Fish boil

Our last trip to the cabin at Two Harbors rewarded me with a couple nice whitefish. After scaling, heading and gutting I washed the fish up well and cut each into 2″ steaks and froze them. Tonight we had a mini fish boil using those whitefish.

I hit the garden this morning and popped some carrots and new potatoes along with an onion. The fish came out of the freezer to thaw as well. This afternoon I put the chunked up veggies in a gallon of lightly salted water along with a seasoning pouch of McCormick’s Crab and Shrimp boil seasonings and simmered it all until the veggies were soft. The packet was removed and the foam was skimmed off. Then I added the fish and turned the heat up to a good boil for 2 minutes. The goodies were dished up using a slotted spoon and were given a decent shot of butter, salt and pepper.

Man, talk about good. This whitefish was way better than any I’ve had smoked and any small bones seemed to dissolve in the hot water bath. If you happen to fish Lake Superior and catch a whitie or two, give this boil a shot. Its a very tasty meal.

Tom,
Do you make it an authentic fish boil and throw some kerosene on the fire?

lol…..nope. Not in the kitchen. Ma might have something to say about the smudges after the flames died down.

Oh yeah…yum! Was just thinking about something like this a little while ago. Got some smoked lake trout from Russ Kendall’s a couple weeks ago had me reminiscing about family trips to Door County back in the mid 70’s and partaking in the regional icon of fish boils. First time was lake trout (awesome), second time was whitefish ’cause the lamprey finally caught up to commercial harvest of lake trout. Trout was firm and chewy, whitefish softer and kind of fell apart. The key is steaks not fillets. Thanks for sharing this, I was planning on trying at home and wasn’t quite sure how to do and keep it simple. Not going to set the back yard on fire under a big cast iron kettle.

The whitefish scaled real easy. I’ll be doing this again as soon as I can get more of the whitefish.

The trout I caught on this last trip are currently absorbing the rub I made and will smoke on Weds. Then I’ll have some really fine dining.

at the hall when we aren’t busy given it to the employers our dispatcher makes a shrimp boil. unfortunately I cant eat shrimp so they take some goodies out before the shrimp goes in. he also puts polish sausage in it. never had whitefish before but made poor man lobster out of pike.

so Tom, stepped up from crappies now??????

Stepped up? Nope. Just using what the good lake gives up is all.

The key I think is using steaks, not fillets for a fish boil. Being that I won’t be able to get out on any waters for lake trout or whitefish anytime soon, would anyone know where I could buy steaks?

Wow…This seems so simple! (Is it really that simple?) I love the idea of being able to use whitefish this way (if the bones really do mostly dissolve!). I am always throwing them back in the Winter but may just have to try this method. When you say ‘steaks’ do you mean you just cut the fish into steaks whereas the vertebrae is still intact?

I scale, head and gut the fish, then slice it into chunks from the top of the back down to and thru the belly meat, like you’d steak a salmon….leaving the skin on. All of those tiny pin bones found along the back cook right out. You’ll have to remove the piece of spine and the ribs. I only boiled the whole thing after adding the fish for another two or three minutes tops and the fish was done perfectly. The skin helps hold the meat together but slips right off to eat if you prefer not to eat it.

I found about 5 different seasoning packages for crab and shrimp boils, but most are Cajun or Louisiana style…..probably spicy hot. The McCormick’s I mentioned added a nice flavor but didn’t make the boil spicy hot.

You can add any veggies you want but I used what I had in the garden. Shrimp or clams or even crawfish could go in this too to expand the meat choices, but that whitefish was as good as it gets.

Tom…..I’ll clean up a few up and save’em for ya when we go over to Green Bay this winter
Better yet…..Why don’t ya come on up with us..It’s a blast..You’re more than welcome….

Thanks for the offer/invite Mudshark. Winter air is hard on my lungs so I don’t do much outside except clear the drive and sidewalk. Sounds like a blast though.

Those whitefish and herring are scappers though and on a long line they are entertaining. Thru ice they should be a blast.

Mudshark wrote:

Tom…..I’ll clean up a few up and save’em for ya when we go over to Green Bay this winter
Better yet…..Why don’t ya come on up with us..It’s a blast..You’re more than welcome….

Mudshark…Tom is catching his own, I’m the one in need of whitefish (steaks), yes like salmon steaks just as Tom described. Bring me some!

LOL

Ma and I finished up the last of our boil tonight and was it ever good….all over again.

I can see doing this meal again.