Best way to clean a Pike?

[Pike Pulling]

Any suggestions for cleaning that meaty Northern Pike just pulled from under the crisp cold ice? Mmmmm if only they didnt have that darn Y-Bone! also how do you deal with all that slime that never ends?

[mudpuppy]

http://www.ontariofishing.net/news/newsmar2001-4.htm

Here's a good link. I do it the same.

[Icefishingmaniac]

We usually fillet them like a walleye and leave the bones in since we pickle most of the Pike we catch. The vinegar will dissolve all the bones very well.


Icefishingmaniac

[Pickling Pike]

>We usually fillet them like a walleye and leave the bones in
>since we pickle most of the Pike we catch. The vinegar will
>dissolve all the bones very well.
>
>
>Icefishingmaniac

HEY COULD YOU TELL ME HOW YOU PICKLE THEM! IRONICALLY I JUST TOOK UP PICKLING ABOUT A WEEK AGO. THANKS.

[castlerocky]

I GIVE THE SLIMEY THINGS TOO MY FRIEND LET HIM DEAL WITH THEM.HE ALSO PICKLES THEM .

[caster]

If you wrap them in newspaper for 10-15 minutes they will come out dry with no slime. The paper absorbs the slime. The paper does stick a little but I would rather have this than the slime all over.

Caster

[Fish For Fun]

Here’s what you’ll need:

-a jug of white vinegar
-white sugar
-a small jar/box of pickling spice
-a box of pickling salt
-cheesecloth (**optional, see side note below**)
-several wide-mouthed Mason jars with caps and lids
-a couple bottles of cheap white zinfandel wine
-onions of size/variety to your liking

Step A
1) Fish meat should be filleted off the carcass as you’d fillet any fish for frying, and skin removed. Cut fish into bite-sized pieces to your liking. I usually cut mine pretty small and quite thin. My pieces are usually about ½ the size of a book of matches, but that’s just me and is more work. Bones do not need to be removed from bony fish like pike, suckers….etc. They completely dissolve in the pickling brine solution during Step A. Keep fish species separate.

2) Sprinkle 5/8 cup of pickling salt over each quart of raw fish. Cover with white vinegar, and let stand in refrige for 5 full days, stir occasionally. (To make things simple, I usually just use a stainless or glass bowl, dump in the fish and add salt according to the amount of fish. Then I cover with aluminum foil and stir daily. Personal preference. I use PLENTY of salt to ensure fish are cured, and bones are completely dissolved. Fish will start to whiten, and may bubble or fizz a little before you’re even done stirring all the salt in.)

3) On the end of the 5th day, discard pickling brine and rinse WELL with very cold water. This flushes out all the nasty stuff from the pickling brine. I usually pour off the brine, rinse the bowl, put them back in the bowl and let the tap run cold over them for 5-10 minutes.

Step B
1) Put fish into jars loosely, with alternating layers of cut up onions.
2) In a large kettle and over LOW heat, combine 2 ¼ cups of white vinegar, 1qt of wine and 3 cups of white sugar. Heat slowly until sugar is dissolved, but be careful not to scorch the sugar. The amount of wine solution you need is determined by how much fish you have, how tightly and how full you fill the jars, etc. You may need to double, triple…..the batch to have enough wine solution for the amount of fish.
3) (**side note:**) Somewhere before this point, I usually have cut the cheesecloth into about 6x6” squares and pour in a couple large teaspoons of the pickling spice onto the squares and tie up around the spice with string of some kind to make mini “spice balls,” much like a tea bag. Again, just a personal preference, as I don’t like picking peppercorns, spice leaves, etc, out of my fish and teeth. If you choose to go this route, put the spice ball in the jar first so it’s on the bottom, and then put fish/onion layers on top, so spice ball is completely submerged as it may float. If this seems too much of a pain, just dump about 5/8 oz of pickling spice into the jar of fish/onions before you add the wine solution, and be done with it. Either will do the same thing.
4) Cover fish/onion layers with hot wine solution, put lids and caps on jars quickly and tightly, and immediately refrigerate for 5 more days, invert jars daily to mix everything, and enjoy. If done right, the jars usually seal. Heating the solution helps the sugar dissolve, and allows the jars to seal, but don’t scorch the sugar. A slow heating process that stops short of a full boil is all that is necessary. The fish will last in the refridge a long, long time. As in months and months.

Email with any questions. This is really very easy once you do it a couple times. I actually do it from memory. I just make it somewhat complicated because I have added my personal preferences in here to the recipe I was given. I usually use suckers, redhorse or pike for this, since they’re readily available and are bony. You can use whatever kind of non-oily fish you want.
I promise you it will be the best pickled fish you’ve ever had. I don’t even eat store bought pickled herring anymore, and I used to love it.

Good luck,

[REW]

1. Don't let the fish freeze. Keep them in a bucket in the warm house. No freezing, no slime

2. Clean the northerns as you would a walleye. Don't worry about the Y bones.

3. After frying up the northerns in exactly the same way as the walleye - run a fork down the lateral line. The fillet that is on the top side of the fillet will pull off the Y bones and there will not be a single bone in the upper fillet. Then, simply grab each Y bone and pull it out of the lower fillet 1/2. You will end up with a fillet with 0 bones and you will lose 0 fillet.

Any time that you try to cut out the Y bones, you end up with a fillet with pieces cut out and you end up losing meat.

Take care
REW

[eyewinder]

REW:

I'm anxious to try this! I'll be digging out the tipups this afternoon.

Thnx!
eyewinder