As many of my readers know at this point, I come from a background where wasting any meat is a deadly sin. My mother used to get mad at me for throwing away the scraps after cleaning a walleye. Makes sense though when you come from an era where people starving to death is fresh in the memories.
Personally I like filleting my fish but after slabbing off the fillets, there’s a lot of meat discarded that could have been utilized in some way. So unless I’m in a rush, I typically use nearly the entire walleye for some purpose. Some methods are well known, some you may find surprising. In this post, I’ll be explaining how you make use of your fillet scraps that you would normally throw away.
The Cheeks
This is fairly well known but in case you aren’t aware, the cheeks of the walleye are some of the best meat. I often eat fish whole so the value of the cheeks were well known from the beginning. It has a very firm texture that is comparable to seafood.
To extract it, I simply slice the cheek from the back of the head to the eye and push the cheek off the skin with the knife in one fluid motion. Takes practice but you can eventually extract one in a few seconds.
I will say that it is sometimes not worth the effort to extract and cook the cheek. You essentially get a marginal amount of meat for extra effort. If you have lots of time though and a lot of walleye heads to manage, it may not be a bad idea to fry some up.
The Wings
Also another classic example of a part of the walleye that is normally thrown away. Honestly ever since I discovered walleye wings, they’ve become my favorite part of a walleye to eat. They’re pretty easy to remove from your fish scraps and there’s quite a bit of meat on them. Highly recommend leaving the fins on.
You may want to cut the wing in half so it’s easier to fry. Simply coat them in batter and fry. You can actually eat the fins like chips, similar to a shrimp tail. There are a few bones in there but they’re pretty easy to navigate around.
Bones
Growing up, a common family late night snack would be fish soup. Usually you can buy fish heads at a store to make soup. However as an avid angler, fish bones are not hard to come by. The fillet scraps still contain quite a bit of meat which can give the soup some flavor. Bones are also a good source of calcium and other nutrients. While we usually do this with walleye, I’ve also had soup made from pike, rainbow trout, perch, whitefish and burbot.
To prepare bones from soup, remove all the guts and the gills. For safety purposes, cut the fins off to avoid getting jabbed. Also save the pin bones that are normally cut out of the middle of the fillet. Typically a limit of walleye should be sufficient enough for soup. Then the bones are then fried then boiled into the soup.
I don’t have any recipes at the moment (typically my mom prepares the soup, I just process the bones). However one day, I’ll learn how to do it so I can share the recipe. I’m sure there are some online recipes where people make soup out of fish bones. Just know that saving the bones of your fish can be worthwhile.
Eating the Fish Whole
Westerners find this squeamish when a fish stares back at you but I’m used to it. It’s not my preferred way of eating fish but we eat fish like this often. It’s common in many cultures around the world to eat fish whole. Simply scale the fish, remove the gills and guts and then you’re good to go. You can remove the head if it really makes you squeamish.
There are some cooking methods where eating the fish whole is preferred. Steamed fish for example is good with a whole fish as the skin and bones prevent the fish from flaking apart too easily and retains the flavor better. Plus you waste absolutely no meat and with some practice, you can navigate around some of the bones.
I will say though the reason it’s not my preferred way of eating fish is due to carefulness required to eat the fish. You need to be prepared to spit bones out as you feel them. Unless you took the meat from the tail section, you need to be careful before swallowing. Walleye pin bones are really annoying to deal with. As a result, one walleye for the entire family is sufficient since it’s quite a chore to eat one fish.
While it’s a bit of effort to prepare and eat, it does unlock other methods of cooking a walleye. I personally can’t eat fried fish every meal for example. Steamed fish once in a while is a good healthy meal. Again I haven’t prepared a steamed walleye myself (I just process the fish) but one day I will so I can post our family recipe here.
Final Words
I will admit that eating only the fillets is less hassle overall. Most the meat is in the fillets and they’re easy to work with. Obviously don’t do this if you need to provide shore lunch on an island for your buddies. However if it’s the end of the day and you’re cleaning a batch of walleye, you can afford to spend some extra processing time.
Next time you clean a limit of walleye, consider saving the other parts before discarding the scraps. You might be able to squeeze a bit more value out of your catch.
