Fried Walleye Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best oil for frying walleye? ›

The best oil for frying walleye or other fish is one with a high smoke point, so canola, grapeseed, peanut, rice bran, safflower or avocado. These oils can go to 400°F without burning. Keep your oil as close to 350°F as you can. The single most common problem when frying fish is oil that's too cool.

At-Home Prep. Once you get the fish home, decide if you want to remove the skin or not. Walleye can be eaten either way, but it's generally recommended to remove the skin if you're going to fry it. Next, you should remove the innards from the belly by running a knife through the belly from the anus to the neck.

Place the fillets in a deep sided skillet filled with an inch of oil heated to 350 degrees and cook walleye for 3-4 minutes per side, or until the breading turns golden brown and the walleye reaches 145 degrees.

Deep frying

However, if you do need to deep fry your food, our long-standing advice is that oils like corn and sunflower oils are not recommended for high temperatures. These oils are rich in polyunsaturated fats which can form undesirable compounds when heated at high temperatures.

Thanks to its neutral flavor, affordable price, and high smoke point, canola oil is the most popular oil for frying fish. Peanut, cottonseed, and coconut oil are also great fish frying oils.

It's trimethylamine that causes the distinct fishy aroma. Milk counteracts this odor because milk contains casein, which bonds with the trimethylamine and effectively draws the stinky smell out of the fish.

Times vary based on the size of your fish, but typically you will get a nice crunchy outer coat if you fry your fish for 2 to 4 minutes at 375°F. It's important to check that the internal temperature has reached at least 175°F.

Season plain bread crumbs and mustard and cayenne in the third tin. Coat fish in flour, then egg, and then bread crumbs. Gently set coated fish into hot oil and fry 5 minutes on each side until medium golden brown in color.

Milk: The proteins in milk help the batter adhere to the fish and promote browning. Water: Use very cold water for the crispiest results. Baking powder: Baking powder ensures a light and crispy exterior.

Before cooking, soak the fish in milk for 20 minutes

In this scenario, the protein in the milk binds with the compounds that cause that fishy odor, in essence extracting if from the fish. What's left behind is sweet-smelling, brighter flesh with clean flavor. (Just make sure you pour that milk down the drain.

Do you use flour or cornmeal to fry fish? ›

Cornmeal Fried Fish has a golden, flaky crust with a soft and delicate inside. Fry up some boneless fish fillets coated in cornmeal in just a few minutes for an amazing entrée option for lunch or dinner.

Apparently, the proteins present in milk can bind to the fatty acids that have been exposed to air and give salmon its fishy odor or taste and mitigate them to be more neutral. (Fishiness is caused by the oxidation of fatty acids.)

So what is the best oil for frying? The answer is simple: If you're frying at home, you'll probably want to use vegetable oil. While vegetable oil is a term that can be applied to any plant-based oil, what we're talking about are the bottles that spell out “vegetable oil” on the label.

Canola oil is one of the best choices when frying (and it's our top choice as the best oil to fry fish). It has a neutral flavor, and it's quite affordable, particularly if you are preparing large amounts of food.

Long John Silver's uses 100% pure canola oil

You can use several different types of cooking oils when frying food.

Howey et al. (1 980) obtained a remarkable 43.5% survival through three weeks “post-swimup” by starting walleye fry on live food (brine shrimp, followed by daphnia), then weaning them to a formulated feed.