Baked Wild Carp Steaks in Mustard Sauce

Wild carp is the ancestor of the mirror carp, and the difference shows on the table. Its flesh is firmer and less fatty, with a more definite taste: this is a fish that builds muscle in a current, not in a pond. The bones, meanwhile, are large and few — you can see them and set them aside, unlike the fine bones of bream or roach.

That is why wild carp is cut across into steaks rather than filleted: the body is thick, the bones are big, and a cross-cut gives even portions that cook at the same rate. A two-kilo fish without its head yields six proper servings.

The wholegrain mustard here is a marinade, not a seasoning. The dense flesh of a wild fish needs something to soften it, and the acid together with the mustard oil does exactly that over half an hour of baking. Paprika gives the crust its colour, mayonnaise supplies the fat that wild carp lacks compared with a pond carp.

Wild carp and pond carp are relatives that behave differently: the fattier carp forgives overcooking and is more often taken for Carp in Batter, Pan-Fried. The heads of both go into Carp Head Fish Soup.

Caloric content: 180kcal

Notes

• Wild carp scales are large and firmly attached. Scraping them off with a knife is slow and messy; it is easier to take the skin off with the scales still on — it barely affects the finished dish and halves the work.
• Steaks 2.5–3 cm thick. Thinner ones dry out, thicker ones will not be ready in 35 minutes. The source warns about this directly: the thicker the pieces, the more time they need.
• Mix the sauce separately and apply it generously. Brushing on mustard and mayonnaise in turn gives patchy coverage and an uneven crust.
• Grease the tray without fail. Wild carp is leaner than catfish and will stick otherwise; the mustard sauce does not help here — it stays on top.
• Baking paper is not a substitute for oil. Contact with hot metal is the point: it gives the underside the crispness the steaks are baked uncovered for.

How wild carp differs from pond carp in the kitchen

Pond carp is fattier, softer and forgives being left too long in the oven — it is hard to dry out. Wild carp dries out easily: it has less internal fat, and ten extra minutes will turn a juicy steak into a dry one. The timer therefore matters more here than in most fish recipes, and it is worth checking five minutes earlier than expected — by whether the flesh comes away from the backbone.

Recipe and photos — kolizhanka.net.ua