Cooking Whitefish

[squidward]

I haven't really targeted whitefish but I see many on this boart actively Persue them for table fare. I am curious how you all cook them? I have searched the forum already and see a common theme of smoking them. I don't have a smoker and nor do I really enjoy smoked fish much. I understand they can be quite fishy tasting if you don't trim the fat off and the lateral line. Is the stronger flavour the reason for smoking?

[blackonblackfx4]

Makes great smoked fish as well as pan fried mmmm it's crispy

[Lornce]

Poaching is really a nice way to do them along with roasting.

[muzzy]

Lornce do you poach them in a chicken broth??

[SNAPFisher]

Whitefish is generally more bland and in taste and texture than pike, walleye, perch...etc.
What makes them so good is the high fat / oil content which tends to soak up other added flavors - like smoking. Highest oil content fish is always the best for smoking. I think done right, you might be surprised at how good it can be.
Other than that they are versatile for so many recipes. If you like fish, freshly caught white with salt, pepper and lemon is just fine. So if I don't eat them right away and choose to freeze them, it is either the smoker, whitefish burgers, or any of the other methods already brought up on here.

[chimpac]

I like the roasting idea best. No scaling, even leave on the head. When it is roasted enough to peel off the skin, the flesh can be fried a bit in butter and whatever spices.

[blackonblackfx4]

Originally Posted by Lornce

Poaching is really a nice way to do them along with roasting.

Easy way to catch a whole bunch too LOL

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by blackonblackfx4

Easy way to catch a whole bunch too LOL

[lds]

-Battered and deep fried
-Flaked in fish cakes
-pan fried for fish tacos
-cooked over and open fire on a flat rock with garlic butter (that's my favorite)

[Mike_W]

I like them in fish crisp made into fish tacos

[Zip-in-Z]

The Mrs just dip's them in egg bath, then a crumb/spice batter and pan fried in avocado oil with a t-spoon of garlic crumbles, cook until golden brown put a slice of lemon on them and enjoy. She says avocado oil is the best for pan frying them.

I sit at the eating bar with a nice Chardonnay and watch.

.

[pikeman06]

You nailed it about the grayish red crap on the skin side. Get that off and the filets are almost transparent. I make a pass with a real sharp fillet knife from the head end to the tail and it comes off nice. Takes practise but look at that crap and give it a smell. Probly loaded with omega 3 but turns a lot of people off. Pike have it too wallies and perch not so much.

[the local angler]

an asian style is to fillet skin and debone the fillets. run the two boneless fillets through a meat grinder/chopper or do the laborious knife and chopped it up really fine like ground beef. once you have the ground fish meat all finely diced up put in a mixer with a paddle type whip and throw in your favorite seasonings and mix till its thick and a gluey consistency. take sweet bell peppers large mushroom caps clean and remove the mushroom stems and quarter and clean the peppers and dry them off after washing. then dust the mushrooms and quartered peppers in corn starch( it will help the meat stick) take a spoon or butter knife and start filling the cavities of the mushroom caps and the peppers. place in a fry pan on low to med heat till fully cooked. if you have any left over meat make into fish meat balls and or burger patties and place on a baking sheet and freeze till hard then bag and store for another day. at least thats what we do because the whitefish yields so much meat.

[Isopod]

I like whites in either of two ways:

1) fillet them, removing the fatty lines so you have nice white-fleshed fillets. Then prepare the fillets like any other white-fleshed fish -- pan-fried, battered, etc. Only downside to this is that unless you are an expert at filleting fish (I'm not), there will be too much waste to do this on smaller whitefish like you are likely to catch in say Sylvan or Gull lakes.

2) Scale the fresh fish, gut it, then remove the head and tail (you don't really need to remove the head and tail, I just do it for appearance). Then brine the fish for at least an hour or several in a salty-lemony brine. Then BBQ over a low to moderate grill, rotating as needed, until the skin is brown and crispy and the flesh is separating from the bone. Enjoy!