Can You Eat Walleye?

The walleye is a popular species of fish, and there are people who raise them on farms. Walleyes are also sought after by game fishermen and are often caught in lakes and rivers throughout the United States. They can be found in Canada as well.

You can eat walleye since it’s nutritous and very tasty. Walleye are often prepared by pan frying, deep-frying, or broiling. They can also be baked in foil with butter, lemon juice, garlic, and parsley. Walleye has a high-fat content so care must be taken not to overcook it or its texture will become soft and flaky.

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Are There Any Risks With Eating Walleye?

There are some risks to eating walleye, but they’re not serious. If you want to enjoy the taste of this popular fish, you should know about those dangers before you eat it.

The main risk comes from consuming too much mercury in your diet. Mercury is a toxic substance that occurs naturally in rocks and soil, but it also gets into the water supply when coal or other fuel sources are burned. This contaminates waterways and makes its way into the fish like walleye through their food chain.

The EPA recommends that pregnant women, young children, and women who may become pregnant should avoid eating more than two servings of walleye per week (or 3 oz) because of its mercury levels. Other people can consume up to six servings per week (or 12 oz).

What Do Walleye Taste Like?

The walleye is a large, silvery fish with a yellow or orange tint along its back, sides, and belly. It has large, dark eyes and small scales. The average length for an adult walleye is about 18 inches (46 centimeters).

The flesh of the walleye is white and flaky. The taste of walleye depends on how it’s prepared — fried, baked, grilled, or smoked. Walleye can be prepared in many ways from the traditional pan fry to casseroles and soups to smoked fish recipes like smoked salmon and gravlax served cold or hot on crackers or bread.

How To Prepare Walleye

There are many types of fish that can be prepared in a variety of ways. Walleye is one of the most popular, and it is also one of the easiest to prepare. Whether you are looking for something simple or something more elaborate, you will find that preparing walleye is a great way to impress family and friends.

Here are some tips for preparing walleye:

1. Remove the gills and bloodline from the fish by making a long, diagonal cut from the vent to the tail. Be careful not to cut through the backbone.

2. Cut off the head just behind the pectoral fin. You can use this for bait or discard it.

3. Cut off the tail just above where it joins the body; then remove any remaining fins with a sharp knife or scissors.

4. If you want to keep your walleye whole, lay it on its side and cut down to remove two fillets from each side of the body, leaving one fillet at each end attached to the skin; otherwise, make three or four cuts along both sides of the backbone and remove each fillet separately.

How To Cook Walleye

Walleye has a delicate flavor, with a mild taste and firm, flaky flesh. It can be prepared in many different ways, but it is best when fried or baked.

Frying

Frying is one of the methods to cook your walleye. Below are the steps to frying your fish.

Step 1: Prepare Your Batter

The first step in preparing your batter is making sure that your flour and cornstarch are fresh. You can tell if your ingredients have gone bad by looking at them closely and smelling them. If either ingredient smells funny or feels slimy or sticky when you touch it, throw them away because they will not produce good results when used in this recipe.

To ensure that everything is fresh, buy these ingredients from the grocery store once a month so that they don’t go bad before their expiration date. If you do not use these ingredients frequently enough for them to go bad before their expiration date, purchase smaller quantities of each item.

Step 2: Select Your Breading

There are many different types of breadings that you can use when frying walleye. Some people prefer using flour, while others prefer using cornmeal or powdered sugar. The type of breading that you choose depends on what you think tastes best, as well as what kind of consistency you prefer. If you want a crunchy coating on your fish, choose one with a thicker consistency like cornmeal or powdered sugar. If you want something flaky and light, choose one with a thinner consistency like flour or cracker meal.

Step 3: Coat Your Fish

One of the most important steps in frying any kind of food is coating it in batter before placing it into the hot oil so that it will have a crispy outer layer once cooked through. To do this properly, first dip each piece of fish into flour or other battering agents until fully coated on all sides.

Step 4: Fry Your Walleye

Heat oil in a deep fryer over high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Fry for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown on each side (4 minutes per side for each inch of thickness).

Broiling

Broiling is an excellent method for cooking fish because the high heat sears the meat and seals in all of its natural juices. The downside to broiling is that it can make the outside layer of your fish burn before the inside is cooked through.

To ensure that your fish cooks evenly, use an oven mitt, turn the oven on high, place a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper, and set a timer for 10 minutes. If your fillets are thick, start checking them at about 5 minutes. When you cut into them, they should be opaque all the way through.

Step 1: Season your fish with salt and pepper.

Step 2: Preheat your oven to 500°F (or as high as it goes).

Step 3: Put your seasoned fillets on a baking sheet lined with foil, skin side down (if there’s skin).

Step 4: Broil for 4 minutes per 1/2 inch of thickness (about 3 minutes per ounce), flipping halfway through. If you have an instant-read thermometer, check for doneness at 135-140°F; if not, just check for a flaky center and opaque edges.

The thinner the fillet is, the less time it’ll need to cook through; thicker fillets will take longer because they have more surface area exposed to the heat source than thin ones do.

Baking

If you want walleye with light crisp skin and moist meat, baking is the way to go.

Baking is also a great way to cook walleye because it’s easy and requires very little prep work. You don’t need any special tools or equipment for baking walleye; all you need is a baking sheet and some aluminum foil.

To bake walleye, follow these steps:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2: Lay out your aluminum foil on your baking sheet and spray it with nonstick cooking spray (or use parchment paper instead).

Step 3: Lay out each fillet skin side down on the foil-lined baking sheet. Season each fillet with salt, pepper or any other seasoning you like (I like Old Bay Seasoning). Then place one lemon wedge on top of each fillet for decoration purposes only — don’t eat them!

Step 4: Bake for 15 minutes per inch of thickness at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until internal temperature reaches 135 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15 minutes).

Grilling

The walleye is a great fish for grilling. It has a firm texture and mild flavor. The key to grilling walleye is to cook it over high heat for short periods of time. This will help the fish retain its moisture and prevent it from drying out.

In order to grill walleye fillets, you’ll need a grill with a lid, charcoal or gas grill, a long-handled spatula, and heavy-duty tongs. Also, make sure that your grill has good heat distribution so that you don’t burn any parts of the fish while cooking other parts through.

Before grilling your walleye fillets, prepare them by patting them dry with paper towels, and then place them in a large bowl filled with buttermilk marinade for about two hours (or overnight). This is supposed to help seal in moisture during the cooking process and give your fillets an added flavor boost!

Once marinated, drain off excess buttermilk from each fillet and discard any remaining liquid in the bowl before placing fillets on a hot grill over medium heat (about 400 degrees Fahrenheit). Cook each side for about 10 minutes or until done with no more than 4 minutes per side for medium rare (145 degrees Fahrenheit).