Walleye is a native North American freshwater fish.
They are common in the Great Lakes area and may also be found in lakes across Canada and the United States.
Walleyes are cousins to perch and pike. They may reach 30 inches in length and weigh more than 20 pounds.
If you’ve never had walleye before, you may be wondering what it tastes like.
Contents
- What exactly is Walleye Fish?
- The Health Advantages of Eating Walleye
- What Is the Taste of Walleye? Is Walleye Delicious?
- What else tastes like walleye?
- How Do You Clean and Cook Walleye?
- How Do You Cook Walleye?
- Conclusion
- FAQs
- Why do people like walleye so much?
- Is walleye the best eating fish?
- Why is walleye so expensive?
- Is walleye super fishy?
- What fish is walleye similar to?
- Does walleye have a fishy taste?
- Do you eat skin on walleye?
- Are walleye top or bottom feeders?
- What is the tastiest freshwater fish?
- How old is a 1 pound walleye?
What exactly is Walleye Fish?
The walleye is a freshwater perciform fish belonging to the pike family. It is found largely in Canada and the northern contiguous United States in North America.
Anglers often capture walleye with tiny jigs or flies, making it a popular game fish.
Walleye prefer warmer water than its relatives, the pickerels.
The term “walleye” refers to the fish’s big eye, which mimics a human eye when seen through binoculars (think of it as an all-seeing little peeper).
The background color of the fish is white, yellow, or olive green, with numerous huge black dots defined in light.
According to The North American Sport Fish Survey, walleye was the second most common freshwater fish captured by American fishermen.
Only bass and walleye are more extensively fished. Walleyes like smaller baitfish such as minnows and shiners. Crayfish, frogs, small animals, waterbirds, and their eggs are also in their menu.
Their unusually designed lips let them to feed both above and below the surface.
Walleyes are a popular recreational and commercial fish because they are simple to catch, plentiful in North America’s Midwest area, have wonderful taste when cooked fresh or smoked, and can be easily supplied into lakes.
The Health Advantages of Eating Walleye
Many individuals consider salmon, tuna, and trout to be their favorite fish.
What about walleye, though? It is said to contain more omega-3 fatty acids than salmon or sardines.
It is low in calories while being heavy in protein and fat. It’s also high in vitamins B-12, A, and E, as well as selenium, an antioxidant that helps protect against heart disease and cancer.
Since walleye often dwell along shorelines, they are not subjected to the same levels of pollution as bigger fish species in open seas or deeper settings.
Walleye contains vitamin D and selenium, which may help to reduce the symptoms of mercury poisoning.
What Is the Taste of Walleye? Is Walleye Delicious?
Many fisherman like walleye but are unsure what to anticipate when they catch one.
Walleye are often spotted in colder water at night because they reproduce at this time of day or season.
The taste of walleye is distinctive. When cooked, it may be delectable and delicate; but, depending on where you locate walleye in North America, the flavor may change to include various spices or seasonings. It also has a hard and flaky texture that you’ll like.
Depending on the nutrition, the skin color might vary from pink to dark red.
When cooked, the flesh of the walleye becomes white to off-white. It may be served with a variety of sauces or used in fish tacos.
What else tastes like walleye?
If you’ve never had walleye, you may find it difficult to grasp the frenzy around this meal.
When properly cooked, it has a firm flesh texture similar to salmon and a delicate taste profile.
If you like walleye but want to try something else, we propose perch or grouper.
When cooked properly, they have the same solid structure as well as being noted for delicate tastes.
Another fish that may be replaced for walleye is cod, whereas pike has comparable flavor qualities but a milder flavor than walleye or cod.
Salmon and tuna, which have a more delicate flavor profile than walleye, do not often share the same flavor profile.
How Do You Clean and Cook Walleye?
The time it takes to prepare walleye is one of the factors that discourages people from preparing it.
With the correct equipment, you can gut, weigh, and de-head a walleye in only a few minutes:
- A sharp knife or fillet knife
- Kitchen shears for scales (fish scaler)
There are several methods for cleaning walleye. Some like to remove the innards before cooking, while others prefer to leave them in.
It is critical to bleed the fish before cooking to ensure that the blood does not spoil the flavor of the walleye.
To do so, use a sharp knife and cut a slit from head to tail on both sides (front and back) until the liquid runs out.
For scales, you should use kitchen shears to remove them (fish scaler).
After washing, rinse any excess scale residue or remaining guts in cold water to prevent them from cooking onto the fish during frying or baking.
For recipes like oven fries or pan-fried breaded fillets, slice into suitable thicknesses. Before cooking, add any herbs of your choosing.
Lastly, season with salt, pepper, thyme, and dill to taste. Try marinating the meat overnight before cooking for added flavor.
How Do You Cook Walleye?
It is difficult for a novice to prepare walleye and get outstanding results.
If you don’t know how to prepare it, your dinner will be bland or perhaps inedible.
Anglers most often prepare walleye by frying, baking, or grilling.
The most preferred cooking method among fishermen is frying, which produces a crispy coating around the fish while retaining moisture in the meat.
It also uses less oil than pan-frying or deep-frying, allowing you to cook more food at once without worrying about it sticking together or splitting apart.
Baking walleye is very popular among fisherman since it gives the fish a crispy texture on top and even a white hue. Several people bake their walleye with breadcrumbs to add taste.
Because of its ease of preparation, grilling is also a popular technique to prepare walleye.
The hot coals will make your meal taste better with less effort than boiling or steaming, exactly like baking, allowing you more time to relax while grilling.
If you want a healthy option, consider cooking them as if they were stir-fried.
If you want to create oven fries out of your walleyes, slice them into thin slices before coating them in breadcrumbs combined with your favorite herbs and spices.
Place them on two baking pans, one at 350F and the other at 400F degrees Fahrenheit, so they crisp up beautifully without burning away from too much heat.
After 5 minutes, remove both pans, turn the fries on each tray, and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve with ketchup, tartar sauce, or any other dipping sauces of your choice.
Conclusion
To summarize, walleye is a white, flaky fish with a delicious flavor. It is a high-quality protein that will enhance the flavor of any meal.
If you’re searching for a new fish to try, walleye is a good choice.
If you have any further questions regarding walleye or anything else on our site, please leave them in the comments section below.
FAQs
Why do people like walleye so much?
For some fisherman, the walleye’s sharp jaws, spiny dorsal fin, and eyeballs make it an enticing fish. Some attribute it to the taste of the white, flaky meat, as well as the difficulty in catching walleyes.
Is walleye the best eating fish?
The flesh of a walleye is soft, flaky, and nearly sweet, and it is often fried to help keep it together. When it comes to taste, few other fish can compete with walleye, which is why they are usually regarded as the tastiest freshwater fish to eat.
Why is walleye so expensive?
To yet, the species has proved difficult to farm, with high death rates and production costs, therefore farming is limited to stocking lakes for fishermen. The majority of walleye supplied to restaurants and retailers comes from Lake Erie, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, and other big Canadian lakes.
Is walleye super fishy?
We love walleye because of its flaky, delicate texture. It’s a white fish with a moderate but sweet taste and minimal degrees of fishiness. It’s not a very bony fish, which is advantageous if you want to debone it yourself. There are several recipes for delectable walleye.
What fish is walleye similar to?
The walleye (Sander vitreus, synonym Stizostedion vitreum), commonly known as the yellow pike, yellow pikeperch, or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish endemic to northern Canada and the United States. It is a close cousin of the European zander, often known as the pikeperch, in North America.
Does walleye have a fishy taste?
Despite the fact that walleyes are one of the firmest, mildest-tasting freshwater fish to eat, some individuals find them excessively fishy and refuse to eat them.
Do you eat skin on walleye?
In general, any bass or bass-like fish will have edible skin: Largemouth and smallmouth bass, white bass, striped bass, seabass of any sort, and many kinds of tiny panfish (crappies, bluegills, and so on). The same goes for any perch, including walleye and sauger.
Are walleye top or bottom feeders?
Walleyes are mostly bottom feeders, but those that suspend over drop-offs in deep lakes should not be overlooked. Suspended fish give some of the greatest summer walleye fishing.
What is the tastiest freshwater fish?
Walleye. Many people consider walleye to be the best-tasting freshwater fish, but yellow perch, its smaller relative, should deserve the same recognition. The majority of walleye are filleted, but they may also be prepared in a number of methods such as frying, baking, and broiling.
How old is a 1 pound walleye?
A 5 year old walleye weighs around a pound and grows to about 36cm (14.2″) in length. 10 – At the age of ten, walleye should weigh around 2.6 pounds and be about 49cm (19.1cm) long.
