Fishing Forum

I need to know what I did wrong. Last time we went out we caught a few perch and the way that they were cooked did not do them justice. For all the trouble I went through to take care of them to get them ready to cook the end product just wasn't as good as a trout. Let me know.
My favorite way to cook a trout is on a grill, filleted. I season with lemon salt and pepper, some lemon juice, more black pepper, and my favorite seasoning is dill weed, if it looks like it has too much dill weed it's just right. Of course I have the grill hot with Alder wood chips smoking when I put them in. Depending on the outside temperature it usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to get them done, without turning. I have got people that don't like fish to try them and usually am sorry I did, because then have to share more of mine with them. []
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Perch like any white meated fish are delicate. The only real secret is to not over cook them.
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Perch don't have much flavor to them I don't think, not like a trout or salmon. The best way I have found is to batter and fry them, and then dip them in your favorite sauce. For Trout and Salmon I like to fillet them and skin them (I use a torch on the skin then it peels right off without cooking the meat) then I season the meat and coat with corn meal and flour, then fry in a little butter. Gets a nice crust all the way around, and I like to cook them on the medium well side, keeps them from getting dry. I also enjoy smoking them and making grav lox.
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[quote maghunter]Perch don't have much flavor to them . . . and coat with corn meal and [#8000ff]flower[/#8000ff], then fry in a little butter. . . . .[/quote]

[#8000ff] Do you prefer dandelions or day lilies? [/#8000ff]
Just had to chuckle - cuz I have cooked with flowers,
(as well as frying with flour, though I need to get some cornmeal - that adds a special crunch to the crisp) including oregano branches - flowers and all - in my smoker-water.

If you want more "fish flavor" in your perch - scale them and leave the skin on. Some folks like skin flavor - my family thought they were too "fishy" - so I've skinned my filets. No flame involved. I could just imagine my wife's look if I did THAT in the house!


Perch are not as oily a fish as the salmonoids (trout, salmon). And being so small you really won't get the "grey" fatty area along the lateral line. I usually scrape that off from Salmon - leaves less "fishy" taste.
I always like to include onion and garlic in the mix (sea salt, black pepper, cayenne). Perch filets bake well - in a little butter garlic. You can even sprinkle with coconut at the end, and give 'em a crisp under a broiler.

TD has a Chow Down Perch Chowder that is fun to experiment with. Here's that and a couple others.
Batter fried or breaded perch are always popular.

So Maghunter - what's 'grav lox'? Is that just lightly smoked -but not dried down? Like 'lox and bagels' smoked salmon? I actually ended up making bluegill jerky once (by accident [blush]) - smoked those little fillets a wee bit long.

I recently tried and really liked the "poor mans lobster" recipes for perch. Mmmmmmmm.

Also like to dip fillets in egg, then in "whatever your favorite batter is" and deep fry. My grand daughters say they don't like fish, so I tell them it's chicken and "gulp". It's all gone. Taste very similar to chicken fingers to me.
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I like to take the fillets and dip them in egg whites then in corn meal, crushed cornflakes, or crushed ritz crackers with lemon pepper. Then fry to a golden brown and pour some lemon juice over the top.

I also like to fry strips of perch fillet in honey butter and mix with chopped mango for a great fish taco.

Have you checked out BFTs Recipe board?

Windriver
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For perch we have used a box of fish fry stuff you can get at the grocery back by the meat usually and followed the directions on it. Some of the best fish we have ever had. Don is right, we have overcooked before and they weren't real great.
For trout my favorite is the simple coat in bisquik, fry in butter (not margarine) with salt and pepper. Whole. Bigger trout I will do other things with.
Both are great and if both are fresh that day not sure which I could say I like better.
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Wow! Honey butter! You just blew my mind. That sounds awsome.
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for nice fresh perch skined and ready!!! I like to use flour, and black pepper in a 12'' skillet with just enough sunflower oil to cover the bottom and fry them up in there.. Tell they are just flaky enough to be done... Doesn't take long with perch to cook them with the stove top on medium heat and the oil nice and hot it take about 12-15 min to cook them 6 to 7 in a half min on each side.... Aprox... I find perch to have alot of flavor they just are not as fishy as trout and salmon... But they can be made very good and my fevorite way to cook a trout well a brown trout as I think they taste much better than the rest of the trout... On the bbq grill wraped in tinfoil skin and head and tail still on the fish just no guts... With lemon pepper rubbed on the inside wrap up and bbq it when done the skin just falls right off can grab it and pull it off and in a brown trouts cheek area there is usually a quarter size chunk of meat that is super tasty.... Then catfish I like blackend catfish or some call it cajun eather way it's very tasty...
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I guess I may be one of the few that gets great flavor on perch like many other panfish, i know perch isnt a pan fish, but to me cooks up and eats about the same. I use pancakd flour to start with, add about half as much corn meal, then add seasonings like lemon pepper, onion powder, garlic powder or salt, salt and pepper (add these to your taste). Then get oil hot, put tip of fish in and it if bubbles good your ready to go or use an onion and separte the rings and put them in your dry mix and use them to temp your oil. Keep your oil hot but not to where it starts turing brown cuz then it will add a burnt taste to your fillets.

I havent had bad luck on this at all and its a reciepe thats been in the family for I dont know how long and use the same for all fish we use, good luck.
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[quote duksnfish]i know perch isnt a pan fish, but to me cooks up and eats about the same. [/quote]

You sure about that? I consider them panfish.
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Honey butter and mango? Sounds like something I need to try. I pretty much always make fish tacos when I keep perch, walleye, bass, bluegill. I make a beer batter and add some cumin, garlic, chili powder and cayenne to the mix. I fry some corn tortillas and put a yogurt/mayo mix on them along with salsa, shredded cabbage and fresh lime. I'll also use sour cream if I don't have plain yogurt and mayo on hand.
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I was paying close attention to how they cook the shrimp tacos at Bajio. Then I went home and tried perch in honey butter and mango. It was great.

Windriver
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They are in the same family as walley actually and if you look close at them, they look alot alike and ya im pretty sure they arent in the panfish catagory. Someone else might be able to confirm that better than me. I didnt google it up but im sure it would be easy to do.

Well i did the google, here it is:


[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish[/url]
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There you go. You proved me right. By your source:

A Panfish, also spelled pan-fish or pan fish, is an edible [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_fish"]game fish[/url] that usually doesn't outgrow the size of a frying pan. The term is also commonly used by anglers to refer to any small catch that will fit in a pan, but is large enough to be legal. However its definition and usage varies with geographical region.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#cite_note-0"][1][/url]
Contents[[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#"]hide[/url]]
[ul][li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#Usage"]1 Usage[/url] [li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#See_also"]2 See also[/url] [li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#References"]3 References[/url]
[ul][li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#Article_References"]3.1 Article References[/url] [li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#Other_References"]3.2 Other References[/url] [/li][/ul][/li][/ul]
[[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Panfish&action=edit&section=1"]edit[/url]] UsageThe term panfish or pan-fish has been used to refer to a wide range of edible freshwater and saltwater fish species that are small enough to cook in a small pan. In American Food and Game Fishes. A Popular Account of All The Species Found In America North Of The Equator, With Keys For Ready Identification, Life Histories And Methods of Capture – Jordan and Evermann (1908) they identify all the following as panfish in some form or another: [#ff0000]Yellow Perch[/#ff0000], Candlefish, Balaos, Sand Launces, Rock Bass, Bullheads, Minnows, Rocky Mountain Whitefish, Sand Rollers, Crappie, Yellow Bass, White Bass, Croaker and of course most of the common small sunfishes such as bluegill and redear sunfish.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfish#cite_note-1"][2][/url].
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Looks like I'll be hitting the lakes around ice out to collect some perch so I can try this. Sounds delicious.
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I have also tried the bajio thing with some fine chopped jalapeno thrown in too and it was great.... my favorite recipe for trout is to filet them and then soak them overnight in a marinade of 1 cup of water, 1cup of soy sauce, 1.5 cups brown sugar, .5 cup oil and some minced garlic. ....place skin side on foil and cook in the barbecue until the meat starts to flake.
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Thats what I get for posting at 4 a.m. after only a couple hours sleep, flour flower same difference [:/]. Grav lox is a curring process, you use salt, white sugar, a ton of dill weed, and some gin, no cooking no smoking and it is delicious. I can't find my recipe right now but if your interested send me a PM and I'll try to find it.
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This works great with Perch also.
[url "http://www.food.com/recipe/jalapeno-garlic-tilapia-by-johnny-carinos-192519"]http://www.food.com/recipe/jalapeno-garlic-tilapia-by-johnny-carinos-192519[/url]
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Did a stir fry last night with perch instead of chicken. It was great! My wife said, "I thought you were going to put perch in here?" I said, "I did." She couldn't tell the difference between perch and chicken.[]
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