Took the scouts fishing on Sat. Beautiful day, we headed up to the northern end and fish were coming through like crazy but the trout bite was lite and so with some of the scouts never ice fishing before or fishing in general. I rigged up their poles for perch and they had a blast. Between the five of them and two leaders, we tried to focus on trout but wanted to get in on the catching as well, around 280 perch and 10 trout were caught. We caught a few trout probably would have had more but I didn't really fish the first two or so hours [
] but it was a good trip for the kids and a good few hours of teaching them how to fillet as well. We fished in 30' FOW.
I would like to do fish tacos with the perch fillets as we had some really good size to some of the perch 9" wasn't uncommon. What recipes have you used?
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My method is simple steaming. I put the fillets in a steamer tray (with a water bath) and microwave it for a couple minutes.
You could also lightly and briefly pan-fry/saute them if you are very careful not to overcook them. Then, just set out taco fixings and have at it.
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Simple and Delicious -
Sprinkle a little Tony Chechere's (spelling?) Cajun seasoning on both sides of fillets.
Brown/crisp up fillets in non-stick skillet with a bit of butter and olive oil. Butter for flavor, olive oil to keep butter from burning. If the fillets are sticking you don't have your pan hot enough.
I prefer small flour tortillas and the rest is personal preference but a quick list of condiments is as follows:
shredded cheese
shredded lettuce
cilantro
pico de gallo
hot sauce - ( I like Louisiana)
sour cream
jalepenos
etc.
I generally can't cook the fillets fast enough to keep up with the kids munching them down[
].
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Looks like a lot of work...but well worth it.
I love using pancake batter mixed with seasonings: johnny's, Tony's, and pepper usually do the trick. Mix the dry stuff before you add liquid. Beer, IMO, provides the flakiest crust known to man. Water also works. Mix the batch slightly lighter than traditional pancake batter.
Run the fillets through the batter bath and slap em' into a pan or fryer with oil. After they are cooked, wrap them in a tortilla and run it back through the oil to crisp the shell. Perfection.
Add whatever you like after it cools off!
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Corn tortillas, fried in oil, crisp to your own taste.
Fillets patted dry, dredged in egg, rolled in a mixture of seasoned Italian breadcrumbs and Tony Cachere's Cajun seasoning fried in the same oil you did the tortillas in.
Diced cabbage.
Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (get the powder you make by mixing buttermilk and mayo-forget the bottled crap)
Siracha Hot sauce.
Put fillets in tortilla, add diced cabbage, ranch dressing and Siracha to taste (careful, a little Siracha goes a long way.) I've tried different variations of this simple grouping (lettuce, cheese, tomato...), but I always come back to this basic plan. This past weekend was the first time I tried something extra that I liked; we added a slice of avocado. See finished product below.
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Thanks for all the recipes they sound delicious not sure which one to try [
][
] I do love Tony's creole seasoning though so whatever the recipe i choose it will have Tony's. I will let you know how it turns out.
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Looks like a crapload of perch....and some very sore filleting fingers. How thick was the ice on that end? How close was the open water? I've been down 3 times this year including Saturday but have avoided the north end because of open water and unsafe ice.
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The ice was around 6-8 inches and some places would have a couple inches of slush on it. We were not close to open water I would say at least 300-400 yards maybe more. We were closer to the east side I know the ice is over a foot thick if you stay to the west side.
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Good to know. Thanks for the info.
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I grill em up, and then slap em on a corn tortilla and add:
Coleslaw
Cilantro
Trader Joe's Sweet Chilli Sauce
Sour cream
Avocado
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Try some Cavenders seasoning roll in flour or pancake mix, fry in bacon grease. YUMMY (dont over cook)
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You cannot beat Fishlake for sheer numbers and action. Just finished a batch of walleye tacos. This recipe came from Wayne's Words. 1st prepare the slaw.mix 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1/3 cup plain yogurt, 1/3 cup sour cream , 1/2 teaspoon dehydrated onion in a large bowl, next add one small head of shredded cabbage,(I use a mainstay multislicer fast and easy) squeeze 1/2 lime over slaw, salt and pepper to taste. Now prepare the batter in a medium bowl mix 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons of Johnny'S seasonings salt, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, mix dry ingredients well, add 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 1/2 cups ice water mix till lumpy. I use 2 frying pans. One has about 2" of peanut oil the other just enough to cover the bottom1/8" or so. Cut fillets into 1" strips, heat oil to 350* dip fillets in batter and drop into oil. Cook until golden brown do not over cook. Next heat the other pan to 350* and lay a corn tortilla in it. When it starts to bubble turn over fold in half and you are ready to go. Tortilla, fillet, slaw, grated cheese, salsa, you get the idea. Think that's a lot of work, try filleting 50 perch.
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