Canning walleye, perch and crappie

[wiperhunter2]

I've been wanting to give it a try since I started canning kokanee last year, so this coming week, I'm doing it. Anyone have any experience bottling these type of fish? I know it's basically like bottling kokanee but since the kokes were smoked I did not add any seasoning, what seasoning would work best for walleye, perch and crappie? Or do I even need any seasonings?

[Saltslam]

My grandmother used to bottle crappie, trout and bass (largemouth). The only thing I remember her putting in it was a little bottling salt. I was quite young so it's likely possible I missed something. Whatever she did, they were all delicious.

[fish_fear_me2]

I only add salt. My brother also adds peppercorns

[dubob]

I've been wanting to give it a try since I started canning kokanee last year, so this coming week, I'm doing it. Anyone have any experience bottling these type of fish? I know it's basically like bottling kokanee but since the kokes were smoked I did not add any seasoning, what seasoning would work best for walleye, perch and crappie? Or do I even need any seasonings?

Curt,

You don't NEED to add anything unless you want to enhance the flavor of the fish.  I normally add 1 teaspoon of Morton's Season-All to every bottle of any meat I bottle.  That's it.

I have also experimented a little and added 1 Tablespoon of some flavored salad dressing - like Catalina or Russian.  I couldn’t taste the flavor when I mixed the finished product with mayo and a bit of spicy relish to have on a sandwich or on crackers.  If I did it again, I would probably bump it up to 2 Tablespoons of the salad dressing in each bottle.

Probably your best bet in starting out would be to just add 1 teaspoon of salt or a salt product like Season-All.  I would suggest, if going the straight salt route, that you use a kosher salt or pickling salt which are additive free.

And I'm volunteering to help you sample the SECOND batch you do providing the first batch doesn't have any detrimental effects on you.  

[packfish]

I've been wanting to give it a try since I started canning kokanee last year, so this coming week, I'm doing it. Anyone have any experience bottling these type of fish? I know it's basically like bottling kokanee but since the kokes were smoked I did not add any seasoning, what seasoning would work best for walleye, perch and crappie? Or do I even need any seasonings?

Bottled fish(any fish works but Whitefish are excellent)

In one pint bottle put.....

1 bay leaf on bottom
Pack fish tightly to within one inch of top (do not add water)
½ teaspoon lemon pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Caesar Italian salad dressing (oil)
or
1 tablespoon Catalina dressing
Or
1 tablespoon French dressing(this colors light fish to look more like salmon)
½ Jalapeno pepper (cut up)

Add enough water in cooker to cover bottles about ½ way.(not real critical, just don’t cover the lids. Boil flats before using to sterilize.(tip-alternate how flats are placed in to boil and they will be a lot easier to get apart) Make sure bottles and lids are washed clean. Add all ingredients to bottles. Don’t over fill. If the ingredients boil out, you may not get a good seal. Clean lip of bottle with a damp rag just before the flat in placed on.(very important or it may not seal) Put on rings and tighten fairly tight(you don’t have to be a gorilla) Place bottles in cooker and secure cooker lid. Turn on heat but have the petcock open or the weight off. After steam is coming out of the hole pretty good(usually takes about 10 minutes) flip petcock shut or place weight on. Watch pressure rise and start timing the 110 minutes when it reaches 13#. You will have to turn the heat down now to maintain the correct pressure. Dependant on your stove, it will be somewhere between low and medium.(You will learn to make adjustments slightly before needed. i.e.: If pressure is climbing, turn down before you reach 13#) Cook at 13# in pressure cooker for a minimum of 110 minutes(for 4700 foot altitude) This is plenty of time but is a measure of safety and doesn’t hurt the fish. When time is up, turn off heat and leave it alone until the pressure reads zero. Don’t try and open early or the escaping steam can suck the juices out of the bottles. Open cooker and remove bottles. Let them sit undisturbed until they “pop” and seal. Occasionally one will not seal. Don’t worry, just refrigerate and eat it.

Just a spread sheet I had kept over the years.

[dubob]

packfish - I sent you a PM.  

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks everyone for your comments and especially Packfish and Dubob, I'll try one batch with just the salt, the second batch I'll try it like Packfish said, just to see it the added seasoning makes any difference. The procudure you outlined is exactly what I was doing when I bottled the kokes from last year. Smoked kokanee have plenty of flavor, so there was no reason to add seasoning but I just figured these fish would need more seasoning, I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
Last question, will these same methods work for catfish?

[dubob]

Last question, will these same methods work for catfish?

I'm just guessing here, but I would think the very soft texture of catfish meat wouldn't lend itself to the canning process successfully.  But, I've never done it so I can't say for sure.

[wiperhunter2]

Last question, will these same methods work for catfish?

I'm just guessing here, but I would think the very soft texture of catfish meat wouldn't lend itself to the canning process successfully.  But, I've never done it so I can't say for sure.

I'll do a batch of cats as well, if it turns out, maybe I'll start keeping more this year.

[TubeDude]

Last question, will these same methods work for catfish?

As you might guess, I HAVE tried bottling catfish.  As with most bottled fish, I kept the added flavorings and seasonings to a minimum...just some sea salt and a little pepper.  While catfish is a "heavy-fleshed" fish, the bottled product turned out fairly soft.  But it was super when mixed with some saltine cracker crumbs, creole seasoning and an egg and turned into fried fish patties.  A few drops of lemon juice and hot sauce on the finished patties and it was downright delish.

You ain't gonna find any fish better than bottled kokanee.  But all of your other potential subjects will turn out fine.  And since the extended high heat cooking while bottling renders the bones soft it is a good way to use some smaller perch, bluegills or crappies...without having to fillet them.

Haven't tried it on any Utah fishies, but in California I bottled some American shad (very bony) in a mixture of tomato paste, mustard and other seasonings to produce something akin to canned sardines.  Don't remember the exact recipe but you can probably find a good one online.  The final result was tasty and made great salads and sandwiches.

[dubob]

Haven't tried it on any Utah fishies, but in California I bottled some American shad (very bony) in a mixture of tomato paste, mustard and other seasonings to produce something akin to canned sardines.  Don't remember the exact recipe but you can probably find a good one online.  The final result was tasty and made great salads and sandwiches.

Did you 'scale' them first or just cut off the heads and clean out the guts?

[Therapist]

Being an old boy from Missouri,  one of the traditions in the Show me State is to bottle suckers.  The old saying is " When the dogwoods are in bloom, the suckers are running( spawn run).  In all the streams and rivers of Missouri, the folks would go out, scoop them up with nets and either salt em down in barrels or bottle them ( Sound familier, like the Pioneers on the Provo ).  From what I know,  they gutted them, removed head, tail, and fins, chunked em, then pressure canned em.  The pressure processing would soften the bones to where they were edible also.  Don't know what they did to prepare the meal, but that was the process.  I know that the early pioneers utilized the sucker run on the Provo as did the Indians before them.  Madsen Boat camp on the lower Provo was the primary place where the fish were caught and processed.  Hundreds of barrels of salted sucker were hauled to the Bishops Storehouse in SLC to be distributed in the winter.   I believe that this all took place in JUNE,  what do you know,  giving rise to our favorite JUNE SUCKER ha, ha!

So,  get Cowboy Pirate and Cookie to catch you a bunch of suckers up north, and give em a try.  Have never eaten one my self,  but they are supposed to be pretty good!!!!

[wiperhunter2]

Last question, will these same methods work for catfish?

As you might guess, I HAVE tried bottling catfish.  As with most bottled fish, I kept the added flavorings and seasonings to a minimum...just some sea salt and a little pepper.  While catfish is a "heavy-fleshed" fish, the bottled product turned out fairly soft.  But it was super when mixed with some saltine cracker crumbs, creole seasoning and an egg and turned into fried fish patties.  A few drops of lemon juice and hot sauce on the finished patties and it was downright delish.

You ain't gonna find any fish better than bottled kokanee.  But all of your other potential subjects will turn out fine.  And since the extended high heat cooking while bottling renders the bones soft it is a good way to use some smaller perch, bluegills or crappies...without having to fillet them.

Haven't tried it on any Utah fishies, but in California I bottled some American shad (very bony) in a mixture of tomato paste, mustard and other seasonings to produce something akin to canned sardines.  Don't remember the exact recipe but you can probably find a good one online.  The final result was tasty and made great salads and sandwiches.

Thanks for the info Pat, I've been putting off bottling the white fleshed fish but now I'm looking forward to giving it a go, sounds like this might turn out better than I thought it would.

[TubeDude]

Haven't tried it on any Utah fishies, but in California I bottled some American shad (very bony) in a mixture of tomato paste, mustard and other seasonings to produce something akin to canned sardines.  Don't remember the exact recipe but you can probably find a good one online.  The final result was tasty and made great salads and sandwiches.

Did you 'scale' them first or just cut off the heads and clean out the guts?

Any fish I process with the skin remaining is always scaled.  While the processing softens the bones it doesn't make the scales palatable.  Salmonids don't usually present much of a problem but the more heavily scaled "warm water" species come out a lot better if scales are removed before processing.

And unless you have unusual tastes and preferences...mo bettah to remove head and guts too.

[wiperhunter2]

Being an old boy from Missouri,  one of the traditions in the Show me State is to bottle suckers.  The old saying is " When the dogwoods are in bloom, the suckers are running( spawn run).  In all the streams and rivers of Missouri, the folks would go out, scoop them up with nets and either salt em down in barrels or bottle them ( Sound familier, like the Pioneers on the Provo ).  From what I know,  they gutted them, removed head, tail, and fins, chunked em, then pressure canned em.  The pressure processing would soften the bones to where they were edible also.  Don't know what they did to prepare the meal, but that was the process.  I know that the early pioneers utilized the sucker run on the Provo as did the Indians before them.  Madsen Boat camp on the lower Provo was the primary place where the fish were caught and processed.  Hundreds of barrels of salted sucker were hauled to the Bishops Storehouse in SLC to be distributed in the winter.   I believe that this all took place in JUNE,  what do you know,  giving rise to our favorite JUNE SUCKER ha, ha!

So,  get Cowboy Pirate and Cookie to catch you a bunch of suckers up north, and give em a try.  Have never eaten one my self,  but they are supposed to be pretty good!!!!

When I was young, growing up in Colo, we would go fishing and stay out all day in the Summer, never thinking much about taking food along we would just eat the fish we caught when we got hungry. One day, many miles from town, we had not been able to catch a trout in that area of the river but the suckers were biting so we cooked one of them up. It was nice flakey white meat and the taste was great, as we went to cook a second sucker, a pack of dogs came running down the hill by the stream bank, we backed up and not having a gun, we grabs some big sticks to defend ourselves. To our surprise the dogs stayed away from us but went right for the cooking sucker, still on the fire, grabs it and took off. We were glad they only went after that sucker but decided to call it a day after that. Started to carry a small pistol after that.

[gmwahl]

Hey Curt,

I bottle loads of fish every year and we eat it like crazy.

I've bottled ciscos (awesome with a 1/2 tsp each of salt and liquid smoke), suckers, lake trout, crappie, perch, whitefish, carp, and rainbows. That are all excellent bottled and none of them taste muddy or fishy done that way.

I usually only use salt and occasionally pepper for seasonings and once in a while add liquid smoke. Fish are best left somewhat neutral in flavor when bottling so that you can use them in any recipe that calls for canned fish without adding overpowering extra flavors.

I never can them in bigger than pint jars (for safety) and I have found that the product is better if it is filleted and skinned, but certain fish like ciscos and smaller trout are good with scales off and skin on. The pin bones disappear and the bigger bones are soft and I dont notice them really at all.

Mike

[Mildog]

I bottle lots of Kokanee and smoke all kind of things. A couple things I have added to Kokanee when canning are BBQ sauce and Hoisin one light tablespoon per pint. I would think they would be good with white fleshed fish as well. Of course has to be pressure canner not water bath and follow times and safe canning instructions carefully. Usually I just add a pinch of salt and a dash of lemon juice and the Kokanee is awesome as you know. Makes great snack with crackers, sandwhich spread or fantastic salmon patties with some craker crumbs, egg, green onions and some spices then fried up till golden brown. I havent bottled "white" fleshed fish because it freezes so well and I enjoy it in more typical recipes like you would do with fresh fish. I freeze in baggies {not ziplocks} squeeze all air out then Vacuum Pack. It keeps almost like fresh for a very long time.
I pack all my ground game meat the same way with the same great results with the "double bagging" it keeps way longer than it takes me to use it. I have done it for years this way. Ocassionally I find a package that got "missed" for a long period of time. Open it up no freezer burn or loss of quality, it works out great.
Mildgo Out

[WET1]

I've been wanting to give it a try since I started canning kokanee last year, so this coming week, I'm doing it. Anyone have any experience bottling these type of fish? I know it's basically like bottling kokanee but since the kokes were smoked I did not add any seasoning, what seasoning would work best for walleye, perch and crappie? Or do I even need any seasonings?

  Curt, I started adding a slice of lemon in the bottom of the jar and sliced jalapenos in about 1/2 of them. The lemon goes in every jar and it is amazing how it just disolves all but the rind and infuses right into the fish. The remaining rind is very tender and I usally dice it up and mix it right in wiht the fish.

[FatBiker]

Thought about giving this one a try with some of Sunday's bounty.

http://www.creativesustenance.com/stumpj...er-recipes

[dubob]

Thought about giving this one a try with some of Sunday's bounty.

http://www.creativesustenance.com/stumpj...er-recipes

DUDE - I definitely want to be invited to the tasting party when those are done!  Obseving social distancing, of course.