any good recipes for pickled pike ?

[John_BZ]

i havent had pickled pike in a good while and have some lakes where i can catch a bunch of small pike perfect for the pickling.

[Snakehunter]

I'll give you two recipes.


First is from the ice-fishing annual from In-Fisherman, it calls for pike.
I made a big batch with whitefish. I find this first recipe a bit sweet but it tastes nice.

Ingredients:
4lbs. fish fillets, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup salt , 1/2 cup brown sugar, 4 cups water, 5 tbsp. pickling spice, 4 cups white vinegar, 1 medium onion - sliced.

Directions:
Freeze fish for 3 days (to kill anything unwanted)

Thaw and cut fillets into 1/2" strips

In a large steel pot, crock or plastic container mix salt and water and add fish.

Store in the fridge for at least 2 days, longer won't hurt. (this is according to the magazine, I'd go 2 days MAX).

Drain then cover with 2 cups of vinegar for another day.

For the brine - in saucepan combine 2 cups white vinegar, the sugar and pickling spice and heat to a boil. As soon as it boils remove from heat and allow mixture to cool.

Alternate layers of fish and onion slices in a crockery pot, or wide-mouthed gallon jar, or smaller jars. Pour brine over the fish and refridgerate for 2 weeks.


Recipe #2
This one resembles the type of pickled fish you'd buy in the store (herring/rollmop)

Cut fillets into desired sizes of strips.

Place in a salt brine, 1 cup of water to 4 cups water and leave in fridge overnight.

Drain and rinse well.

In a saucepan add 3 cups pickling vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 tsp. white sugar, 1 tsp. salt,

2 tbsp pickling spice ( I like to add a spoonful of peppercorns ). Bring to a boil.

As soon as it boils remove from heat and cool it down. Slice one medium onion. Add cool mixture to your fish in the jars, alternating layers of fish with onion slices. Refridgerate for at least 2 weeks.


I made 2 batches of this type last month, 1 with pike and 1 with whitefish. Both were excellent but the pike seemed firmer. Also, I'd recommend skinning the fish and using boneless fish. Even though the pickling process softens any bones and makes the skins edible people seem to prefer it without either. I do my pike up the 5 fillet method and skin the fillets anyway so this wasn't a problem. For the whitefish I filleted it and skinned it but left a few of the Y bones in it. You could steak a whitefish and cut around the bones if you prefer. I did this for the canning.

The original recipe called for two days in the salt brine but I served this up last month at a "Big Buck Night" and some people mentioned that the fish tasted a bit salty. They did say the pickled fish was very good though.  You may want to shorten the salt brining process to only one day, or as a friend of mine does a few hours.

Hope you find this helpful.
Regards,
Glen

[John_BZ]

thanks for the recipes. i think im gonna give the infisherman recipe with your adjustments a try. i think i will try cutting back the sugar too as you mentioned.

[saskman]

how long does it last in the fridge

[ice dawg]

I have a recipe for pickeling fish that doesn't require stinking up the house while boiling the brine. All ya do is put layers of onion and fish in the jar and pour in the vinegar then you add the sugar and pickeling spices and shake it up to disolve the sugar. Then it goes in the fridge and gets turned every day for a period of time. My wife has the recipe hidden somewhere and I'll have to have her get it for me.

[John_BZ]

ice dawg, any word of that recipe ?

[Jim_R]

Did any of you guys can the pickled pike?  Tried a similar recipe last year, but the recipe only said to can the fish by standard canning methods.  Trouble was, I didn't have a processing time, so I found a similar recipe and adapted it to the pike.  Turned out tasty, but very dry.  Anybody have any idea why?

[Snakehunter]

IMHO If your fish is dry after canning it's because you used a fish with not enough natural oils in it. For most of the recipes I found they use at least 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil per jar and some vinegar. I do this and I have cut back a bit on the oilier fish to prevent getting too wet a product. I pretty much use only whitefish for canning. Will try some sucker in the spring. Maybe on day I'll try some pike and see what happens. I use pike for pretty much everything else - frying, chowder, pickling etc., etc.
Regards,
Glen

[Jim_R]

Snakehunter- Pickled pike is what I was canning.  Pickled it first, then canned it.  Thanks for the reply.

[Snakehunter]

I've never heard of pickling it first. How is the consistency of the fish afterwards?
I don't know why you would can it when the pickling preserves it so well
Not trying to be a twit, just curious as to why this would be done this way.
Regards,
Glen

[Jim_R]

Consitency was firm, just dry.  Good taste to it using onions and pickling spice.  Seems to me I used cider vinegar, not white.

Canned the fish for preservation.  Would have been only me eating it, and I ended up with 5 quarts.  How long will it keep refrigerated just pickled, not canned?  Maybe that's where I went wrong, thought it got dry during the canning.

[Snakehunter]

Jim,
I just looked up a few of my books and recipe stuff and it looks like 6 weeks is about what you can keep it in the fridge for. Canning would last a whole lot longer and you wouldn't need a fridge. I may give this a whirl myself. I just don't want my fish to get all crumbly, that's why I asked about the consistency.
Thanks,
Glen

[Jim_R]

The fish wasn't crumbly, just dry.  The chunks held together just fine.  Reminded me of an overcooked tuna steak.  Not sure where I went wrong, but think it was due to one of two things; either the brine wasn't cool enough when I poured it over the fish in the jars, or I processed it too long in the canner.  Please post if you try canning it and it works out well for you, maybe then I can figure out where I went wrong.  Meanwhile, might try pickling it without canning it next time.  Thanks.

[Scientist]

I have never tried pickling fresh water fish because of concern of parasites within the fish’s flesh. I have pickled saltwater herring before but they do not get infected with parasites. Do you have to freeze the fish first or does the acidic component kill them off. Is pike and pickerel the primary fish that is used for pickling? Because perch and bluegills usually have the parasite problem. 

[Snakehunter]

Hi,
The recipe books I have call for freshwater fish. Primarily pike and herring (cisco, tulibee or whatever you call them) and whitefish. You can use just about any fish you want but the ones mentioned have a firm flesh that takes well to pickling. I have started to skin mine all the time. One recipe I have advises to freeze fish for at least 3 days before preparing it for pickling to avoid parasites. I don't worry about them around here. Perch get wormy in some spots but I don't eat them from those locations. Everything else seems okay around my area.

This winter I really targeted whitefish as they are so adaptable to everything I do - smoking, canning, pickling, baking, frying. My wife and I really enjoy fish, the kids are divided - my son likes fish okay for the most part where my daughter honestly hates pretty much all fish.
Good luck with whatever you do.

Regards,
Glen

[brewer]

I'll give you two recipes.


First is from the ice-fishing annual from In-Fisherman, it calls for pike.
I made a big batch with whitefish. I find this first recipe a bit sweet but it tastes nice.

Ingredients:
4lbs. fish fillets, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup salt , 1/2 cup brown sugar, 4 cups water, 5 tbsp. pickling spice, 4 cups white vinegar, 1 medium onion - sliced.

Directions:
Freeze fish for 3 days (to kill anything unwanted)

Thaw and cut fillets into 1/2" strips

In a large steel pot, crock or plastic container mix salt and water and add fish.

Store in the fridge for at least 2 days, longer won't hurt. (this is according to the magazine, I'd go 2 days MAX).

Drain then cover with 2 cups of vinegar for another day.

For the brine - in saucepan combine 2 cups white vinegar, the sugar and pickling spice and heat to a boil. As soon as it boils remove from heat and allow mixture to cool.

Alternate layers of fish and onion slices in a crockery pot, or wide-mouthed gallon jar, or smaller jars. Pour brine over the fish and refridgerate for 2 weeks.


Recipe #2
This one resembles the type of pickled fish you'd buy in the store (herring/rollmop)

Cut fillets into desired sizes of strips.

Place in a salt brine, 1 cup of water to 4 cups water and leave in fridge overnight.

Drain and rinse well.

In a saucepan add 3 cups pickling vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 tsp. white sugar, 1 tsp. salt,

2 tbsp pickling spice ( I like to add a spoonful of peppercorns ). Bring to a boil.

As soon as it boils remove from heat and cool it down. Slice one medium onion. Add cool mixture to your fish in the jars, alternating layers of fish with onion slices. Refridgerate for at least 2 weeks.


I made 2 batches of this type last month, 1 with pike and 1 with whitefish. Both were excellent but the pike seemed firmer. Also, I'd recommend skinning the fish and using boneless fish. Even though the pickling process softens any bones and makes the skins edible people seem to prefer it without either. I do my pike up the 5 fillet method and skin the fillets anyway so this wasn't a problem. For the whitefish I filleted it and skinned it but left a few of the Y bones in it. You could steak a whitefish and cut around the bones if you prefer. I did this for the canning.

The original recipe called for two days in the salt brine but I served this up last month at a "Big Buck Night" and some people mentioned that the fish tasted a bit salty. They did say the pickled fish was very good though.  You may want to shorten the salt brining process to only one day, or as a friend of mine does a few hours.

Hope you find this helpful.
Regards,
Glen

Just threw 6 pounds of pickeral in to soak using recipie #1.  I'll let you know how it turns out in a few weeks.