Pickled Perch

[Perch-Eye]

 I went and defrosted the freezer a couple of weeks ago and found four tubs of fish that were kind of old so I made up a batch of pickled fish. I had some that were as old as 2014. I had enough perch , pike and walleye to get 4 pints of each. It takes about 7 days from start to eating time and boy are they good. I put onions in between the layers of fish for the first time and they really enhance the flavor. So far I've tried the perch and the pike and I could sit down and eat the whole jar if I would let myself. Even the onions are great when they're pickled. I'm going to fill my first empty jar with onions and see if the left over juice will work a second time.


Ken...........

[Hooked up]

Sounds good, I've never picked fish is it just vinger and salt?

[Perch-Eye]

I just googled my recipe and this is what I use. The only difference is that i added onions. I multiplied everything by eight to come up with the brine to make 12 pints.

https://books.google.com/books?id=mMn9YCZ8HHgC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=bounty+by+sylvia+bashline+pickling+pointers&source=bl&ots=nd3vz4Uy


Ken...............

[Hooked up]

Thanks, I look forward to giving it a try

[missoulafish]

I made like last winter. It’s great but the pickled onions are the best part! Lotsa videos shows guys throwing in extra onions because the turn out so good!

[Perch-Eye]

There is a recipe for pickled carpon that page. I'd like to see someone try it.


Ken............

[missoulafish]

I bet it would be good.

[pmmpete]

Although I know many people who have never tasted pickled fish, it's really tasty, and is hugely popular in Europe.  I make a lot of pickled kokanee and pike.  Because pickling dissolves fish bones, it's a great way to use bony fish.  You can pickle pike without removing the Y bones.  I've pickled northern pikeminnow (a/k/a squawfish), and it's just as tasty as pickled pike, and all the bones which make cooked squawfish practically un-eatable disappear.

There are good explanations of how to properly and safely pickle fish in "Home Pickling of Fish," University of Minnesota Extension, which is available at https://eatwisconsinfish.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/preservation_HomePicklingFish.pdf, and "Pickling Fish and Other Aquatic Foods for Home Use," Pacific Northwest Extension Publication PNW0183, which is available at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/sites/default/files/documents/pnw_183_picklingfishandotheraquaticfoods.pdf.  The best collection of pickled fish recipes I know of is in "America's Favorite Fish Recipes," by Peggy Ramette and Dick Sternberg, which is also my favorite fish cook book.  I use more fish recipes from that book than from any of my other fish cookbooks.

Shown below are some pictures of the process of pickling kokanee.  Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them.

Chopping up the kokes.



Brining and freezing the kokes.



Preparing the ingredients for packing in canning jars, after which you add the pickling solution.



In the jars, which go in the fridge for a week.



Then the pickled fish is ready to eat.  Plop it on a cracker for a tasty snack. Keep it in the fridge, and eat it within a month.



I also have an excellent recipe for pickled heart or duck breast, if anybody is interested.

[pmmpete]

I went and defrosted the freezer a couple of weeks ago and found four tubs of fish that were kind of old so I made up a batch of pickled fish. I had some that were as old as 2014. I had enough perch , pike and walleye to get 4 pints of each. It takes about 7 days from start to eating time and boy are they good. I put onions in between the layers of fish for the first time and they really enhance the flavor. So far I've tried the perch and the pike and I could sit down and eat the whole jar if I would let myself. Even the onions are great when they're pickled. I'm going to fill my first empty jar with onions and see if the left over juice will work a second time.

A couple of suggestions: For tastier and safer pickled fish, use fresh fish rather than old fish, and don't re-use the pickle solution.

[ronco]

I'll have to try this.

[Perch-Eye]

I see that in the wisconsin recipe they forgot to put sugar in the ingredients. They say something about not boiling the jar so it won't caramelize the fish because of the sugar content of the brine.


Ken.........

[BloodShotP]

Would love to hear the duck pickling recipe!

[pmmpete]

Would love to hear the duck pickling recipe!

Pickled heart or duck breast

1/3 cup pickling salt or non-iodized salt
3 cups sugar
3 cups white vinegar
3 tsp pickling spice
12 whole cloves
1 chopped cinnamon stick
2 large onions, sliced
Heat brine ingredients until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Do not boil.  Keep hot for 1/2 hour.  Slow boil the duck meat for at least one hour, then cool and slice the meat diagonal to the grain in about 3/16 inch thick slices.  Place the meat, onions, and brine in canning jars and refrigerate.  Shake each jar periodically.  It will be ready to eat in about a week.  Keep it in the refrigerator, and eat it within a month or so.

First, you have to get a heart.  Here are two elk hearts.  Trim all the white fat and veins off the heart. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them.



I slice the heart into cracker-sized pieces before I simmer it in the brine, rather than after I simmer it.



Simmering the meat in the pickling brine.



Pack the cooked meat and uncooked onions into canning jars, fill up each jar with pickling brine, and put the jars in the refrigerator for a week.



Then you're ready for some tasty snacks.

[REDin13]

pmmpete

I also use this recipe to pickle fish. also use lots of onions in the mix and even add a few home grown hot wax peppers to the jars. their Hungarians from plants bought at smiths in the spring. very tasty. seems to work for all kinds of fish from pike and trout to even white sucker. hard to believe but they were good. cheers

[missoulafish]

Carrots are also good in the mix!

[tyke]

Suckers make excellent pickled fish.

[BobberdownMT]

Gross

[hoofer]

river suckers no! suckers from belt creek or any clear cold water are great to eat,smoke,fry etc. taste like whitefish.

[REDin13]

yes, these were white suckers from clear cold water. was skeptical at first but after trying them I was pleased. processing them for pickling was a very messy experience however. lots of slimy scales!

[RuralMT]

yes, these were white suckers from clear cold water. was skeptical at first but after trying them I was pleased.

I'm not schooled on my sucker species.  Would this be the sucker I pull up from the depths on Dickey Lake?  If so, I'm glad to read that there's a use for them.  Folks either toss them on the ice for the birds, or use them as cut-bait, which is a style of fishing I don't employ.  If they're worth pickling, I'll definitely give them a shot.