Blind taste test

suzuki wrote:

But <em class=”ido-tag-em”>perch are so flavorful they really brought that out.

Which brings up another dimension. Skin on, or skin off? Skin on can certainly add a wonderful flavor to an otherwise bland tasting fish. It can also be more forgiving in the cooking process if the fish cooks a little too long by helping to hold some of the moisture.
Other times skin on can be a detriment by retaining some “off” flavors that are distasteful. Bluegills come to mind if caught in warmer water over mud or muck. Also if the scaling process was careless, crunching into errant scales can diminish the experience. Perch…skin on is almost always good and is more traditional. Same goes for crappies and other panfish.

What do most of you prefer, skin on or skin off?

BTW, Billy Rosner has a video on YouTube on a quicker/easier way to fillet those mid-20’s Northerns to be boneless. I took a guided trip with him last year and the technique works well!

Skin ON unless I’m cleaning them in the house (winter). FW hates scale on the floor wall clean dishes, toaster and ceiling.

I think that with any properly cooked white flesh fish it is mostly more about texture than taste.
Over cooked when the water is boiled,fried or baked out of them,then you might as well debate the taste of shoe strings.

FryDog62 wrote:

BTW, Billy Rosner has a video on YouTube on a quicker/easier way to fillet those mid-20’s Northerns to be boneless. I took a guided trip with him last year and the technique works well!

I don’t know if this is Billy, but whoever it is, is really good.

That Rosner guy has a funny accent.

mplspug wrote:

That Rosner guy has a funny accent.

Must be from Florida

I did a blind taste test with my wife and daughter . Walleye vs sheepshead . Both picked the sheepshead. That was a mistake , now they want to keep em all . Same deal , cut all the dark meat off its white flaky meat if cooked properly . My personal favs are pike ,perch ,gills, flathead, walleye , in that order. Still haven’t figured out a way to make Chanel cats palatable.

Anybody else ever keep the “wings” off walleyes? Best eating part…

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Skin ON unless I’m cleaning them in the house (winter). FW hates scale on the floor wall clean dishes, toaster and ceiling.

LMAO almost fell off the couch!

Pike are great but I probably also like crappies and sunfish just as much. I like walleye but overrated probably the best description. Walleye dinner vs panfish dinner no difference to me.
Side note with the cooler weather first tater tot hit dish of the year this week this guys happy

Craig Sery wrote:

Anybody else ever keep the “wings” off walleyes? Best eating part…

Yep. The fins are the best part there. No joke.

Do people actually notice a taste difference between a walleye that’s been bled out vs a walleye that hasnt?

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Craig Sery wrote:</div>
Anybody else ever keep the “wings” off walleyes? Best eating part…

Yep. The fins are the best part there. No joke.

how do you eat the fins?

With gills and crappie that have been fried with the fins on I nibble off the crunchy tips. The base of the dorsal and anal fins get too thick to eat.

I also eat the tail on a shelled shrimp. My wife doesn’t #winning

crappie55369 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Craig Sery wrote:</div>
Anybody else ever keep the “wings” off walleyes? Best eating part…

Yep. The fins are the best part there. No joke.

how do you eat the fins?

Was also curious so ill share this video that i thought was the most helpful. How to cook them and how to eat them! I’ve also seen some recipes calling to grill them. They’ve caught my curiosity!

I enjoy eating pike most of all MN species. Grew up eating them. Just don’t fish for them much at all anymore and the ones I do catch are pushing 40″ on the river and not really table fare… But the old man sure taught us young just how good them pike can be. Dad always left the bones in. I fillet bones out.

tbro16 wrote:

Do people actually notice a taste difference between a walleye that’s been bled out vs a walleye that hasnt?

Mine are kicking on the fillet table and in the pan moments later.
Do have a friend who likes to bleed them out… He also freezes and gifts often. I only eat fish day I caught them anymore.

tbro16 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>crappie55369 wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Craig Sery wrote:</div>
Anybody else ever keep the “wings” off walleyes? Best eating part…

Yep. The fins are the best part there. No joke.

how do you eat the fins?

Was also curious so ill share this video that i thought was the most helpful. How to cook them and how to eat them! I’ve also seen some recipes calling to grill them. They’ve caught my curiosity!

<div class=”oembed-wrap”><div class=”fluid-width-video-wrapper” style=”padding-top: 56.23%;”><iframe id=”fitvid614968″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/9IXqm-3R2OA?feature=oembed&#8221; frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”” gesture=”media”></iframe></div></div>

interesting. thanks for sharing. might have to give that a try

You will never clean another walleye without cutting them out. Amazing at the chunk of meat on a 17-18” fish

Damn, pretty tempted to go dig out the eyes from the garbage I cut up earlier.

Thanks for posting that, anxious to try some.

Bleeding out fish I think is most important in warm water months especially in those very eutrophic lakes.

Keep in mind that the underside of walleyes (more so in our lakes then rivers) have the most contaminates in it.

I’m not sure if it’s enough to bother a person. Just pointing this out for kids and women of child bearing age.

When it comes to eating fish out of Canada between pike and walleye the pike are way better hands down. Everyone in my family agrees on this point. The flesh is white and the texture is almost lobster like depending on the part of the fish you eat. Around here I am a gil nut. Skin on or even better skin on gutted then cut the small lateral line bones out leaving just the rib cage. Pan fried on both sides, split the fish, remove the bones and feast. The crispy tail fin is awesome. I love perch I just find them very hard on a fillet knife. I love walleye also but I got spoiled on the Chippewa River slot of 14-18″ and the many 13-3/4″ fish it provided: Tasty fish. Bigger walleye can get some muddy flavors those small one’s never get.

bigpike wrote:

Around here I am a gil nut. Skin on or even better skin on gutted then cut the small lateral line bones out leaving just the rib cage. Pan fried on both sides, split the fish, remove the bones and feast. The crispy tail fin is awesome.

You got that right! “Old school” bluegill dinner…

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The same fish definitely tastes different throughout the season. Fish that I love in Spring and Fall tastes like mud to me when the water warms and the algae levels climb.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Craig Sery wrote:</div>
Anybody else ever keep the “wings” off walleyes? Best eating part…

Yep. The fins are the best part there. No joke.

We have been doing this for 12-15 years, our group calls them beaks. So we save the cheeks and beaks. A couple extra strokes of your knife and your set. I’ve saved a bag of beaks, and going to do an appetizer platter one of these days. I will say this about walleye, when cooked right there’s nobody who puts up their nose. Also Devils lake eyes are pink due to their diet on fresh water shrimp. Eyes which eat crawfish get the same way. These pink flesh walleye are at the top of my list. Pike are my #1, but served fresh, never freeze. This is why I only keep 1-2 pike at the most and I prefer any fish which comes out of very cold water.

Surprised no one has brought up white fish. Better than walleye by far. I would say it’s up their with trout.

First wing on the cooling rack!

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#1, where has sturdiwheat been all my life.

#2, freakin wonderful! I’m mean it doesn’t taste all that different but the texture is as stated. Thanks guys!