Cooking your catch.

[FlyBoy]

(I'm obviously bored, 2 posts in a row)

I'm just curious if anyone has any 'special' way they cook their catch? Our standard meal is fillet's dipped in beer batter or shore lunch, and throw it in a outdoor deep fryer. As soon as that is done, the potatoes go in for the same treatment. The meal is very good, but I should consider trying something new some time. Any ideas?

-John

[REW]

We have cooked our fish this way for years:
1. We don't use the deep fryer - too messy, tough to control the heat - and uses a lot of oil. We simply use a large electric fry pan, with a layer of grease in the bottom. We can control the heat better, and it uses much less grease.

2. We prep the fish as follows:

a. Wash and dry the fillets.
b. Mix up a few whole eggs, and beat well.
c. Take a bunch of ordinary saltine crackers - first crush,
then run through a food processor to turn into a very fine
cracker flour.

d. Take each washed and dried fillet and drop in the egg
mixture.
e. Take each egg coated fillet - and roll in the cracker
flour mixture.

3. Drop in the grease and with the grease temt set at 375 degrees cook on each side for a few minutes until golden brown.
Don't overcook.

I have tried all of the methods that you speak of - beer batter, shore lunch, and others; both deep fried, and fry panned -- and my friends, and family all agree - that the egg and cracker mix outtastes all of the above.

Take care and emjoy -

As a matter of fact - my wife just fixed a mess of walleys for my grandson and ourselves yesterday.

Great taste.

Rew

[BD]

Welcome to the bored club.
The only commercial breading I use is "Bookbinders Fish N' Seafood Bread Crumbs". I have two other homemade coating mix recipes (one handed down from an old Ontario guide) that I am thinking of marketing, so no recipe for those (it's a secret!).
With the "Bookbinders" you can coat the fillets dry, dip the fillets in egg then coat, or (my wifes favorite) after coating in egg and crumbs repeat the egg dip and crumbs for a heavier coating. The potatoes get started before the fish because they take longer. There are three ways we do them. Wash and cut the spuds into 3/8 or 1/2 inch slices and deep fry until they are done, then shake on some season salt. The second way is to coat the potatoe slices before frying. The third way is old fashion raw fries. With the fish and potatoes my fishing partner likes beans (he wants to keep us regular on our Canadian trips but we have made him change from beans at every meal because :) ). Whatever vegie you like with fish goes with the meal. We take salad fixings along also. It's nice to have a good salad to start the meal.
Pat (mr. beans) and I are now cooks emeritus. We have a fireman that goes with us and does most of the cooking now. We still help out by coming in about a half an hour before the rest of the crew and helping get the meal on. By doing the cooking we can have the others clean up our mess while we finish our dinners and get out on the lake for the evening.

"What an idiot is man to believe that abstaining from (meat) and eating fish, which is so much more delicate and delicious, constitutes fasting." --- Napoleon Bonaparte

[GORD]

Enjoy the true/honest flavor of the fish. add nothing. just steam the fillet. serve with a plain boiled new potato and a little butter. (like you would serve lobster).

[Golden]

Check out the "cook your catch" link from the mainpage....lots of ideas there.
Scott

[BD]

I agree with you about the pan frying vs. deep frying except for the fact that, when the crew we go with to Canada in June consists of 24 guys, pan frying takes to long. We set up a special kitchen under a tarp with two gas fired cookers. The cookers are homemade by two of our group, a machine company owner and a pattern maker. It takes only about 15 mins. from the time the first egg is cracked in the morning till breakfast is served for everyone in the group. For the fish lunches one fryer is used for the potatoe slices (and sometimes onion rings) and the other is used for fish. If you don't burn the oil it can be strained after it has cooled and used over.
A word of warning :) Don't let a rookie throw out the old grease in the bushes by the houseboat! That is unless you want to be visited by a 350+ lb. bear! :D

[Dick]

I second REW's method only I use a batter of crushed saltines and pancake flour mixed half and half. Set your fry pan at 380 degrees and use lawry's season salt and pepper to season.

[Greasy]

Healthier too!!! The fat intake on a weeks fishing trip to Canada means I have to fast for a month.

[Mean Mike]

I have used the same method only subsituting crushed corn flakes or wheaties for the crackers. yummmmmmmmy, is it lunch time yet?

[Boatnut]

I coated some filets last night with walleye central's "cajun" breading, then dipped in egg and rolled in finely crushed ritz crackers. Threw them in my DeLonghi deep fryer. Excellent!
Like Scott said, check out the recipe link on the mainpage.
Also use your search engine and type in "walleye recipes". you'll be surprized how many come up!

Mike(boatnut)

[BIGRAY]

HEY FRYGUY
To try to eat lite for health reasons, try baking the fish after coating them with Italion bread crumbs. We do the same for the grill. Spray the grill with pam or what ever and you don't even have to turn them. Works with all fish.That is heart healthy. Every so ofton we do the deep frying just for something different. BIG RAY

[Box]

We do it over the grill and it tastes great and no mess.

Put tin foil "boat" (just has corners and sides turned up a bit to hold juices) over coals, then use butter if you want, or just lemon juice, then put on filets. You can get as fancy or plain as you want from there. We like a bit o parmasaen cheese after flipping the filets. Put a lemon slice over it and that's it. Takes about 3-5 minutes per side depending upon coals. Italian dressing sometimes can spice it up a bit.

When you are done, crunch up the tin foil and head back out fishing :)

Box
MN

[Dave]

REW,

One other tip you might want to consider. I use the same method
as you do, except I shake the fillets in flour before the egg and crackers. It really seems to seal them nicely.

Try it out!

Dave.

[water_wolf]

in place of crackers try bran cereal sometime....DLISH!

Rich

[The Great Guide]

Day 1 & 2 can't wait to eat em. Mix will fry up enough for 6 guys. I mix it at home and bring it along.

1 box Uncle Jacks Fish Mix - Available in most grocery stores.
1 tube of Saltine Crakers smashed to powder.
Ample coarse ground black pepper.
Tbl of salt
Any other spices you think are good. I say the more the better.

Shake it up

Cut fish into 2 X 2 inch chunks

Thourghly mix two eggs and a can of beer and submerge the fish.
Roll the fish in the mix and shake off.

Put 3/4 to 1 inch of oil in skillet and heat to 375.

Fry till done and golden.


Day 3 & 4 when you don't care if you see another walleye (just kidding). This is great for shore lunch or camping.

Preboil some potatos. Chunk them up in 1/2 inch squares.

Chop up some onions, and green peppers.
Bring a big bottle of catsup and mayo salt and pepper. Maybe some cajun seasoning

Several whole fish fillets

Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. Place a grill over the fire.

Use a large piece of foil so you can completely wrap the fish and veggies. Double layer would be better. Oil it. We make one package per person. Layer potatoes, fish, onions, green pepper, and cover the entire top with lots of catsup. I mean lots of catsup. Then add ample mayo. Salt and pepper. Cook for 20 to 30 mins.

You might think this sounds gross, but the fish is excellent and the catsup and mayo blend to make a great sauce. Warning use lots of catsup and mayo.

I like to do this on day 3 or 4 when I starting to get greased out. TGG

[BRW]

Try cajuning your walleye. Outstanding and very simple. Take some of Emeril Lagasse's Essence(recipe on his site at Emeril.com) and coat a cleaned fillet. Take a cast iron skillet and heat it up so it's hotter than h... Take a very small amount of oil, just enough to barely coat the bottom w/ a paper towel, and throw the fillets in. Turn when blackened on one side. That cajun spice is outstanding on walleye--even guys who aren't wild about anything but battered walleye ask for it over the fried. Can't keep it off their plates.

[Boatnut]

BRW,
can you give me the complete URL for Emeril's site? couldnt get there.
thanks
Mike(boatnut)

[ETT]

One of the really great things about walleyes is the fact that you can prepare them any way you'd like. I tell people all the time, use them in any favorite recipe for fish, they'll be fine.

At Port Clinton there's a little fish house called Jolly Rogers. They will prepare your fresh caught walleyes for you. Bring them in filleted ofcourse, and they will fry them for your group. They serve them with your choice of french fries or home made oinion rings, slaw, and a roll.

Actually there are several restaurants in Port Clinton that do this... Nates, Jiimy's Gotcha and The Golden Lattern. With all the excitement about the RCL Tournament I thought this may be of interest.

Hope to see WC friends there.

[Gray Wolf]

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