Stuffed Pike

This dish is part of Jewish cuisine. Stuffed pike is a very delicious and beautiful dish. It turns out that preparing it is not as difficult as it may seem. Many housewives might argue that it requires skill to skin the fish in one piece without damaging it, but believe me, it's simple. All you need is desire and time. The fish turns out very tasty. Boiled eggs added to the stuffing give the fish a shrimp flavor, and thanks to adding a piece of salted pork fat to the stuffing, the fish doesn't have a fishy smell or taste.

Fish

1.5-2 lbs (pike)

Bread

3.5 oz (white)

Milk

3/4 cup (or water)

Eggs

4 pcs (3 boiled and 1 raw)

Carrots

2 pcs (boiled)

Salted Pork Fat

2 oz

Rice

3-4 tbsp (cooked)

Dill

1 small bunch

Salt

to taste

Black Pepper

to taste

Sour Cream

To prepare the stuffed pike, clean it and cut off the head. Remove the gills and eyes. Remove the insides without cutting the belly! Thoroughly wash the fish under running water.

Carefully and not hurriedly, use a sharp knife and scissors to remove the skin from the fish whole. Carefully cut the meat under the skin in a circle and pull it off up to the tail fin. Cut off the spine as close to the tail as possible.

Be careful around the fins, it's better if some meat remains on the skin near the fin. Once the skin is removed, scrape off the remaining meat on the skin using a spoon.

Cut the meat from the bones.

Pass the fish fillet through a meat grinder twice. It's important to remove the grinder's blades after the first pass and clean out any fish bones that have accumulated there.

Pass through the meat grinder the boiled eggs, carrots, dill, rice, salted pork fat, soaked in milk and squeezed bread loaf. Add a raw egg, salt, and pepper to taste to the resulting stuffing. Mix everything well.

Fill the pike skin with the stuffing, not too tightly, to prevent it from bursting during baking. You can pierce the skin with toothpicks in several places.

Also fill the pike head with the stuffing.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, lightly grease it with vegetable oil, and beautifully arrange the pike. Brush the fish with sour cream on top and place it in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes.

Once ready, place the stuffed pike on a platter, it looks beautiful on lettuce leaves. Decorate the dish. I inserted lemon slices into the cuts, made a crown from onion. Using mayonnaise, you can create a beautiful pattern on the fish, but I didn't have mayonnaise. I used sour cream and added red currants (you can use cranberries). Serve the fish with fresh vegetables cold.

(5/5)