Perch patties

[jonk]

I like both walleye and perch fishing, and stock my freezer when I can. But by this time of year, even these mild fish start tasting a little strong to my liking. So I tried adapting a salmon patty recipe tonight with good success, and thought I'd share.

Fillets from half a dozen perch, depending on size- these were off of 8-10" fish.
2 eggs
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 potato, baked or steamed
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mustard
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp corn meal (makes them crisp nice, otherwise not really needed)
enough bread crumbs to bind it all together- depends on how big the eggs and lemon are. For me it was about 3/4 cup.

Poach the perch in boiling water for 2 minutes until it just starts to flake.
Toss the perch fillets and all other ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times. You could do this by hand without issue, I'm sure. You just want to break everything up, not really puree it.

Form into patties.

Bring a cast iron skillet (well, my choice anyhow) filled with 1/4" oil (I used peanut) to 375 degrees. Drop in the patties- they should be about hamburger sized. Fry until golden brown, then flip. When both sides are done, dry on paper towels. I like mine with a little Frank's Red Hot sauce, but tartar, hollandaise, etc. would all be good.

This makes 4 patties, with 2 per person with sides being about right.

These also make a fine sandwich the next day.

Good way to use up some older frozen fish (I could hardly taste the perch, which for me is a GOOD thing), and far better than canned salmon (which I despise- when I make salmon patties I only use fresh fish).

[Lloyd Smale]

sounds good. What i do with my fish like that is put is chop up a small onion and using about a 1/2 lb of fish put it in a food processor and pulse just like you do till its chopped fine and add a package of cream cheese. It makes a great ritz cracker dip. I especially like it with smoked salmon but any fish will do in a pinch. Just add a bit of smoke flavoring.

[jonk]

That sounds very good as well. I do smoke some fish occasionally- the nice thing about smoked fish is, even sheephead taste ok smoked... :)

[drinks]

Jonk, as I doubt the sheep's head,( Archosargus probatocephalus), I am used to is available in Ohio, what fish are you referring to?

[Reg]

Want to give this one a try but with a twist.
I too like walleye and perch but we are quite limited as to how many we can keep but I like fish all year round.
My wife's aunt has done nothing but rave about using pressure canned carp as a replacement for salmon. According to her it actually taste a lot better and those bones just disappear in the canning process. While after cats a couple of weeks ago managed to catch a fairly good sized one, brought it home and canned it.
Learned that these fish can be a real night mare to try to fillet but found out if you start at the tail and move forward with your knife, the blade will go under the scales and you can actually take out a rather large fillet with little meat loss. You have to flip over and start the knife under the skin to get the hide off but it actually came off much easier that one would have thought. A quick trim around the rib bones and I had two nice fillets.
I know this sounds like eating cat meat or something else horrible but in Europe carp is considered a delicacy, same in Asia. Am wondering if finding out the proper cooking might not be the trick.
If this works out, by June bow fishing season will be in full swing and with no limits, it should be easy to fill the larder with about all one could want.

[RoyEllis]

When I was a kid, we ate tons of carp patties. Granny would pressure cook them, grind the meat up & mix in cracker crumbs, chopped onion, "liquid smoke" and an egg or two depending on batch size. Make up patties & fry in bacon grease til golden. Fry up some taters & boil a mess of turnips seasoned with bacon grease and a pan of cornbread, throw in a pitcher of sweet tea and you've got a feast!

[selmerfan]

I don't know much about Ohio tastes, but if anyone were to suggest using perch or walleye for fish patties in the real Midwest (SD, ND, MN, IA) they might be tarred, feathered, and placed in the stocks in the town square! I might be leading the charge. :grin: BUT I'll give this a run with some sheephead, small carp, or suckers from the river - looks pretty good. But I wouldn't even use catfish for this - too many other simple and easy ways to use such fish. This should make a tasty fish patty though!

[selmerfan]

I re-read your post - what exactly do you mean by "strong" by this time of year? Are they fresh or frozen? If frozen, are you freezing them in water to preserve them better? Just curious. Don't take offense at my first response, it's tongue-in-cheek.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

if anyone were to suggest using perch or walleye for fish patties in the real Midwest (SD, ND, MN, IA) they might be tarred, feathered, and placed in the stocks in the town square!
+1


BUT I'll give this a run with some sheephead, small carp, or suckers from the river - looks pretty good.
The only rough fish I'd use is "redhorse sucker" they aren't greasey like carp and tend to only thrive in spring fed creeks in central MN and not the farm field drainage creeks in southern MN and western MN where the carp and cats thrive.
"redhorse sucker" is kinda like walleye with 17 million bones...hence the need to grind them up for patties.

[gkainz]

I don't know much about Ohio tastes, but if anyone were to suggest using perch or walleye for fish patties in the real Midwest (SD, ND, MN, IA) they might be tarred, feathered, and placed in the stocks in the town square! I might be leading the charge. :grin: BUT I'll give this a run with some sheephead, small carp, or suckers from the river - looks pretty good. But I wouldn't even use catfish for this - too many other simple and easy ways to use such fish. This should make a tasty fish patty though!
My grandma used to make the absolute best Norwegian fish cakes with Lake Superior whitefish... she and grandpa were 1st generation Minnesotans up the Nort' Shore and settled in Lutsen and Grand Marais back in the early part of the 1900s.

[Reg]

Did it day before yesterday. Used this recipe with pressure canned carp. WOW=excellent.
Even held one back until yesterday and had it on black rye bread with mustard for lunch.
Of the hundreds of carp I have bow shot, caught, etc. I will never throw one away again.
This recipe is a keeper !!

[starmac]

The wife used to do something of the sort with the bream that was a little small to fry. grind them bones and all and mix in onions, peppers and not sure what else, but they were sure tasty even cold.
I have never tried carp, but from what I hear you can pressure cook them, and shake all the meat off the bones, same with gar.

[Lloyd Smale]

When i was working i never bought tuna. My partner at work would can a truck load of carp and sucker and we used it just like tuna and to me it tasted even better then the processed stuff you buy.

[plmitch]

pickerel and white perch make great cakes and patties.