Deep Fried Pike

 Over the weekend, Mr. Voyage On and Mr. LOC went ice fishing for pike. They caught 4 big pike and we decided to break in our new deep fryer by frying up some pike for dinner!

So we needed a good fried fish recipe. I like this one because I like beer batter and when you combine the flour with the yeast in the beer, it crisps up really nicely without a ton of effort.

This batter would be great on other types of fish too - my guess is that perch or bluegill would be fantastic with this... then again those are my favorite! ;)

Let's gather our ingredients:
• Pike or other fish - Pike does not give a lot of meat per fish as they have Y shaped bones that get in the way. If I had to guess, we yielded about 2-3 lbs of fish, cut into strips and chunks. We used 6 pike total - 4 from this weekend, 2 from the last, but your yield may vary. Luckily, it doesn't have to be perfect as you're just making a batter for the pike - you can always make more or throw out too much.
• 16 fl oz. of beer. I used one can of Coors Light.
• 2-3 eggs. I used three large eggs.
• Up to 2 cups of flour. I believe mine is all purpose.
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons of salt. I used about a tablespoon or less and it could have used a bit more.
• Dash of oregano

You'll also want:
• Oil for frying. We used vegetable oil.
• A deep fryer, ours is a 12 cup.
• Mixing bowls, plates, a butt-ton of soap to rinse off those fishy hands ;)

 I didn't take a ton of pictures of the process, as there is not much to the process! :)

First step is of course, filet and skin your fish. Or have the mister's do it. ;) Make them into 4"-5" strips, chunks, whatever.

In a mixing bowl, mix the pepper, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Crack open and mix in your eggs, and beat with a whisk until frothy. As you batter the fish, you'll want to give it a stir every once in a while as the spices will try to settle, and the more air, the loftier your batter is.

On a separate plate, dump about a cup of flour on a plate. This is for the second part of the batter. You may decide you want more flour, depending on how much fish you're making, but for starters, use a cup.

Start heating up your oil in the deep fryer. We turned ours to 350. Take your fish pieces, dunk them in the egg mixture, and then lightly coat them in the flour. One dunk of egg mixture, and one dunk of flour made that lofty batter you see in the top picture!

Put the battered pieces on a plate as you go, and then when your oil is hot, drop them in! We cooked about 10-12 pieces at a time at 350 for 5-7 minutes. When 5-7 minutes is up, dump your basket on a paper-toweled plate and let cool for a minute or two. Times may vary!

Enjoy! :)