Fish Products and Byproducts Technology

Unit 13 - Diversified fish products/ value addition

13.2. Fish finger and FIsh cutlet
Fish finger:
Fish finger is a very popular product made out of fish mince. The mince is mixed with 1 percent salt, made into rectangular slabs and frozen. The frozen mince is cut into suitable uniform sizes. These pieces are given a coating of batter followed by breading. The battered and breaded fishfingers are flash-fried in oil maintained at 180-200ºC for about 20 seconds. After cooling the fingers are frozen and stored.
Fish Cutlet:
Fish cutlet is another delicacy product among fish consumers. The basic raw material required for preparation of this product is cooked fish or mince (fish kheema). Kheema is the fish meal picked from whole fish by means of a meat picking machine.
Method of preparation:
Minced fish (65% of the total weight or mix) is cooked in boiling water for 20 min and excess water is removed. Salt and turmeric are added to the cooked meat and mixed well. Boiled and peeled potatoes are made into a paste and mixed with cooked fish. Onion, garlic and chillies are chopped into small sizes and fried in refined oil until golden brown in color and are added to the mixture. The whole mass is heated again for 3 min. Powered spices are added and mixed well. The mix is moulded into 40g size cutlets in oval or round form. They are then dipped in a batter of egg white and rolled over bread crumbs. The cutlets are then flash dried at 160-170ºC for 5sec and then held in frozen storage at -20ºC. Shelf life of frozen cutlet is 22weeks. They are thawed and fried in oil before use.