That’s Yellow Pickerel to you inheritors of the Commonwealth. Pikeperch would substitute, if it helps any.
C’mon, hit me with your best shot. Simplicity and killer finny goodness moves to the front of the line.
Bread and fry. Not what I do, but it’s popular at home every Friday along with yellow perch. I’d do it if I could but I can’t so I ain’t. I bake our’s when we can get it but it’s not a simple recipe.
Baking sounds good. Relative simplicity will do.
I grew up mostly with bass being made into either chowder or fried in a beer batter. These days we would either rub it in oil and broil it with thin lemon slices, steam it (serve with butter), fry it in a skillet with a few tablespoons of olive oil and garlic (served with lemon wedge), or make fish tacos. It’s such a mild fish that broiling it with anything like a soy sauce and maple syrup glaze (as we do with salmon) would just over power any flavor of the fish. A delicate flaky fish, it would be hard to grill, and cannot stand much handling.
…but I have only cooked walleye a few times and would treat it like I would most other light fish.
I would pair it with a risotto like creamy short grain rice and steamed veggie like broccoli or asparagus.
My Mom makes fried fish to die for. I gave up. I slowly fry the fish in a bit of butter with the most basic of spices. A splash of soy sauce once it’s done is nice.
For each fillet, put maybe a tbsp or two of olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add a generous pinch of dill weed, then whisk it all together. Somehow the dill weed acts as an emulsifier, so the whole thing becomes the consistency of gravy. Marinate your fillets in this, or just brush it on and grill, bake, or broil.
Depending on your tastes, you may want to add salt or black or red pepper.
Delicious and (especially) easy.
As a side note, we have found that dill weed freezes very well. Our grocery store sells it in large bundles (more than we could ever use in one recipe) so we clean and chop the entire bundle and divvy it out into several sealed 4oz containers (the amount we use to make dill bread).
I might have to try the dill/lemon mix on a tilapia fillet I have in the freezer.
This surprises me, Minnesotan to Minnesotan. I thought walleye was almost like the Official State Sacrament or something; sometimes it seems you can’t get away from it. And you know, I’ve never had bass of any kind, yet we don’t lack for it; it’s pretty popular with Hmong fishermen by the looks of their stringers. How’s the taste of bass?
Nice ideas, people. Thanks. Keep 'em coming. Honestly, I don’t cook a lot of fish. Well, like pretty much almost never. I don’t fish myself, obviously don’t get much fresh from the angler, and I’m not all that drawn to the fish section at the supermarket, frozen or otherwise. So I’m not best confident around it. But when the times thrust walleye upon you, it’s play ball or go home. I started this thread pretty late in the day and there was only dwest and me on it by the time I wanted to cook up those filets. So there was nothing for it but for me to buck up, throw caution to the wind, tell the Devil to go screw himself, steel my resolve, decide my course of action, roll up my sleeves, gird my loins, forge yeomanly ahead, and with pan and spatula in hand stare down my two little slices of fish. You could say they stared back. So for their insolence I patted them dry and and let them think about it under a little salt and pepper. Meanwhile in a pan I melted a pat of butter with a drop or two of peanut oil. When that got sizzling, in went the walleye. Cook 'til the edges show, flip, cook some more 'til flaky, then plate. And it was good. My only objection was that there wasn’t enough of it. I’m sure kitty thought the same.
I think next time I’ll try oiling the walleye first, use a tad less salt, and maybe even forego the black pepper altogether, but for me that’s asking a lot.
I did like the suggestion to oil the fish first too. That would also help prevent the butter from scorching, not that I would scorch the butter. Portion size does not pertain to fish.
Walleye (the state fish) is a finicky eater, likes live bait, small hooks and light test line. When they hit it doesn’t feel like much. My dad and his friends were part of a (large mouth) bass fishing club. They hit hard, jump out of the water and go after all sorts of lures. The meat is light, flaky, mild, with some grey veins. Medium sized fish seemed to be the best to eat and the lunkers are impressive, but released.
Granted, these days I might go fishing twice a year when I visit family, and I cannot remember catching a walleye in the past two decades.
Thanks, I.D.10-t.
In my little kitchen project the butter browned (no surprise there), and combined with the drop of peanut oil this made for a savory bit of richness that I like. However, while it was good, I thought it overshadowed the fish just a tad, so I think the walleye would have been better served by an even lighter touch yet, at least for my tastes. I think that for walleye, anyway, next time I’ll just pre-oil with canola (or grapeseed oil if I think to buy some) and use no butter. Herbs aren’t out of the question, but I can tell you that with just a touch of salt and leaving it at that, it would be hard to go wrong.
There’s also a cheese and walleye hot dish…
This what I do when I can get what they call “walleye pike” around here from Canada. The fish mongers here don’t know anything about walleye and unfortunately I now have to beg corporate to get it in the store on rare occasions. I grew up on walleye, yellow perch, blue gill, bass, sheephead(a freshwater drum species) which most folks wouldn’t touch, trout and salmon. Unfortunately the dangers of PCBs and mercury in the fish we were eating as kids was not widely known.
2 lb. walleye filets
thinly sliced whole onion to cover bottom of pan, lightly sautéed.
1/4 lb. cremini mushrooms, sliced (1 cup) sautéed with drop or two of wine.
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground white pepper
1 tsp. leaf marjoram, crumbled
2 Tbsp. dry white wine or vermouth, a good Riesling is nice.
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese or mild Cheddar(low fat in my case)
1/4 c. fresh bread crumbs
grape seed oil rubbed on fillets
melted butter for the bread crumbs if you insist.
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Oil a baking dish, large enough so fish just slightly overlaps. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spread onions and mushrooms over the bottom of the dish and place fish over top. Season with salt, pepper and marjoram. Sprinkle with wine, lemon juice, cheese and bread crumbs. Drizzle melted butter over the crumbs. Bake for 4 minutes, then loosely place foil over fillets; do not seal the edges. Bake an additional 7 minutes or until fish is done. Serve with other edible stuff.
Pickled.
Whoah. That seems lavish, dwest (and awesomely combining two MN State Sacraments, walleye and hotdish, into one). Not that it shouldn’t work, but it’s quite a contrast to my revelations about walleye and the light touch. I guess I’m at beginner level.
Around here, I don’t know anyone who eats sheepshead. Tell me more.
Yes, no doubt it can help with inspiration, or at least one’s courage. But the cook’s condition notwithstanding, how do you prepare the fish? 
When we go home to Wisconsin we usually fish rivers rather than lakes, walleye and many other fish species in rivers exhibit different behaviours than their lake bound brethren. We actually catch walleye on fly early in the mornings and at dusk or a rainy overcast day. Muskie are what we really enjoy. If the weather is right they have a huge strike zone and are very aggressive, we use a lightweight foam popper with a 9wt. rod. There aren’t many fish more fun to catch. One of my BILs took two walleye out of the Eau Claire River early Saturday morning on fly.
You’ve been here a while.
Sheephead are rather tasty if a little course in texture. A number of years ago there was a “slight” craze for grilled Cajun Blackened Redfish. Redfish(a saltwater drum)stocks in the Gulf were really hit hard for a few years, luckily sheephead from the Mississippi are a fair substitute. Fish should be cleaned immediately or put on ice right away after capture. Most of the recipes are Southern or specifically Cajun. I’ve used it in chowders too as it’s very firm and doesn’t break apart in to small pieces. Folks at home in Oshkosh will leave fish they’ve caught from Lake Winnebago to die on the bank. Makes me see a little red to say the least.
Have any of you eaten or seen these? I hear they’re showing up in trendy restaurants on the East Coast. They sure must be something and I can believe they’d ruin a day or make a day depending on whether they knocked you upside the head.
And my spelling hasn’t changed (or improved) a bit.
