Cooking With Game

 Baked Sturgeon   4 to 6 servings

About Sturgeon: it is a boneless, mild, white meated fish. It doesn’t flake well.
If over-cooked it is VERY tough. It can be rather bland, so spices and flavorings are important. Following is an easy, tasty way to prepare it.

foil
Sturgeon filet - 2 pounds, about 2 inches thick
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter - melted - brush on fish
sprinkle on onion powder and garlic powder - 1/2 tsp each or to taste
1/2 large onion (whole small onion) finely minced - pack on top of fish
1/2 lemon (cut up other half to squeeze on after baking) - squeeze over onion
salt and pepper to taste over onions
top with dried dill - about 1/2 tsp.
1/4 cup water (outside foil)

Take a double layer of foil (or 1 layer heavy duty) about 6 to 8 inches longer than the piece of fish and lay in a shallow baking dish. Place the fish on the foil and fold the ends and sides up to make a “pan” a few inches all around larger than the piece of fish. Melt the butter and brush on the fish. Sprinkle with onion and garlic powders. Pat as much of the minced onions on top as you can. Sprinkle with the lemon juice then salt and pepper and dill.
Pour the water outside the foil “pan” into the baking pan. (Helps keep it moist)
At this point you can let it sit for up to 30 minutes to let it come to room temperature

Bake at 375 degrees for 22- 26 minutes - DO NOT OVERCOOK. How cold the fish is when it goes into the oven helps determine how long to cook it. I use a quick register thermometer to check for doneness. If it registers 130 degrees it’s done enough. Remove from oven, cover with a piece of foil and let sit 5 minutes. It will continue to cook a bit more.

When you serve it up, spoon some of the butter and onions that ended up in the bottom of the foil, over the fish.

Posted by Gamekeeper at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bacon Wrapped Marinated Sturgeon 

1 pound sturgeon sliced into pieces about 3/4” thick
1/2 pound bacon *

Marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 clove garlic minced or smashed
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 Tbs. lemon juice

Place fish pieces in a plastic bag. Pour in the marinade. Seal and mix well.
Place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Remove fish from bag and let marinade drain off, but do not rinse. The flesh will have darkened from the soy sauce, so don’t be alarmed.
Wrap each piece in bacon and secure with a toothpick.
Fry in a very hot pan until the bacon gets cooked *, turning often.
Remove from pan to paper towel lined plate.

*The bacon will just barely be cooked, in order to not overcook the fish. If you want crisper bacon, place the bacon on a baking sheet and cook in the oven at 400 degrees until it is partly done, but is still flexible enough to easily wrap around the fish. This also removes some of the bacon fat, but does add an extra step and an extra pan to wash!

Bacon Wrapped Fingers                               In the Pan 

Posted by Gamekeeper at 04:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

 
Pan Fried Sturgeon Sticks 

1 lb Sturgeon - sliced in 1/2” strips
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/3 - 1/2 cup Pride of the West
1/2 - 1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 eggs - beaten
vegetable oil

Place sturgeon slices in a container, or plastic zip loc bag. Pour just enough milk (any fat content) over the fish to cover. Add onion powder (if using). Put in the refrigerator to soak for 2 to 4 hours. Note: The original recipe, which I modified, says to soak for 24 hours or overnight. Set up a dish for each; dry Pride of the West mix, beaten egg and panko bread crumbs. Remove the fish from the milk, but don’t rinse. Roll each piece in the Pride, then in the egg and finally in the panko crumbs, coating well. Place on a plate and let sit for 30 minutes to let the egg/flour/panko set up.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan, or electric skillet (my preference) until very hot (425 degress in electric skillet). When the oil is ready, place all the coated fish in the pan. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until brown. Flip over and fry for another 2 to 3 minutes until nicely brown. Do not over-cook. Remove from pan and put on paper towels to drain. Cook a second batch if necessary. Let sit for 5 minutes, then eat ‘em up!

Serve with ketchup, mayonnaise, or my favorite, cold spicy applesauce. The fish sticks will be nice and crunchy, especially if you used the panko. You probably could use regular dry bread crumbs, but they probably won’t be quite as crispy.

I got the idea for this recipe from www.ifish.net. They have a number of recipes for sturgeon you may want to try.

Crosswise slices                                           Milk bath

Panko coated

Posted by Gamekeeper at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)