Walleye and Pike

[meat hunter]

Hello everyone. Going ice fishing next week in Northern Minnesota, Red Lake. Hoping to bring back a mess of Walleye and Northern Pike. Anyone care to pass some of their recipes my way, I'd be happy to try them out. Thanks.

Todd

 

[dforbes]

todd,
sorry I really don't have any recipes, just wanted to say good luck on your trip. sounds like a great time.

 

[DanMcG]

I'd too would be interested in a smoke recipe for walleye. I always was told they weren't fatty enough to smoke well.
Thanks, Dan

 

[slanted88]

Just me, why can't they take a lil bath in EVOO after a brine? Then some rub. Don't have them kind of fishes in Florida.

 

[cowgirl]

Maybe erain will chime in...I'm sure he has some good ideas for Walleye and Pike. Anyway, I think he probably does. :)

 

[erain]

jeanie alerted me someone was lookin for a walleye smoke. this is just my opinion but the fish you want to smoke are the ones with a high fat content. whitefish,laketrout,salmon,tulibees,other trouts and chars, and yes even carp(havent done any in a long time but small ones gotten at ice out in the spring do well) but i did sort of smoke cook some in butter and were fantastic. just make sure you watching for that flake to start. nothing worse than overcooked fish... here a link if interested.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...032#post245032

 

[dysartsmoker]

Smoke walleye??????????????????????????????????????

 

[meat hunter]

Hey thanks erain. Yeah I pretty much knew about fish with a higher fat content being better candidates for smoking. I didn't know how smoke would affect a fish like walleye or pike. The lake were going to is for the most part, a walleye, pike crappie and jumbo perch lake. More than likely I will end up cooking them as I normally do. I might take one walleye and try it, just to see how it goes. For sure though tis Spring, my boy and I are going down to our local stream and get some small suckers for smoking. I know those will be good. Thanks for your input, it is appreciated.

 

[meat hunter]

Yeah I know. My norm is to broil them or bake em, sometimes batter and deep fry. I figured someone on this forum tried it. I am going to try one, just to see how it turns out. By the way, I posted a recipe for you on your post, "Breakfast sausage". I think you will like.


Todd

 

[erain]

yep your right, the best is always fresh caught!!!!

 

[cowgirl]

erain.....that looks awesome!

 

[curious aardvark]

hmm. I've smoked trout.
I figure if you brush with butter and some herbs and smoke them in an inpermeable basket (I line my smoker baskets with reuseable baking sheet, but foil would do just as well) they'll cook in their own juices and certainly shouldn't dry out. Also don't smoke at high temps. stick to around 160-180.

Can;t see any reason why any fish shouldn't smoke well like that :-)

For the pike I'd try dutchs maple glaze, used to eat pike as a kid and the flavour would work really well with the glaze, and keep the juices to bulk up the remainder of the glaze for a table sauce.

 

[fishawn]

What erain did in the hot oil, Can't beat it!

 

[twistertail]

Last time I had pike was up in the BWCA and they went right from the lake to the hot griddle over the fire!! We just put some butter on the griddle and then sprinkled seasoning on the fillets, had some with lemon pepper, some with BBQ flavored salt, some just plain salt and pepper, but man were they great. They went from flopping to frying in a matter of minutes!

 

[riverdale]

I've smoked 'hammerhandle' pike (the small diameter ones), usually over applewood. These are smoked (like suckers) because they are really boney, and smoking them is the easiest way to eat them.

I would fix walleye some other way, tho

 

[meat hunter]

Hi there. What is a hammerhandle pike? never hear of that before. Yeah Im going to filet most of the fish, but I think there has got to be a way to smoke a low fat fish like walleye. Ever since I joined this forum, I've been thinking, "What else can I smoke?" LOL. Hell, I'd even wrap an old sneaker in bacon and smoke it if I thought for a minute it would turn out

. You never know till ya try.

 

[riverdale]

A lot of lakes I used to fish in had no minimum size for pike (to reduce the population). Hammer handles were just that, pike that looked like hammer handles!



IMO, walleye are not fatty (or oily) enough to take well to smoking.

I smoke salmon, pike, suckers, whitefish, trout (other than brookies, which other than Grayling are true trout, rainbows, browns and lakers are actually salmon), smelt, splake and perch (sunfish like bluegill, pumpkin seed, etc)

I might try carp one day*wink*

 

[minn.bill]

Ive smoked walleye and crappies for years.for those of us that dont care for an oilierfish they are perfectfor smoking. I just cover them overnight ina mortens sugercure rinse off in the morning and smoke with applechips .no definite time table just until thier flakey. Everybody should try it youll love them.