carefully poured. After cooling, decorate with lemon rings and herbs.

Recipe for catfish jellied with tender and shaking jelly

How to prepare catfish aspic without gelatin? Cook the broth much longer.

There are no gelling substances in catfish meat. Therefore, the broth is made from everything cut off (see above) - from bony parts and removed skin. Add onion and carrots. You will have to cook for almost 2.5 hours, then gelatin will not be useful (take out the carrots earlier, when they are ready). A third of the initial volume of water must remain.

In the same broth, after straining and boiling again, cook the fillet pieces. 15–20 minutes is enough. It is important not to overcook them so that they retain their shape and do not fall apart when pulled out.

Remove the fish, pour in the broth, and cool. The jelly comes out tender and trembling.

Recipe for jellied catfish head

For 1 kg of heads you will need:

Onion - 1 head
Carrots - 1 pc.
Gelatin - 7-8 g (or without it!)
Salt, black pepper, herbs, lemon, several olives.

Gelatin is poured with water to swell (about 100 ml).

The heads are poured with cool water and boiled. From time to time remove the foam that appears. After boiling, add onions and carrots. Then cook over low heat for 40 minutes. The carrots and heads are removed and left to cool.

Strain the broth, add gelatin, pepper and salt, let it boil again and remove from heat.

The heads are cut, the meat from them and all edible parts (eye sockets, cheeks) are laid out on a dish, decorated with carrots and herbs, and pitted olives are added. Pour in broth. The frozen jelly is decorated with herbs and lemon slices.

Smoked catfish jellied recipe

It’s easy to create smoked catfish on your own using our recipes and tips:

Or buy ready-made fillets in the store.

For one serving you need:

Smoked catfish fillet – 80 g
Broth – 120 ml
Eggs (preferably quail) - 3 pcs.
Cream 33% - 2 tbsp. l.
Creamy horseradish - 10 g
Greens, gelatin.

Cook the broth from the tails and heads left after cutting the fish. Add dissolved gelatin.

Scatter pieces of smoked catfish fillet in a bowl for aspic, breaking them first. Place halves of boiled eggs and greens between them. Pour in warm broth.

In a small amount of the remaining broth, dilute the horseradish with cream and pour over the jelly. After hardening (at least 4 hours), decorate with fresh herbs.

The catfish head aspic is decorated with thinly sliced tomatoes and bell peppers.

Happy making everyone and bon appetit!

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Catfish head aspic

step by step recipe with photos

There is a worldview that catfish meat smells like mud because it lives in water, where there are a lot of aquatic plants and feeds almost on carrion. But catfish are carnivorous fish, and they feed on small inhabitants of the reservoir. Only in adulthood does it eat fish and small waterfowl.

Catfish meat is very tasty and tender. It doesn't smell fishy at all. It can be compared in taste even to perfectly boiled chicken. The color of catfish meat is pale pink.

Catfish is a meaty fish. Even in the head of a catfish there is so much meat that you can prepare a good dish that can be placed on a ceremonial table. For example, create a filler.

But for this dish, the head of a large catfish is suitable, because the larger the catfish, the larger its head, which means there will be a lot of meat.

It is best to put the aspic into small molds and serve in portions. Therefore, if you prepare the aspic in a large form, then later it will be difficult for you to cut it into beautiful pieces, because the boiled catfish meat is very tender and does not cut under the knife, but is crushed.

To prepare catfish aspic, you will need:

catfish head (1-2 kg)
1 onion
salt
15 g gelatin
1 carrot
parsley
several pitted olives
ground black pepper
lemon

How to prepare aspic from a catfish head

1. Wash the catfish’s head thoroughly and cut out all the places that make you suspicious.

2. Place the head in a large saucepan (you can take the lower part of a pressure cooker) and fill it with cool water. Bring to a boil. Skim off the foam. Dip the peeled onion and carrots into the broth. Add salt and cook at low simmer for 40 minutes.

Jellied catfish head recipe

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS	WEIGHT	CALORIES (kcal per 100 g)
Fish	1 PC.	144
Bulb onions	2 pcs.	43
Carrot	1 PC.	33
Testicle	1 PC.	157
Gelatin	taste
Spices	taste

Step-by-step recipe for making Jellied catfish head with photo

And the food is prepared like this:

Next, put a container of water on the fire, add peeled onions and carrots here, cook the broth, and be sure to skim off the foam.

Then strain the broth, put the fish in it, and cook for half an hour.

Next, take out the catfish, remove the bones, and divide into small pieces.

Place fish pieces, carrots cut into circles, half a boiled egg into the bowls, and add parsley.

Soak the gelatin and let it swell. Add the swollen gelatin mixture to the broth, stir, set aside for half an hour, and strain later.

Now pour the broth into the container with the rest of the food, cool, garnish with herbs, put the jellied catfish head in the refrigerator, and in the morning you can enjoy this delicacy!

Video recipe Jellied catfish head

Fish aspic in a slow cooker

We would also like to tell you about a simple recipe for fish aspic in a slow cooker. Believe me, preparing such a delicacy is a pleasure!

So, in order to prepare a dish according to this recipe, you will need:

Ingredients:
salmon-400 g;
catfish head - 1 pc.;
seasoning for fish - to taste;
onions - 1 pc.;
carrots-4 pcs.;
water-1.5 l.;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
allspice - 5 pcs.;
parsley, lemon, red pepper, salt - to taste.

This is how the delicacy is prepared:

Add carrots and onions cut into large pieces here, add spices, aromatic peppers, bay leaves, pour in water, set the “Soup” mode to the working position, set the timer for 15 minutes. Later, the “Stew” mode will be useful for you; cook the food for another two hours.

When the indicated time has elapsed, cool the broth; later it must be strained and poured into the bowl again. Place the salmon cut into pieces here, add salt, continue cooking in the “Soup” mode for 20 minutes.

Then cool the broth again, divide the fish into pieces, and transfer to a wonderful container.

Place lemon slices, carrot slices, peppers here, fill everything with broth, garnish with parsley, and put it in the refrigerator to harden. That's it, the cool stuff is ready!