Pickled Northern Pike        Gene Potts

Take 4 medium northern pike fillets with Y bones

1. Cut fillets – Bones & all into ½- ¾ inch chunks Put in clean glass container
2. Make brine 2 cups pickling salt or Kosher salt with 8 cups of water. Cover and soak for 48 hr in fridge
3. Drain fish and rise with water Clean container and put fish back in container and cover with white vinegar and place back in fridge for 24 hours

Pickling Brine

1. 4 cups of white vinegar
2. 2 ½ cups of sugar
3. 10 whole cloves
4. 8 bay leaves
5. 4 tsp mustard seed
6. 2 tsp whole allspice (usually found in grocery baking items) do not use ground allspice
7. 2 tsp whole black peppercorns
8. Bring brine to a boil and let it cool overnight

Mixing

Layer fish with LOTS of sliced onions (½ red and ½ white onions works best) and pour the Pickling brine over the fish and onions. Stir occasionally to mix spices through out the container

Final instructions

Wait 4-5 days before sampling

Y-Bones with be dissolved (taste better if you use pike with Y bones) Enjoy Pickled Pike on crackers with your favorite beverage Finished product with keep for several weeks in fridge. Pike should take like sweet pickled herring- if bitter add sugar.  If you have too many fish make more pickling brine-it takes a while to make mixture to come out exact ratio

Many times we bring pike back and throw away after a few months- this is an excellent use of a fish resource.

Complements of Gene Potts kpshops@wowway.com