Kids are asking for a fish fry again. Anyone ever eat toothy critters?

[Fishinfire]

90% of the time I am a C&R guy. Every now and then my kids beg for a fish fry. Usually I target the panfish but lately the Canal is alive with the slimers.

Any one ever eat chain pickerel? I am well aware of the Y-Bones but I am confident in my cleaning/filleting skills.

[NorthJerzyG]

I ate a gill hooked pickerel from the shed earlier this year. Cleaned it up nice and rubbed down good with lemon to de-slime it. Baked it with some butter and garlic and thought it was pretty good. No "swampy" taste that I kind of expected........

[briansnat]

I've never been able to fillet a pickerel to get the bones out, I don't think it's really possible. So many small bones. The meat is pretty good but the only way I know how to get around that is pickling or making dumplings in a food processor.

[justin1982]

Someone told me one time to cut it in chunks and deep fry it and it melts the pinbones, I never tried it though

[briansnat]

Originally Posted by justin1982

Someone told me one time to cut it in chunks and deep fry it and it melts the pinbones, I never tried it though

I've tried that a few times, didn't work.

[Fishinfire]

Thanks guys. Guess I may as well give it a shot. Watched a few vidwos on youtube from people that say they are boneless. Will let everyone know how it goes when it happens.

[acabtp]

here's the video i watched a few years back when i wanted to fillet a pickerel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM3wAgBmeNU
it worked well, no bones

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by justin1982

Someone told me one time to cut it in chunks and deep fry it and it melts the pinbones, I never tried it though

There is a Japanese word for this. I need to dig through some of my books at home to dig it up. It involves slicing the fillet every quarter of an inch so that the hot oil can reach the bones. When you cook it, the bones will become soft.
I never tried it. I'll post again later when I have more specific information.

I eat bluegills which are sometimes like trying to eat the stuffing out of a pin cushion. The two ways of dealing with it are to make very small fillets from the boneless areas, or fry them up whole and eat them with your fingers.

Your fingers are more dextrous than a fork at manipulating the fillet meat from a skeleton. Don't be afraid to reach in your mouth to pull out a pin bone if you feel one.


.

[Andrushkin33]

When eating pickerel I either cut it into the steaks or use it for a fish soup. Best would be to make a soup with couple of crappies mixed in. Perfect eating for those cold nights when you are out.

Andre