Make Northern taste like Lobster recipe

[MNHuntress]

The problem with Northern is that they're skanky, and smelly but guys and gals give this recipe a try, I wouldn't have believed unless I tried it either. This recipe works with fresh and frozen Northern and I've tried it both ways.

Debone your Northern if you know how

In a 3 qt pot of larger, pour in enough 7-up to fill up 1/2 to 3/4 of the pot (enough to cover northern).

Bring the 7-up (It must be 7-up, no Sprite or diet of any kind) to a boil.

Throw in the northern and boil until it turns opaque and flaky, maybe about 5 minutes or so

Drain in a strainer

Serve with Garlic Butter. About 1/2 stick of butter and a heaping tablespoon or so of jar garlic.

The 7-up imparts just a tad bit of sweetness to northern, just like lobster meat.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Huntress,

We have been making "poor man's lobster" for years with our Northern but we used water to boil it and seasoned the water with pepper, spices and lemon slices then made the melted butter to dip it into. I like the idea of the 7UP, I will try it the next time we do the "poor man's".

Windy

[LABS4ME]

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The problem with Northern is that they're skanky, and smelly

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Boy I don't know about that. Though I pickle the majority of the pike I catch, I've filleted a few and mixed em' in with walleye fillets and 'surprisingly' no one had any complaints. In fact many times people prefered the pike over the walleye.

They may be slimy and fishy smelling when alive, but once filleted are a very firm white meat that is quite tasty.

By the way... the recipe you posted in awesome for eelpout. My wife now prefers that I bring eelpout home when I go to LOW instead of walleye. The key to eel pout though is it is nowhere near as good once it's been frozen. It works best when fresh. Poorman's (me! ) lobster.

Good Luck!

Ken

[MNHuntress]

Yep Northerns are skanky and smelly when they are alive, but the meat is awesome when filleted out. Try whitefish once, they are just as good

Yep this is essentially poor man's lobster, but I've never gotten mine to taste this good. It's amazing what the 7-up will do and everybody laughs when I go out fishing strictly for Northerns

[Harmonica Bear]

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They may be slimy and fishy smelling when alive, but once filleted are a very firm white meat that is quite tasty.

By the way... the recipe you posted in awesome for eelpout.

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agree 100%, turns eelpout into a delicacy

[Tippman]

I keep hearing about cooking eelpout this way. But the thought of eating one of those things....lol. Guess it's mind over matter. And I think the friends and neighbors would look at you funny bringing home a pail full of eelpout.

[lookincalifornia]

i think that getting this recipe out there will really help those lakes where pike are stunted. i used to spend a week at a small lake(head) near otteretail mn. you can't hardly catch a pike over 22", yet you can't keep the 18"-20"ers off your hook. i know there are alot of other lakes with this problem. if people would start eating them, trophy pike would be caught(hopefully released) more often.

are the fish peices good cold, like immitaion crab?

[BigWadeS]

I take care of as many as I can in the summer but if I could figure out how to catch them in the winter I could do my part a lot more!

[Hammer Handle]

I agree, northerns are great to eat!!

Serve them and tell people they are walleyes...and most will have no idea!!

I freeze all of my fish in 7-up. When you thaw them out, they taste fresh like you just caught them.

[Coach1310]

Hammer-

Could you elaborate on how exactly your freeze them like add 1 liter of 7 up to 10 fillets etc. This sounds like a great idea. I love fish regardless, but fresh is a lot better then frozen...anything to get the frozen ones to taste fresh. Thanks!

[Lisa Almquist]

Hammer,

7-up? Really? Do they pick up any sweetness from it though?

[glenn57]

heres my two bits worth on the 2 subjects discussed. slimy nords. if you keep any skin on (for legal transport/or smoking) put vinegar in. an ice cream pail of nords needa maybe a half cup if that in the water. let sit in frig overnite, wash off, no more slim. nord like lobster ( aka.poor mans lobster) i boil fish 7 minutes melt butter add lemon juice and seasoning.

[boatfixer]

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I take care of as many as I can in the summer but if I could figure out how to catch them in the winter I could do my part a lot more!

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Try to avoid them,seems to work for me

[sjburnt]

.

[sparcebag]

Mn huntress I'm gonna try it! But I have to ask?? any stock or investments in 7up

[minnbowhunter]

Another way to prepare pike:

boil like above and then cool in the fridge, flake the fich with a fork(the y-bones will all find their way to the top, easy to pick out) mix with egg, cracker meal, onion and green pepper cut up real small. Make patties and roll in more of the cracker crumbs and fry like a burger. good eats and the kids like em

[straydog]

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any stock or investments in 7up

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When we do it we use a fry pan and enough seven up to mabey cover the fish, like using oil. Other wise filling a kettel with boiling seven up would take quite a bit.

[bassNspear]

i dont understand what the 7 up will do to the fish?

We use milk before you fry them. Is this the same thing?

[MNHuntress]

Bass N Spear,

Here's my take on it all...if you buy a really good lobster tail and cook it at home it has just a bit of a sweet taste. It's in the meat.

I don't own any stock in 7-up. I can buy a big jug of 7-up for 99 cents on sale or 2 bucks not on sale. A big jug will do alot of northern meat. I use a 3 quart sauce pan, most ppl own one of these. When you boil the meat it gives it just a hint of sweetness, nothing overpowering or anything but just right. Some how Sprite or the others don't work that way.

When I started this post, the purpose was two-fold. First off as a different way to cook northern, other than boil in water like poor man's lobster or pan fry. Secondly in hopes that more ppl would keep northerns as some of our lakes are over run with them.

So there you have it, now I won't eat northern any other way. I spend so much of my money fishing here and there I can't afford lobster

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Huntress,

Not a bad theory. We always used seasoned water and then went with melted butter for dipping but will try the 7UP the next time around and then the melted butter. I also like the idea of pickeling some of the smaller pike, 24" or so. You take the fillet off just like a walleye and don't worry about the Y bones because the pickling process will "melt" the bones. This is two ways of having people keep a few more toothy critters so we can keep the balance of the lakes in check!

Windy

[bassNspear]

so if your going to freeze fish in a gallon zip lock, how much 7 up do you put in that bag before you freeze it, and do you just add 7 up, or add some water to it as well.