Walleye Cheeks Survey.

[war-n-peace]

Just curious as to how many of you Eye Munchers save the cheeks and what is your favorite way to prepare them.

I save these little fishy fillet mignons all season in a plastic jar in the freezer adding just enough water to cover them as I add more.

Around the time I winterize the boat for the season I thaw them out and saute'the whole batch in butter until they just start to turn brown (about 2 or 3 minutes max) or they get rubbery.

Bill W.

[groovymoe]

I save them, and love them. I deep fry fry them until they float. Season with Mrs. Dash. Awsome!!

[Boatnut]

I save them from fish 2lbs or so and bigger. I like to save them up and make "cheek" chowder out of them.

On a related note..my fishing buddy showed me a trick he learned on how to save the "chin" meat. Hard to explain but he cuts out a section of meat from under the chin and includes the two small fins with it. he calls it "chin and fin". :) He swears its the best part of the fish, but i've yet to try it. He leaves the fins on for "handles" to dip them in batter before deep frying!

Mike(boatnut)

[T-Mac]

They be the best part of the whole fish.
I fry them first and eat as soon as they cool down to about 300 hundred degrees!
LOL

[Fritz]

I save them from walleyes wish are about 14" and up. I deep fry them coated in shore lunch at 400 degrees along with other small chucks of the fillet. Finger food, great for shore lunch.

[Eyez]

Anything over 16 inches gets cheeked. They're probably the best meat on a walleye. My wife says she feels very special on the days when I let her have the cheeks... :)


Eyez

[Elmo]

I have always been a cheek man, check out the price in the store or a fish market for them!!!$$$$!!!! when they have them.

[TrollerMan]

Yes we save walleye cheeks from 'eyes probably 16'' or better. Awesome snack! We also save cheeks from the occasional pike we keep for the grill (approx. 4-6 pounds).
At a lodge in Canada we once saved all the "chin and fin" pieces from the camp for the last night fish fry. We cut out the pectoral fins and surrounding meat (i.e. up to the walleye chin), took the skin off and deep-fried them. Served with cocktail sauce and lemon; we also used the fins for "handles". Best meal of the camp!

[eyedoktr]

I also save the cheeks until there's enough to feed 3-4 people. Then I deep fry or brown in butter, and eat'em all by myself. Anyone who hasn't tried them, feel free to send them to me.

[Bottomfeeder]

I have a great seafood chowder recipe that substitute walleye cheeks for the scallops. Very tasty.

[sib]

Best part of the fish. We fix various ways, but breaded and in the deep fryer w/peanut oil is darn good.

"go outside and play"
sib

[lundluvr]

I also sautee in butter, but add a little cajun seasoning. Sort of like cheek Gumbo. Delicious.

[lost sailor]

Yes , the cheeks are always saved at my house. Absolutely the best; I use shore lunch and a little peanut oil and butter. When we have enough they make the perfect appetizer for any meal.

[Backwater Eddy]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-18-01 AT 10:49AM (CST)[p]YUM---YUMM!!!

Me too T-Mac!

For me patience does not apply to walleye cheeks, I seldom over cook them.

Side story on cheeks.

Back in the early 80's there was a guy who hung around the fish cleaning station at Akaska SD on the big Mo river. He had a special spoon that he sharpened up like a razor on one side. He would scoop out all the cheeks from fish that the guys were tossing in the bin. Very few guys were saving them at that time so he would fill up 1/2 gallon milk cartons on every trip. This was a hay day period on the river so hundreds of walleye were cleaned every day at every station. This guy was on the ball EH!

I got wise to this trick and saved them from then on, so did many other anglers. Still a treat I save as many as I can and if the next guy don't want his, well there mine now.

Backwater Eddy...><,,>

[Mean Mike]

What is the possession limit on walleye cheeks? :D

[war-n-peace]

2 per fish maybe ?

[Backwater Eddy]

Oh Boy EH, wouldn't that be something?

Get busted for 40 walleye over your possession limit with just cheeks to show for it!

In SD now you need to keep the cleaned fish individually packaged so the CO can count and handle them. You can not freeze a few fish together in a carton for example, because they can not distinguish the fish individually.

So would you need to bag every set of cheeks individually, and are they considered a fish against your possession limit?

Good question?

Backwater Eddy...><,,>

[war-n-peace]

You guys are startin ta scare me.

[T-Mac]

Geeez...Eddy, since you started working for "the state"..you got too much free time.
That is SCAREY!------LOL

[chrism]

If y'all see some dork in the fish cleaning shack with his coleman stove and a smokin' hot cast iron pan with a big chunk of butter and a sharpened spoon beside him, well, that'll be me!

I'm gonna do it someday........

[Backwater Eddy]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-20-01 AT 02:11AM (CST)[p]I don't have much free time, that's the problem T-Mac.

I only work for the "Man" part time, tell October anyway. Then it is full time fishing tell freeze up EH.

Backwater Eddy...><,,>

[Ness]

Awww, come on, BE. Can't we cancel freeze up this year???? I still haven't had enough nice weather to fortify me for another New York winter yet. Oh, and so we don't get off topic... I LOVE CHEEKS... can't get enough of them.
You know, us girls are rather a rare treat on this board...so maybe to show us how much you guys appreciate us at this years Get Together in Huron, the girls should get special treatment and get the cheeks.... Hey, Juls, is that a great idea or what?

[Juls_WI]

I'll go along with that line of thinking Ness..hahah I love the eye-cheeks! Yummmmm! ;-)

Juls

[Backwater Eddy]

See, aint that just like a woman!

Already scheming for the cheeks.

[war-n-peace]

Now i'm depressed about all the "Chin and Fin" I've tossed out over the years, never heard of that before, any special tools like the cheek spoon for removing these?

[cisco]

I do remember that in college we would regularly elect a Cheek-of-the-Week. That probably wouldn't fly these days. Cheeks are horrible things to waste.

[reddog]

Backwater, The razor sharp spoon you speak about was designed by my next door neighbor after his first walleye trip to Canada. He had never fished before, therefore, he wasnt too adept at filleting. He felt that as a newbie, his thumb was at risk, so he designed the Cheek-O-Matic by JJ. A simple tool that never caught on. We were out there during that time frame, so maybe it was him who you speak of. I know what you mean about the hey days up in that neck of the woods. I remember being at the cleaning table at Whitlocks, and was appalled by the amount of fish that was being thrown away after supposedly being filleted. These hacks gave new meaning to the term "butchering" a walleye. I guess I am probably at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to filleting. A seagull will turn its nose up at what I leave on the carcass LOL. All fish get cheeked, or I have to suffer the wrath of my wife and daughter.