Our Daddy's Pickled Northern Pike Fish Recipe

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Hey everyone, it's Sheena's sister Shannon, from The Sota Stitcher, here today with a "secret" family recipe! :)  

You fabulous readers are pretty lucky to be privy to this amazing recipe that our dad has made since we little!  Ha!  

Now that I'm a big girl... you know all married and everything, my husband makes this and every time he does, it's like a flashback into my childhood!  

Now before you get all weirded out, because a lot of time pickled fish does that to people, I gotta tell you.... this is nothing like pickled herring that you buy in a grocery store.  

Because this is a white fish, the consistency is firm... and the flavor of the brine is out of this world!

Our Daddy's Pickled Northern Pike


Note: Typically my husband uses a couple good-sized northern pike... this time he used two 24 inch fish.  When you cut the fish up, don't worry about cutting out the Y-bones because they will dissolve during the pickling process.


Step One:

1. Cut fish up into small pieces and use about 4-5 heaping cups of the cut up fish.
2. Combine 2 1/2 - 3 quarts of water with 1 cup of salt or enough salt to float an uncooked egg. (Make sure fish are covered with salt water mixture.)
3. Let fish stand in salt water in refrigerator for 48 hours, stirring a couple times to make sure fish are not stuck together.

Step Two:

1. Drain salt water from the fish (DO NOT RINSE FISH PIECES!)
2. Cover fish in clear white vinegar and let stand in refrigerator for 48 hours.

Step Three:

1. To make the brine, combine the following ingredients in a saucepan. *4 cups vinegar, 3 cups sugar, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon whole allspice, 6 whole dried red peppers, 7 whole cloves, 4 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon mustard seed.* Bring to a boil, cover and turn down heat to maintain a gentle boil for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let brine cool.  Then add 1/2 of 750 mL bottle of white port wine.
2. Drain vinegar from the fish (DO NOT RINSE FISH PIECES!)
3. Slice 2 or 3 onions onto the fish pieces.
4. Add brine to fish and onions.
5. Let the fish and onions stand in brine in refrigerator for a minimum of 5 days (the longer you let it stand, the better the taste and texture of the fish).

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