Eating suckers

[WayneChristie]

Just curious how many people keep suckers they catch in Alberta to eat? Ive seen a few people making soup with them, but Ive never really eaten one myself.

[kodiakken]

We use to catch them in the Red Deer by the Bindloss bridge. My father was one of the old fellas from the depression era and if you caught it you ate it.
Not the worst I've eaten but very boney.
If I was to do it now I would grind them and make them into fish burgers.
Ken.

[gtr]

Most people can them. Hard to tell the difference from salmon.

[Piker]

I used to pickle them. Leave in the brine until the bones became mush very good tasting. Worked best on fish smaller than a couple of pounds.

[Mackinaw]

Originally Posted by Piker

I used to pickle them. Leave in the brine until the bones became mush very good tasting. Worked best on fish smaller than a couple of pounds.

this ^^^^. or smoke them

mack

[flyguyd]

Ive eaten Northern Redhorse before and the flavor was good just lots of bones, like everywhere.....lol
Wouldnt think that the small scaled big lipped slimeys would be worth eating tho

[bushnell]

I like them smoked. Enjoy a cold beer and pick away at the meat

[pikeman06]

Yup pick away on the boney buggers they smoke very nice very similar to pike or get out the pressure cooker and a box of crackers and learn the fine art of canning/pickling. Trust me give em a try Wayne.

[pinelakeperch]

I remember watching Italo Labignan cooking suckers for a shore lunch and him saying something about how the method he was using crystallized the bones, which made them less of an issue.

[dfrobert]

Smoked a bunch out of the little Smokey river years ago. They were excellent.

[Red Bullets]

A lady I knew canned and pickled sucker that was such a treat. Wish i would have gotten her recipe for the pickled sucker. Pickled sucker was just as good as pickled herrings.

I canned 4 pints of sucker once in a tomato based sauce and it turned out just as good as store bought canned fish.

I found this site that has lots of good recipes for canned and smoked suckers. Worth trying a few.

http://www.southendwalleyeslayer.com/suckercookbook.pdf

[owlhoot]

We used to spear fish them in Ontario, They would run up the creeks and rivers in the spring, Excellent smoked.

[FlyTheory]

Are there sucker species that are better than others? Sounds like redhorse are a good one.

[Big Red 250]

Canned sucker's with tomato juice to give them the look and they taste like salmon.. In Manitoba, we used to call the spring runs "The Manitoba Trout Festival". Was common to see people netting them, taking them home by the hundred's, or the trunk load sometimes by the 1/2 ton load. I hear of people grinding them up for fish paddies, supposed to be good with some added onion.

[Freedom55]

Way back in the sixties my father and I would trade any suckers we caught in Crowsnest Lake for a pack of cigars and a 7-Up at the Rex Café in Coleman. About half a dollar.

We never had lunch there.

Free (now I cut the line)

[Marty S]

I ate a couple one spring, water was cold, they were very good. They had massive rib bones so I filleted down to the ribs and left them on the carcass. Very fluffy. Was good.

Had some after that from the Caslte River in August, they were horrible, disgusting, but the trout weren't all that great at that time either.

Eat em when the water is cold, best advice I can give. They make good kiyute bait if you rot them down in the sun in a jar. I kinda prefer eating ocean fare in my old age. But in this irrigation country, our fish taste like crap quickly, maybe a 1 month window to eat fish.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Eat em when the water is cold, best advice I can give. They make good kiyute bait if you rot them down in the sun in a jar. I kinda prefer eating ocean fare in my old age. But in this irrigation country, our fish taste like crap quickly, maybe a 1 month window to eat fish.

You just need to cook them differently later in the year.

Deep fried, cooked with lots of seasoning/spices etc. Instead of relying on the texture and flavour of the fish dress it up and you will get a great meal even with sub par quality fish.

I have had great meals from many sub par species. Basa, tilapia, unknown fish in south east asia etc. If you fried this fish simply in butter or on a grill you would be disappointed with it 9 times out of 10 but done right they are delicious.

I never have tried sucker the meat is not super oily, dark or stringy so I imagine they are good eating. Just need to figure out the best way to cook them.

[Bushleague]

I ate one once, I pan fried it and it was terrible, plus the meat was mushy and the fillets wouldn't stay together. By the time it was fried the fillets had completely imploded into a crappy mess.

I have family in Michigan and they like them canned or smoked, I think mostly because it is easy and legal to catch them in large numbers when they spawn.

Personally, I've never felt the urge to eat another sucker.

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by Big Red 250

Canned sucker's with tomato juice to give them the look and they taste like salmon.. In Manitoba, we used to call the spring runs "The Manitoba Trout Festival". Was common to see people netting them, taking them home by the hundred's, or the trunk load sometimes by the 1/2 ton load. I hear of people grinding them up for fish paddies, supposed to be good with some added onion.

We used to use pitchforks when they were spawning I believe it was off of Lake Manitoba by lundar Manitoba. in the early 70s I think they can them don't remember how they tasted.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[YeeHaw]

My grandmother use to can them with tomato juce all the time. We would get them in the spring coming out of Candle or Anglin lake back home in Saskatchewan I would rather eat canned sucker than tuna or salmon out of the can. She always said the tomato juce helped break down the bones.

[Marty S]

Originally Posted by RavYak

You just need to cook them differently later in the year.

Deep fried, cooked with lots of seasoning/spices etc. Instead of relying on the texture and flavour of the fish dress it up and you will get a great meal even with sub par quality fish.

I have had great meals from many sub par species. Basa, tilapia, unknown fish in south east asia etc. If you fried this fish simply in butter or on a grill you would be disappointed with it 9 times out of 10 but done right they are delicious.

I never have tried sucker the meat is not super oily, dark or stringy so I imagine they are good eating. Just need to figure out the best way to cook them.

I disagree! I suspect you might be one of those types that is far too easy to please??!!! Sub par fish, best thing for it is to put it in a jar in the summer sun and rot it down til the kiyutes want to roll on it!

Sub par fish, garbage fish in other words... that's sled dawg food! Freeze it up and feed it to your sled dawgs.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by Marty S

I disagree! I suspect you might be one of those types that is far too easy to please??!!! Sub par fish, best thing for it is to put it in a jar in the summer sun and rot it down til the kiyutes want to roll on it!

Sub par fish, garbage fish in other words... that's sled dawg food! Freeze it up and feed it to your sled dawgs.

I take it you throw inferior meat like brisket, chuck, rump etc away and only eat ribeye steaks?

I like good food and although you might have to smoke a brisket overnight or braise a pot roast in red wine for hours that can be just as good if not better then a ribeye steak imo.

Same goes for fish. The mark of a good cook is one that can make average ingredients into an amazing meal.

[Freedom55]

Originally Posted by RavYak

I take it you throw inferior meat like brisket, chuck, rump etc away and only eat ribeye steaks?

I like good food and although you might have to smoke a brisket overnight or braise a pot roast in red wine for hours that can be just as good if not better then a ribeye steak imo.

Same goes for fish. The mark of a good cook is one that can make average ingredients into an amazing meal.

A little gopher meat maybe??

[calgarychef]

I guess it begs the question....how do ya catch suckers?

[pinelakeperch]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

I guess it begs the question....how do ya catch suckers?

With a worm on the bottom.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by pinelakeperch

With a worm on the bottom.

Or a thread about eating them perhaps? I think that might have been what Chef meant.

[Marty S]

Originally Posted by RavYak

I take it you throw inferior meat like brisket, chuck, rump etc away and only eat ribeye steaks?

I like good food and although you might have to smoke a brisket overnight or braise a pot roast in red wine for hours that can be just as good if not better then a ribeye steak imo.

Same goes for fish. The mark of a good cook is one that can make average ingredients into an amazing meal.

Sorry Bob, beef ain't rotten sucker that needs to sun dry on the bank until eaten by seagulls. No comparison. Hard to have bad beef, unless it laid in the sun all day before we cooked it.

I think you are one of those guys that can't taste worth a hoot and just about anything is good to you. Let me tell you a story... Once upon a time a really nice old codger sold me a big box of bacon, but it was slightly tainted. The old codger took it back, and was going to return it to the store but he decided to cook some up, and lo and behold, it tasted good to him, so good in fact that him and his wife ate the whole box!!! Discriminating taste vs Non-Discriminating

Difference between a good cook that can cook with garbage and a great cook is that the great cook never tries to make garbage taste better. He throws the garbage out to the hawgs, and starts with good ingredients and cooks quality food for the discriminating folks!

All in fun! If you want to eat rotten fish, have at 'ear.

[Red Bullets]

No disrespect Marty. Just so you know there is a small commercial market for white suckers. Formed fish sticks may be ground white sucker. Some frozen fillets you buy maybe white sucker too. Sold using the commercial name of "mullet."

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

No disrespect Marty. Just so you know there is a small commercial market for white suckers. Formed fish sticks may be ground white sucker. Some frozen fillets you buy maybe white sucker too. Sold using the commercial name of "mullet."

Shhh...don’t tell him. He’s on a good rant

[EZM]

Not quite sure what set off those fireworks. YIKES