Whitefish texture from Gull

[Nikanit]

Hey folks how's the fishing?
I have a question to ask everyone here that has taken some WHITEFISH from Gull Lake this year.
I have cooked fish from here many, many times over the last 12 years, and we have noticed that this year, the meat goes all mushy when cooked. I have a great recipe that I use, and the hubs takes the utmost care of the fish when cleaning and filleting. Now when I coat and fry up, they just fall apart, even my total fish loving son rejected it.

I am an excellent cook and have made whitefish in this way soooo many times and it never falls apart or turned mushy, it's a delicious recipe that family members also use.

It's like I'm trying to fry a Goldeye...

I wonder what's going on? My husband's cousin lives right on the lake, and he said that when he took the boat out last spring, he seen all kinds of dead whitefish floating around.

[Red Bullets]

Odd. Not sure if the little mister is skinning your fillets. Leave the skin on and just scale the soft fish.
Sometimes I've had whitefish partially freeze while out on the lake and then thawed to fillet and it seems to make some of the fish softer. The bigger whites seems so fatty and hard to cook firmly too.

Maybe Omega can give some insight into the curse of the fall apart fillets.

[Nikanit]

Hahaha..."little mister"...he leaves the skin on and has always done it like this as per fishing regs. Like I said, we have never before had this happen with whitefish. Tomorrow we are off to Sylvan, and if we score, we will do that one up and report back

[Red Bullets]

The Sylvan lake whites will be a nicer fish. They are a sub species that doesn't grow as big. Smaller white are always firm. The whites in Gull are the same kind as in Pigeon. Bigger fish.

[skawtty]

Hey Nik want to share that recipe? We just do them in flour, salt and pepper but i am up for a new recipe to try. Hopefully after Saturday when we go out we will be able to have a fish fry haha.

Skawtty

[pikeman06]

I never had a mushy fillet from a gull whitey and I've eaten my share and then some. In the first week of the season I would release the ones that were just finished spawning because their normally impeccable flesh was a bit coloured as opposed to the almost transparent meat they usually have. Don't let them freeze after being caught then thaw, then fillet and freeze and then thaw and eat. I find they get a bit sandy in texture when you do that and they won't glaze up after being brined for the smoker. Other wise high quality whitefish.

[Nikanit]

Originally Posted by skawtty

Hey Nik want to share that recipe? We just do them in flour, salt and pepper but i am up for a new recipe to try. Hopefully after Saturday when we go out we will be able to have a fish fry haha.

Skawtty

Hey, I just use crushed corn flakes or bread crumbs for the crispness factor with what ever spices you got like garlic powder or montreal steak spice. We cut the fish into 2 inch chunks, dip in a milk and egg wash, coat, then fry in oil with a good fry pan

[Nikanit]

So we cooked up some whitefish from Sylvan, and it was totally fine, texture was good, everybody happy...