Carp Head Fish Soup

The head is the part of a carp most often thrown away, and it is precisely the part that makes the richest broth. Bone, cartilage and fat from the head do what fillet cannot: the soup tastes thick without a single thickener and without a stock cube. So heads from your own catch are worth keeping — in the freezer, in a bag of their own, for soup.

If you have no heads, trimmings will do: head, tail and backbone left after filleting, or a whole small fish cut into portions. Small carp is actually better here — more bone means more body in the broth.

Two things must come out of the head without exception: the gills and the eyes. Gills are the filter the fish pushes water through, and everything it strained out stays in them. Leave them and the broth turns cloudy with a muddy aftertaste. Eyes burst as they cook and cloud the soup too.

The head is not the only thing left of a carp after filleting. The roe makes fried roe with onion, and the fillet itself goes most easily into carp in batter. One fish covers three dishes and nothing is thrown away.

Caloric content: 85kcal

Notes

• The vegetables are boiled first and then thrown out. This is not a mistake in the recipe: in half an hour the carrot, onion and leek give the water everything they have, and from then on they only fall apart. Fish soup is a clear broth, not a vegetable stew.
• Rinse the starch off the potatoes before they go in. Cut them, cover with water, let them stand, drain and rinse hard under the tap. Starch clouds the broth more surely than the gills do.
• The onion need not be peeled all the way. Take off the outer layer and trim the ends; the skin left on gives the broth a golden colour.
• The fish goes into a finished base, not into cold water. Five minutes over low heat, then the potatoes, then fifteen more. Longer is pointless: the flesh starts leaving the bone and drifts through the broth in shreds.
• Herbs go into a switched-off pot. A minute of boiling knocks the scent out of parsley and dill completely.

Careful with the bones

Carp has fine intermuscular bones, and the head holds plenty of them. This soup is not eaten in a hurry and is not given to small children — for them, strain the broth and pick the meat off by hand. That is not over-caution: a fish bone in the throat is the single most common reason people end up at a doctor after a home dinner with the day's catch.

Recipe and photos — kolizhanka.net.ua

Questions and answers

Can you make fish soup from carp heads?

Yes, and it is the heads that give the richest broth: bone, cartilage and fat from the head make the soup taste thick without any thickener. There is one condition — the gills and eyes must come out of every head, or the broth turns cloudy with a muddy aftertaste.

Why does carp soup come out cloudy?

Two reasons, both preventable. The first is gills left in: they are the filter the fish pushes water through. The second, and the bigger one, is starch from the potatoes — cut them, let them stand in water, drain and rinse under a strong stream before they go into the pot.

How long do you cook carp head soup?

The cooking itself takes about 50 minutes, or about 75 minutes including cleaning the fish and vegetables. The vegetable base simmers for half an hour, then the vegetables come out, the fish goes in for 5 minutes over low heat, then the potatoes for another 15. At the end the soup rests under a lid for 5 minutes.

Why are the vegetables boiled and then thrown away?

In half an hour the carrot, onion and leek give the water everything they have, and after that they only fall apart. Fish soup is a clear broth, not a vegetable stew, so the boiled vegetables are lifted out with a slotted spoon before the fish goes in.

Can children eat carp head soup?

Small children only if the broth is strained and the meat picked off by hand. Carp has fine intermuscular bones and the head holds plenty of them; a fish bone in the throat is the most common reason people end up at a doctor after a home dinner with the day's catch.