At our lodges, guests are always asking us to cook up walleye for them. From traditional fried fish, to walleye au gratin, the ways to cook are endless. This week, I found a recipe while looking online that caught my eye. Sometimes at the lodge, we whip up a batch of bacon wrapped walleye. Enough said of course (bacon + walleye=yumminess), give our guests a few minutes and they disappear!

Now the recipe for those are quite simple…wrap walleye in bacon and cook. YUM.  I discovered a new way to do bacon wrapped fish and wanted to share it with you. Since everyone knows I have a fondness for different adult beverages, I thought I would also enlighten you all about my latest craze for the hot weather that has recently found us… Cider. Hmmm. Cold, crisp, refreshing, and tastes like summer. There are more and more choices of ciders on the market these days. Some taste extremely apple juice like (not my preference) but some are the just right with only a hint of apple taste. My favourites are Magners and of course the traditional Strongbow -Perfect pairings for rich, scrumptious, fried fish.

So…on with this week’s recipe, a new way for bacon wrapped walleye:

Bacon-Wrapped Mustard Walleye

Ingredients

• 1 cups flour
• 1 cup panko crumbs
• 1 cup cracker crumbs
• 5 tbs seasoning salt
• 6 walleye fillets, cut into 1.5 -inch cubes
• 2 lbs side bacon, sliced
• 2 cups “Sweet with heat” mustard

Preparation

• Combine flour, cracker crumbs and seasoning salt; set aside.
• Sprinkle fillets with lemon pepper, then wrap each cube with a bacon slice, secure with a toothpick and cover with mustard.
• Completely cover the cubes with the flour mixture. Deep-fry in canola oil until golden brown. A 1 1/2-inch cube should take about 1 to 2 minutes to cook if the oil is at the right temperature.
• Serve with deep-fried potatoes, beans and bread.

Frying tip: Before frying your fish, make sure the oil is sufficiently hot. To test if it’s ready, drop in a piece of fish: if it sinks and doesn’t quickly bubble back up to the surface, the oil isn’t hot enough. Also make sure that the oil remains hot until the fish is fully cooked; lower temperatures mean a longer cooking time, and the longer the fish sits in the oil, the soggier it will get.

Let me know how it works out, I am planning on trying this soon!
Happy Cooking,
Krista