We encourage you to follow CDC recommendations. Keep it iced in a cooler until you're ready to clean, gut or fillet it. When the oil begins to shimmer, it’s ready. discussion from the Chowhound Home Cooking, Cleaning food community. Don't eat anything caught from it. The ribs are edible, but make sure none of them go down the wrong pipe. Yes, or at least usually. The USDA maintains that the only sure way to eliminate bacteria is to cook chicken to the proper temperature, and these rules extend to other types of meat and fish as well. Rinse the cavity out with a good stream of water and wash the skin. Only clean and gut a fish if its longer than 3 inches (7.6 cm). It is not recommended to cook with the ice that you used for fishing. Scale the fish by scraping gently with a dull knife. Learn how to register your vessel, boating laws and more. To learn how to fillet fish the easy way, follow the filleting fish instructions below. HOW TO FILLET A FISH: STEPS. If you're not going to eat your catch, unhook it carefully—while it's still in the water—and release it using proper catch and release practices. Cleaning a fish is quite simple, though it isn't always pleasant. Yes they can, but it would be better if you freeze it for two days to remove any bacteria before consumption. Once the fish is dead you can clean it. To clean a fish, lay down some newspaper to protect your work surface and use a dull knife or spoon to scrape off the scales, working from the tail to the head. You want a shallow cut so that you can pull them out intact, preventing messy (and unappetizing) spillage. Insert the knife tip into the fish's belly near the anal opening and move the blade up along the belly, cutting to the head. Contact the state Game and Wildlife Resource Department. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. It's best to keep the fish cleaning out of your kitchen. Then pat the fish dry with a paper towel. The fins will taste like potato chips if they are put into a frying pan with butter and flour. The inside should be sparkling clean before you are sealing them up to freeze! If you're going to eat your catch, you have to keep it fresh, even before you begin cleaning your fish. This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Subscribe to our Newsletter and get all the information you need to learn, plan, and equip for your next fishing adventure. Some people have accidentally eaten the wrong tropical fish. As it relates to bacteria, once you cook the salmon to the safe minimum Internal Temperature of 145°F (63°C), all the bacteria should be destroyed. These fish, in particular, have a thick, unappealing skin that most people remove before cooking. Remove the head if you like, trout are often cooked with the head on. Twenty to 50 percent of a bag of mussels' weight is shell, depending on the type of mussel, the season and the way the mussels were farmed. Cook it at a higher temp. Do you usually wash your chicken in the sink before cooking it? The lake water could be a little dirty. Start by scaling the fish. I am going to a lake with my friends. Crayfish--also known as crawfish or crawdads--are small, freshwater crustaceans related to lobsters. This is not necessarily to remove bacteria, but for other reasons. Then, put them in a pot of cold water, add a bit of salt, and put them in the fridge for at least half an hour. If you are planning on cooking your fish whole or if you are going to steak it, rather than filleting it, you must learn how to gut a fish. Get both sides, the top, and bottom of the fish. Invest in a good, sharp fillet knife and a fillet glove to protect your hands. But if it a farm lake where the farmer uses a lot of fertilizers or a lake from rural home runoff, there could be raw sewage flowing into the lake. Now holding the fish with your thumb in the space underneath the gills, insert the point of your shears into the hole in the bottom of the fish's belly called the vent (although you can probably think of one or two other names for it) … Insert the knife tip into the fish's belly near the anal opening... Keep the knife blade shallow so you don't puncture the intestines. Before you get dirty, grab 16-ounces of fresh, clean water for rinsing and find the flattest hard surface possible for your workspace. Before throwing them in the pot, rinse them thoroughly under running water, and that will get rid of a lot of the sediment. Do you like this content? Some fish have very sharp teeth, be careful if you're holding a fish by the head while cleaning your fish. That said, after you've got the first one done and have tasted the glory of freshly-caught fish, you'll forget all about the bit of blood and guts. Different fish have different textures, from delicate to firm. Last Updated: October 15, 2020 Check out our favorite cooking methods and recipes as well. Stainless steel or cast iron cookware is best for cooking fish on the stovetop. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/f\/ff\/Clean-a-Fish-Step-1-Version-4.jpg\/v4-460px-Clean-a-Fish-Step-1-Version-4.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/f\/ff\/Clean-a-Fish-Step-1-Version-4.jpg\/aid197092-v4-728px-Clean-a-Fish-Step-1-Version-4.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"