Different Ways to Cook Northern Pike

There are many nice ways to cook and eat pike. The real secret is to eat small pike and eat them while they are fresh. Northern Pike gets a little bit of a grainy texture to it after its been frozen. Fresh Pike taste the same as Walleye or Cod.

Flour & Oil:

Many people just roll the pike fillet in flour and deep-fry in oil or lard until the fillet is golden brown. This is a quick and easy way but it gets boring if you are cooking it this way every day for your shore lunch.

Eggs & Cracker Crumbs:

A very popular way of cooking fish, which was extremely popular in the 50s and 60s, yet is making a major comeback in popularity is to roll the fillet in flour, then dip in beaten eggs, then roll in cracker crumbs and fry in butter until golden brown.

Tempura Batter:

If you go to the seafood section of your supermarket, you will find Clubhouse Tempura Batter, which is the batter you get in Japanese restaurants. Just follow the instructions when making the mix, except add a level teaspoon of salt. Then dip the fillet in the batter and deep fry until golden brown.

Shake-&-Bake:

Lemon Pepper Shake-&-Bake is great for deep-frying. Just clean the fillets off and make sure they are damp, shake the fish in the mix and deep fry in oil or lard. For a thicker batter coating, dip the fillet in beaten eggs and then roll in Shake-&-Bake.

Beer Batter:

There are a million different recipes for Beer Batter. Below are a couple methods that are popular with fisherman and people that are camping.

Beer Batter Recipe #1:

1 cup of pancake flour 3/4 cup of beer
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon of salt
Dash of pepper
Mix and dip fillets in batter to drop into hot deep fat (380 degrees). Cook for 2 minutes or until browned.

Beer Batter Recipe #2:

2 eggs, separate yoke and the egg white
1 tablespoon of oil or butter
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1-1/3 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of flat beer

Beat egg yolks with oil, salt, and pepper. Add flour and beer to mix. Beat well and refrigerate for 3 1/2 hours. When you are ready to use, fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Baked Northern Pike:

Baked Pike #1 (Butter Lemon):

Get a big piece of heavy-duty tin foil and smear butter over the middle.
Put chopped-up onions, mushrooms and green peppers on the tin foil. (half of what you have)
Place your pike on the vegetables and with a knife, smear a generous helping of butter on the fillets.
Sprinkle salt, pepper and lemon juice on the fillets and the vegetables.
Put more vegetables on top and sprinkle more salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Place a few blobs of butter on top. Rap the tin foil up and cook at low to medium heat for about 10 minutes. If you hear the butter boiling, you have the right temperature.

Baked Pike #2 (Pizza Pike):

Get a big piece of heavy-duty tin foil and smear Kraft Sun Dried Tomato and Oregano dressing over the middle.
Put pike fillets down on the dressing.
Cover the fillets with more dressing.
Then dump a generous helping of parmesan cheese on the fillets
Wrap up the foil and cook for 6 to 8 minutes on medium heat.

Fresh Northern Pike taste awesome, especially when you catch them in the cool crystal clean lakes of Northern Saskatchewan.