Pickled Fish Recipe Help

[MuntzAngling]

I keep hearing about pickled pike as something I should try myself.

I personally like pickled herring and would like to try something similar to that. I think this would be nice for small pike, too small to make the de-y-boning worthwhile.

Also, any other tried and true fish species suggestions to try also.

Sheepies? White bass? Catfish? Carp? Black bass? Eelpout? Lake trout?

Very interested in tasteful possibilities...

[Jim Almquist]

Here is a great thread on pickled northern. I have had BD110 pickled northern on a couple of occasions and really like the flavor and how firm the meat is. I am sure these recipes could be used on most all fish.

Pickled Northern

[LightningBG]

I've read through that other post, but I'm still wondering...

How long can they stay in the fridge before needing to be consumed?

Can they be frozen? Would that wreck them?

My thought is I'd like to make a decent sized batch, but dont care to eat them super often. 1 quart jar a month is sufficient for myself. Any input on storage is appreciated.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Go back to that thread and find the recipie from coldone. I have tried that one and can attest to its success. Pickled pike taste like pickled herring but is a firmer meat and more white than silver like herring.

Here is the skinny on pickled pike from a novice. When you get some of those little pike, you know the ones, that would be a pain to debone, and you want to try some pickled pike, I would say keep maybe 2 or 3 that are just under 24". That should be about right. You want to fillet them like a walleye, not like a normal pike and you want to leave the skin on!

You should freeze them for at least 3 days to kill off any parasites that may be present since you will not be cooking the fish. As long as you are freezing them for 3 days you can do this up to a year after catching them (I did).

When you thaw the fish you want to remove the skin and cube the fillets into 1 inch chunks, maybe a bit larger but not too much. No need to debone since they will melt in the pickling process.

Once you complete the pickling process they will keep for about 6 months in the fridge in mason jars though it did not last that long at my house!

Keep the pickling solution after you finish a jar of the fish and when you collect enough of it you can hard boil a few dozen eggs, peel them and put them in a jar with the pickling solution and you will have some tasty pickled eggs to boot!