I know it's not hunting related, so if offended please use the "ignore" feature on your keyboard.
I have several places locally with lots of pike, have to travel further for 'game" fish.
I know some of you(by that I mean Kiri!) are very capable with the old pots and pans, so I'm wondering if you have any reccomendations?
I caught pike as a kid, just fried them in oil with the bones in, and they were terrible.
Any thoughts?
ps, I have heard most pikey jokes, so unless they are very good I don't need to hear them.

Pike:
1. Skin,
2. Cook,
3. Throw away what's left.

I don't know what the pike is like here but in Canada it can be fantastic. If it's from warmish water it's not so fantastic. The big thing is the bones, I'm not bothered by them but my wife is so i fillet hers boneless and just pick the bones out of mine. Once you're past the bones it's not so bad.

I mix some seasoned salt of my own design with some flour. Flour the pike fillets and fry them in butter always use a cast iron frying pan and preferably over an open fire with a cold beer in your hand.

There are tons of ways to cook pike but none better in my opinion.

cheers

Hey Mate,

The trick with anything out of fresh water is to make sure it is out of cold running water. Like the Chef says if it is out of hot still water then I'd pass, (go salmon fishing instead or try for some deeper water)

I've had pike as the chef reccommends and it is great. I would also consider poaching the saddle of a fish, (Fillet the tail end and fry it), with some white wine and herbs, lots of dill and some lemon. Don't put the lemon skin in though as it can make the liquor go bitter. A stick of celery, onion and carrot will always help in these situations

You can eat that like that or make a terrine up with some pickles and caramelized shallots.

Over all I think it is a fish with some potential if caught in the right place at the right time of year. I'd say 10lb to 15lb fish to be about right.

Beyond all that you can try curing and or smoking fillets which I thik might be nice although I've never tried it. Hell if they smoke eels I don't see why not a pike!!

Don't forget the pictures of the fish when you catch it!!

K

Last time I ate Pike was on the shores of Loch Vaich up in Sutherland. With a group of friends we used to have an annual expedition there. We stayed at a lodge further east, spent a couple of days up on the hill lochs catching wee brownies for bait and then it was a major trip through on hill roads for about 20 miles. Build a big fire on the shore. Set the rods and usually we would catch several decent sized Pike. First one that was caught, bang on the head, gutted and cleaned, wrapped in tin foil with oil and herbs and buried in the embers of the fire for 20 to 30 minutes - tasted wonderful for lunch. If we were lucky then a second one would be done the same way. If we were unlucky then the bait fish got eaten instead. Have used the same method for salmon and trout, although only done one salmon that way and wee had spit out thelead pellets - caught using a 20 bore fly as it jumped a waterfall - we were hungry, had run out food and nearest shops 30 miles away - needs must.

It's popular over here in Scandiland, they usually make a type of fish cake out of it.

I've never made or tried them but i'm sure a true scandi will post up a recipe soon.

I used to cut it into 2" (50mm) chunks, fry both sides in butter and eat with sauteed potatoes and salad cream ( not quite mayo ).

It's a bit of an effort put I had Pike quenelles in France and they were very good.

It's a sort of set mousse thing, much nicer than it sounds.

Here's a recipe but I use the Hugh Fearnly-whittingstall one myself.

http://melissacooksgourmet.blo...e-wine-mushroom.html

This reminds me of Kiri's post from a couple of years ago when he had caught stocked rainbows. Lots of effort went into the preperation and cooking. The end result was binned and the Chinese takeaway got a phone-call.

quote:

Originally posted by Claret_Dabbler:
This reminds me of Kiri's post from a couple of years ago when he had caught stocked rainbows. Lots of effort went into the preperation and cooking. The end result was binned and the Chinese takeaway got a phone-call.

I remember that.

The solution for fish that insipid must be a curry of some description then?

http://www.independent.co.uk/l...h-curry-1488541.html

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/513864



My favourite way of having fish like eel, catfish, farmed stuff etc is in the Vietnamese way with caramelised sauce in a clay pot.

It makes anything taste good!

http://www.vietnamese-recipes....clay-pot-catfish.php

quote:

Originally posted by Claret_Dabbler:
This reminds me of Kiri's post from a couple of years ago when he had caught stocked rainbows. Lots of effort went into the preperation and cooking. The end result was binned and the Chinese takeaway got a phone-call.

Aaaah yes,





Oh well, i should have known better. On the other hand that Salmon we caught on the Easkey made wonderful sashimi.

K

Boneless filets dipped in half pancake mix and half flour then dropped in hot cooking oil.

Also one pan of potatoes, one pan of onions and cook a couple cans of baked beans (just leave the beans in the can and set them by the fire).

Boil a large pan of water then throw in a spoon of salt then throw in plenty of coffee grounds. Let it boil just a little then set it off the fire.

Then you need to bring a bunch of cookies to finish it off.

When I was into fishing, I always found that the best pike to eat were the younger ones. Anything over 5lbs or so was going to be more 'stringy' and the flesh coarser. Even small 2 pounders were quiote nice to eat - but not much meat on them!

while i don't eat pike i'm surprised nobody has said how to take the bones out of the fillet. it's not at all hard.
laying the fillet skin side down take your knife and cut a inverted V shape along the lateral line. you will be able to feel the Y bones with the knife. you cut the V about half way down the fillet. when you remove it almost all of the y bones will come with it

I really dunno if that recipe has already been posted but I'm in a little rush so I'm just gonna post it.
Gut the pike first and try to get rid of most of its scales.
Depending on the size of the pike peel 3-5 big onions and fry them with butter, fresh garlic and a bit of thyme.
Put the fried onions aside and let them cool down.
In the meantime put sardine-butter and butter (50/50) in a bowl mix it and ad as many bread-crumbs as it needs to thicken it up.
(I dunno how much butter and Sardine-butter you need. Depends on the size of the fish. I usually used 2 tubes of sardine-butter and half a packet of butter and rather use too much crumbs)
Now preheat the oven to 160-180 C°
Get the pike and dry it a little.
Put salt and freshly-grinded pepper on the in- and outside of the pike.
Stuff it with the fried onions and put it, belly-down on the oven-plate. Now brush the whole pike with the butter-crump-stuff from the outside.
And off it goes in the oven. You really gotta keep an eye on the fish as, depending on the size of the fish and the oven itself, it might take more or less temperature and I'm honestly not very sure about the time needed ;-)
Anyways, I always loved this recipe (and everybody I invited to come over and eat)
Enjoy and "Petri Heil" =)

K2

This may be a silly question but what is sardine butter? I've never come across it before. I occasionally use anchovy paste on legs of lamb and salad dressings.

K

Hey Fallow Buck,

anchovy paste might do as well.
It's more "sardine paste" anyway
and as sardines and anchovies taste quite
similar it should do it's job =)
Actually, it might have even been anchovy paste
if I remember correctly....
Sry for confusing you, it's always a bit of a hick-up to translate my "German thoughts and sentences" into correct English =)
Go ahead and let me know whether you like it or not!

Ouch.

Nice pike though.

A real video?

Not sure, it looks frozen and for sure I wouldn't put my hand in it's mouth !

Pike or not it takes a real man to keep his arm in that water so long.....or lots of vodka.

Any guesses as to the weight of that pike? Must be approaching 30lbs?

A lot of UK anglers would strongly consider getting their hand mauled for a fish like that.

I like to keep a 5-10# pike. Fillet (I don't know how to fillet the bones out), then take the SKIN off, wash fillets and then roll in seasoned flour. Cook a couple of pounds of bacon and take bacon out. Keep the bacon grease hot and place seasoned/floured fillets in the bacon grease and fry. Absolutely delicious! Beautiful, white, flakey meat! Enjoy!

Palmer
Brings back great memories of bear hunting and fishing in Canada. I could keep that picture on my desk. Thats hard to beat if your cooking pike.
Kidd

Just got a new lure

http://www.luckylures.nl/

I don't know any fancy recipes or ways to cook pike. I prefer some form of fried pike fillets. Theres the old cracker crumb style, the beer batter style, tampura, and I think the British style fish and chip batter would also be excellent.

I do know how to get the y-bones out. Here's a video that shows pretty much the way I do it complete with diagrams.



There's an easier way to do it (less mess and faster) but you waste a lot of meat.

quote:

Originally posted by bobby van der Putten:
Just got a new lure

http://www.luckylures.nl/

Bobby,

They are stunning lures. It reminded me of some trout flies I saw which were so lifelike I thought someone had mounted a natural.

I really admire the guys that can make these things and they are functional. There were the hand carved golden plover decoys that I saw once that were almost a shame to see used.

Rgds,
K

Take the pike fillets cut into chunks and drop into salted boiling water (don't over cook) then dip into melted lemon butter. We call it poor mans lobster.