Mushy Walleye

[BigE]

Mushy walleye......what happened? Fished Winnebago in the Garlic Island area a couple of weeks ago (I have not been able to post as I have been in Canada since). Besides all the white bass, sheephead, a catfish and a smallmouth, I caught 5 walleyes. I cleaned the fish right out of the live well, put them in the refrigerator (in a sealed stainless steel bowl) over night and cooked them the next day. The meat seemed normal when I cleaned them. After cooking (fried them in about 1/2" of canola oil in a frying pan), the meat was mushy. It didn't make any difference how long I cooked them. At first I thought they were not done. Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas why this would happen? Thanks for the help!

[Juls_WI]

It has been my experience that Canola oil does not fry as well as a veggie oil. The trick to good fried fish is to use very hot oil. If it is not hot enough, the oil absorbs into the meat and can make it seem mushy.
Canola oil just doesn't seem to get hot enough for this job.

Just my opinion ...

Juls

[BD]

There are a couple of reasons I can think of for mushy fish.
The filets were left in the oil to long (2 1/2 mins. max).
The oil wasn't hot enough and soaked into the filets.
The water in the livewell is surface water and is much warmer than water at depth. Fish left in the hot water can get soft. Have a good cooler along; bleed the fish and pack them in ice.

[WAeyes]

Was the oil at cooking temperature when you added the fillets? If not you get what I call "low temperature soakage" or " greasy sponge fillets"...heavy, mushy, icky!

[Tennessee Jed]

Walleye filets are perfectly fried at 350 degrees (F). Anything less will not sear the outsides quickly, and your cooking oil will penetrate the meat and make it a mushy mess. Okay for bass, but sacrilege for walleye!

My dad used to put an unlit kitchen match in the oil, which would light when the oil was ready for the fish. Thankfully, Darwin didn't intervene by igniting the oil. Nowadays, I use a deep fryer with a thermostat. Granpappy fryers are only about $20, and are fairly packable if you are "cabin camping". They don't have a thermostat, but automatically heat to around 350 in 15 minutes.

[Borch]

I think the others have nailed it already with the oil not being hot enough. Also do not over load the fryer as this will quickly lower the oil temp and result in soakage. I use canola oil for smaller batches of fish(3-8 people). The canola oil will get hot enough but breaks down quicker than vegtable/corn oil. If I'm planning a fish fry I generally use vegtable oil and get the oil hot and keep it there.

[challenged cook]

Ok let me see if i got this right.
Deep fry fillets in conola or vegie oil preheated to 350 F for no more than 2.5 min.?
I catch and release these buggers all year round but dangit im gonna eat one this weekend. And what's this about the cheeks? or is this a wives tale?.

[derrek]

Anyone who has had them will tell you that the cheeks are the very best part of the walleye. Of course, the fish has to be big enough to get anything from the cheeks (2 pounds or bigger usually). People just cut them out with their filet knives, and some even sharpen spoons, etc. as special tools to get the cheeks out. You can eat them right away with the filets, or save them in a separate bag until you have a bunch - that's a special treat! No foolin'.

[AquaMan]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-09-01 AT 02:34PM (CST)[p]Cheeks are no myth. In fact these are very delicious. 20+" will yield good cheeks. Smaller fish will not. Simply cut the cheek out like you would a bad spot on an apple and peel the skin right off. You will need about a dozen nice sized fish to make an appetizer, but they are sooOOoo good.

The best way to insure your oil is hot enough is to toss in a wooden kitchen match and when that ignites, pull the burnt match out and drop in the fillets. Don't worry. you will not inginte the oil doing this. Perfect every time! 350-400 degrees is a must. Never add filets until you have reached those temps or you risk mushy, greasy fish.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.·´¯° --- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

Eric@crowncomputerinc.com

[Gord]

Chinese cooks have a trick to tell when the oil is hot enough. They dip the end of a chop stick into the oil, if it bubbles the oil is hot enough. Can you imagine what a doughnut would look/taste like if it was cooked in cool oil? It would be a soggy, oil soaked mess. If you use lard, beef fat, peanut oil or crisco you will probably get better results.

[Tennessee Jed]

Cookie:

Try peanut oil--you won't be sorry! Also, I cook filets from 15-18" fish for about four minutes. 2.5 minutes seems a little short to me.

Good luck!

[Tim p]

Peanut oil is THE BEST oil to use. It will take higher temps than any other oil on the market without over heating & smelling (or tasting) burnt. Don't try the kitchen match trick unless you're outside & don't mind waiting till the flames die down to try to clean up the mess& start all over.Drop a bit of batter or even a tiny piece of fillet into the oil,if it bubbles up like mad -the oil is almost ready. You want it as hot as you can. Also don't croud in too many fish. too much will cool off the oil. If it does cool off wiat to put in the next batch

[RANGER]

challenged cook,

First of all we are talking DEEP FRYING here and not stove top. Now, having said that, 2 1/2 minutes is on the light side! The best way to guage the time is leaving the fillets in the oil until they turn golden brown all over.

I use both batter dip and bread/cracker coatings (depends on my mood). I try to keep the temp of the oil right at 375. I try to fry fillets of similar size together, otherwise, you will be removing some while others remain cooking. You can do it this way, and I do, but it is easier to keep size together.

I fry, as I said, until golden brown which is about the color of KFC chicken "crunchy" style. Depending on the thickness and overall size, the fillets can be in the fryer for 2 to 5+ minutes. If your fillets are near to, or more than, 1" thick slice them thinner. The reason you fry until "golden brown" is the result of simple physics: The batter or breading can't turn brown in the oil until the steam from the meat is dispersed, which indicates that the meat is cooked through! You'll see what I mean when you do it.

One of my favorite coatings are the "Shore Lunch" brands sold in most grocery stores. WC has one of our own linked on the main page but I haven't tried it.

Walleye cheeks? They are for REAL and, possibly, the most perfect single food item in the world!! :9

Go and ENJOY!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"!

[BigE]

Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it. This is an awesome web site with a lot of great advice.