IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Maine => Ice Fishing Maine => Topic started by: WesternMELunkers on Jan 14, 2015, 07:07 PM
-
In the past I haven't kept many fish but I am eager to put my chef hat on this winter and cook more. My question is..any major difference in taste between browns and rainbows compared to brookies? I've had togue (wasnt too keen on it) but there is nothing like a good brook trout fish fry..haven't had anything else so just curious
-
im a rainbow fan asfar as trout goes personally cusk my fav
-
Well, rainbow trout and brown trout are "true trout", while brook trout and togue are members of the char family. So there is a difference in test in my opinion. I also would not ignore white and yellow perch, they are abundant and taste great.
-
eat the perch and crappie. Throw the trout back. Unless you really like 'fishy' fish. The big trout you catch through the ice are nothing like the 7" brookies out of a little stream
-
I find brookies browns and rainbows (as well as landlocked salmon) to all be pretty similar in texture and taste. Of them, I put brookies and browns to be the most similar, and 'bow and salmon also to be similar. They are all tasty and can be cooked up the same ways.
Touge are whole different can of oil. If anyone has a touge recipe they would be willing to share, I would really like to hear it. I love to chase them but just can't make them taste good without a smoker.
-
Togue
Like the old recipe joke says. Put togue on a cedar plank. Bake in the oven for 20 min at 375 degrees. Remove from the oven and throw the togue in the trash can and eat the cedar plank.
I like small brook trout.
(http://)
-
I like baking Togue them flake them out and make them into fish cakes and pan fry...very tasty!! ;D
-
Removing the skin on togue is a must to get rid of the strong fishy taste. Then my Dad always cut them into bite-size chunks and rolled them in a batter for frying. I don't have the recipe, but it was similar to an onion ring batter, and for some reason had a little Seven-up soda in it. Absolutely delicious. @)
-
eat the perch and crappie. Throw the trout back. Unless you really like 'fishy' fish.
X2
-
eat all the junk fish they taste the best by far,
-
Touge are whole different can of oil. If anyone has a touge recipe they would be willing to share, I would really like to hear it. I love to chase them but just can't make them taste good without a smoker.
Make poor-man's lobster out of them. Kind of like what we've done with cusk, but with extra salt, extra sugar, and boil for longer. I usually use 1/4 to 1/3 cup of salt and sugar per 3 quarts of water (enough to cook a small togue or two). Bring to a boil, drop chunks of fillet in, bring the water back to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
Drain, melt some butter in a bowl (the amount depends on the amount of fish), and put the cooked pieces of fish in the butter and mix.
You won't be disappointed, I've changed many peoples' opinion on eating togue.
They also make a good chowder.
-
"Make poor-man's lobster out of them. Kind of like what we've done with cusk, but with extra salt, extra sugar, and boil for longer. I usually use 1/2 to 1/3 cup of salt and sugar per 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, drop chunks of fillet in, bring the water back to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
Drain, melt some butter in a bowl (the amount depends on the amount of fish), and put the cooked pieces of fish in the butter and mix. "
That almost sounds like the Laker Boils they do on the Great Lakes.
http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/fisheries/fish_boil
-
eat the perch and crappie. Throw the trout back. Unless you really like 'fishy' fish.
X2
Fresh water bass, perch and cusk have always been the better tasting fish in our waters. Pike
are good, but an angler has to be experienced in cutting out the Y bones. I enjoy all the brook
trout, Rainbows, Togue, and less interested in browns, and salmon. I tend to fry my fish in
Panko, or bread crumbs and oil. Maybe it took generations for me to acquire my taste for the
trout species, but anyway I enjoy some each year.
-
all fish I catch I enjoy eating . They all have to be dealt with in a different manner. I prefer W perch, Crappies bass etc . But the process to clean and Fillet them turns off a lot of fishermen off . Trout Salmon togue are also good you have to cook them differently . I remember at one of Sebago derbies they had Togue piled up for dog food. when smoking togue trout the proper way the end results can be very similar to Alaskan salmon. Fish are supposed to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet. They just have to be handled properly.
-
I throw back brookies.
browns: love em. rub olive oil on them, create a salt crust by rubbing them heavily with kosher salt. put directly on grill. never had anything so good.
togue: smoke them. we have a guy that does it for us and they are well worth the cost.
-
I agree with the smaller brook trout tasting better, I ate a big stocked one earlier this year it was just blah..im willing to try togue again this year using some of the techniques above, love fish so I'm really not too picky
-
Make poor-man's lobster out of them. Kind of like what we've done with cusk, but with extra salt, extra sugar, and boil for longer. I usually use 1/4 to 1/3 cup of salt and sugar per 3 quarts of water (enough to cook a small togue or two). Bring to a boil, drop chunks of fillet in, bring the water back to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
Drain, melt some butter in a bowl (the amount depends on the amount of fish), and put the cooked pieces of fish in the butter and mix.
You won't be disappointed, I've changed many peoples' opinion on eating togue.
They also make a good chowder.
[/quote]
This sounds amazing btw
-
A couple of thoughts on togue:
1. If you only like flaky white fish like cod, haddock, perch, crappie, etc, then release your togue!
2. If you do like fish with more fat in them like trout, salmon, bluefish, mackerel, tuna, etc, then togue can be as good as any of these if cooked and handled properly.
3. Keep smaller togue, anything above the low 20" range has more fat, stronger flavor, more mercury, and it's likely a very old fish that has taken many years to reach its current size. Big togue are a great sportfish and a valuable and easily depleted resource worthy of protection!
4. Bleed fish and keep them cold. Bleeding can be done with a quick cut in the throat/gill area, and cold is never a problem during the ice season.
5. Small togue up to 14" or so are great pan fried whole just like brook trout.
6. 14" to low 20" fish are great for smoking or grilling. I don't like to fillet these fish because I feel it wastes too much meat, instead, just do a quick cut along each side of the spine so the fish lays flat. My favorite way to cook is sprinkle salt, brown sugar, and a heavy dose of black pepper on the flesh side, then grill 20-30 minutes on a hot smoky grill. Not really smoked fish, but gets a good smoke flavor, great hot and even better cold the next day.
-
Never liked the fishy fish. Crappie and wp are about all I eat. Fillet them, dip fillets in egg, roll in crushed Ritz cracker crumbs, toss in trying pan. Had some last night with butter and herb potatoes. Delish!
-
A couple of thoughts on togue:
1. If you only like flaky white fish like cod, haddock, perch, crappie, etc, then release your togue!
2. If you do like fish with more fat in them like trout, salmon, bluefish, mackerel, tuna, etc, then togue can be as good as any of these if cooked and handled properly.
3. Keep smaller togue, anything above the low 20" range has more fat, stronger flavor, more mercury, and it's likely a very old fish that has taken many years to reach its current size. Big togue are a great sportfish and a valuable and easily depleted resource worthy of protection!
4. Bleed fish and keep them cold. Bleeding can be done with a quick cut in the throat/gill area, and cold is never a problem during the ice season.
5. Small togue up to 14" or so are great pan fried whole just like brook trout.
6. 14" to low 20" fish are great for smoking or grilling. I don't like to fillet these fish because I feel it wastes too much meat, instead, just do a quick cut along each side of the spine so the fish lays flat. My favorite way to cook is sprinkle salt, brown sugar, and a heavy dose of black pepper on the flesh side, then grill 20-30 minutes on a hot smoky grill. Not really smoked fish, but gets a good smoke flavor, great hot and even better cold the next day.
Spot on!
-
browns and brookies are great, but i cant stand cooked rainbow. used to know a cambodian girl that pickled chunks of rainbow and that was actually pretty good but frying in a pan or baking, or smoking, i just dont like it. deep fried togue with shrimp cocktail sauce is killer. favorite is a crappie fish fry
-
My grand mother owned sporting camps in northern Maine for 25 years. She made a togue recipe that sucked the oil out of it and I didnt find it to be all that fishy and it is easy. She would clean the fish, remove the head and tail. Stuff the middle with bread stuffing like you would have at thanks giving. Wrap the fish in a paper bag and bake at 350. Usually when it is done you unwrap the paper bag and it peels the skin right off. Furthermore, if you are talented like she was you can pull all the bones out at once leaving a stuffed togue free of bones. It was fantastic.
-
I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I ended up with a delicious chowder with togue...
-
For lakers I fillet them and stick the meat in a back of bisquick pancake mix. Put it in a hot pan with oil until golden brown... Yessah!
-
My grand mother owned sporting camps in northern Maine for 25 years. She made a togue recipe that sucked the oil out of it and I didnt find it to be all that fishy and it is easy. She would clean the fish, remove the head and tail. Stuff the middle with bread stuffing like you would have at thanks giving. Wrap the fish in a paper bag and bake at 350. Usually when it is done you unwrap the paper bag and it peels the skin right off. Furthermore, if you are talented like she was you can pull all the bones out at once leaving a stuffed togue free of bones. It was fantastic.
Found this because I wondered if anyone had already posted the "paper bag" trick for cooking togue. Generally, I refuse to eat fish. Just not my thing and togue to me are especially unattractive as a meal. This weekend one of the guys cooked some up using this method. No stuffing, but clean the togue, cut the head off, wrap in a paper bag and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I then watched him take the fish out, peel the skin off, grab the spine near the tail end and pull the bones out intact, leaving a pile of boneless fish. Then he sautéed the meat in butter, salt and pepper for a bit. I still can't say I like fish enough to make a meal out of it, but this was some pretty tasty stuff...
-
Found this because I wondered if anyone had already posted the "paper bag" trick for cooking togue. Generally, I refuse to eat fish. Just not my thing and togue to me are especially unattractive as a meal. This weekend one of the guys cooked some up using this method. No stuffing, but clean the togue, cut the head off, wrap in a paper bag and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I then watched him take the fish out, peel the skin off, grab the spine near the tail end and pull the bones out intact, leaving a pile of boneless fish. Then he sautéed the meat in butter, salt and pepper for a bit. I still can't say I like fish enough to make a meal out of it, but this was some pretty tasty stuff...
Perfect way to cook togue, all the oil goes into paper bag. We do it on gas grill wrapped in tinfoil, works awesome.
-
I love a good brown trout fry
-
Like westernmainelunker we take a cookie sheet put water and sailt in the bottom just enough to cover it then place cookie cooling racks in with cleaned togue then cover it with tinfoil and steam till the meat flakes up with a fork, take off the bone and dip in butter, awesome! you can do the same with salmon.
-
Big togue are a great sportfish and a valuable and easily depleted resource worthy of protection!
;) ;)
Wrap the togue in aluminum foil with butter, salt, pepper and a few slices of jalapeño pepper and bake it in the grill or an open fire
-
Togue
Like the old recipe joke says. Put togue on a cedar plank. Bake in the oven for 20 min at 375 degrees. Remove from the oven and throw the togue in the trash can and eat the cedar plank.
I like small brook trout.
()
My dogs love them!!!! I’m cooking up the couple I caught this past weekend and mixing it, flaked up, with some rice to mix in their food!!! They always start to salivate and then look thankful and for more!!! Other than that, they pickle up just fine!!! The only way I can actually enjoy eating them.
-
I love making poor mans lobster out of them. Admittedly on paper the recipe looks gross. Bring your favorite lemon/lime soda to a boil (7up is the best of the ones I’ve tried) and drop approx 1inch chunks of deboned togue into the boiling pop. When it floats it should be good to go into melted butter!
-
Spot on!
Yup. I like fish that taste like fish.
-
Togue - Smoked then flaked off the bones. Cream cheese, chopped red onion or shallot, lemon juice, dill or parsley and add the togue. Grab some crackers for the dip and you wont regret it. Works with other oily fish as well like blue fish, trout, and mackerel.
Panfish get fried in a beer batter and to change the flavor, change the beer. Sometimes I bake the whites and crappie with a little butter and veggie flavored ritz crackers.
Trout in general get brined and smoked or grilled with a pepper medley and some salsa. I do find that the brookie is far more oilier.
I do not eat freshwater bass by choice.
Cusk - poor mans lobster or fried as well.
Best fish and chips in my opinion come from Tautog/black fish.
-
Best fish and chips in my opinion come from Tautog/black fish.
Love Black Fish! I get them occasionally from a local wholesaler along with Tilefish, Porgy and LOVE Black Sea Bass whole steamed, grilled or Thai style!
NOW you got me hungry!
Haddock and Whitefish Chowder tonight!!! MMMMMM M MMMMM
-
I like small lake trout (18-25") fillets lightly coated with flour and white cornmeal and fried in a quarter inch of canola or peanut oil the same way I cook fillets of brown,rainbow trout or landlocks in the 15 to 20 inch range. I think people who think lake trout are much different are nuts. I need to start getting grilling more as they are all good basted with butter and lemon juice too, frying is just easier for me. I hot smoke most all my trout and salmon. I don't like big 10 to 20lb Lakers out of Lake Ontario as they are too fatty even smoked.
My favorite salmonid is 12 inch sized brookies out of Rangeley or Mooselookmeguntic gutted whole and dusted with flour and fried in bacon fat with bacon on the side. Not sure how much different they are, but brook trout are just my favorite fish, sorta like ruffed gtrouse are my favorite game bird.
(https://i.postimg.cc/hzvpx5Zm/20170912-103402.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/hzvpx5Zm)
(https://i.postimg.cc/zbQpkF4c/20190225-122449.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/zbQpkF4c)