The season of greatest consumption of oily fish is from spring to well into summer. Species such as anchovies, horse mackerel and mackerel are available to everyone, and it is convenient that we buy them, because they are full of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Added to these advantages is how tasty they are and all the possibilities they offer in the kitchen.
Perhaps the only drawback they have are the bones, although they are not the fish that present the most. If they still become an obstacle, Karlos Arguiñano has explained the best trick to get rid of them, or at least in the case of anchovies.
The chef from Gipuzkoa tells in the Cocina Abierta program (Antena 3) that it is usual for them to be cleaned at the fishmonger. If not, the fishmonger can be asked to do so. But those who have forgotten can remove them quickly and easily at home with the following advice.
First you must squeeze the head of the anchovy, says Arguiñano, insert your finger through the bottom and stretch, so that we take both the guts and the head. And so with all. If the few remaining spines bother us, they can be easily cut with scissors, as indicated in the video.
Following this method, we will have clean and boneless anchovies to prepare the dishes that we like the most. We can pickle them, add them to a salad or tortilla, and prepare them salted, as explained in this recipe.
Methods for removing spines may vary depending on the species. In the case of salmon, the most effective trick is the one proposed by Chicote in one of the videos on his YouTube channel.
The Madrid chef, presenter of the program Pesadilla en la cocina, assures that it is very useful to resort to tweezers to remove thorns, which can be found in any store that sells physical or online kitchen utensils.
Chicote advises that, once we begin to remove the thorns, we do not leave them in any way scattered on the counter, since it is possible that some end up slipping where it should not. It is best to pour them into a bowl with water, which will also be useful for cleaning the tongs.
Another of the cook's recommendations is that we remove the thorns in the same direction they are placed, and not in the opposite direction. If we do it in this last way, it is easier for us to tear the meat, and we are not interested at all.
"What we do is take it and pull it in the same direction so that the loin at the end stays exactly the same as we had it," he concludes.
