Eating Pike: A Forgotten Feast?

Yesterday started well. The sun was shining, the rods were stuffed into the car without breaking any tips (the usual cause for the demise of my fishing sticks) and we were heading South to a favourite spot for Pike. I first met Charlie at Newcastle University where we became firm friends through, amongst other things, a mutual love of fishing. The Northumbrian countryside provided plenty of challenging fishing mostly of the Trout & Salmon variety, the Tyne, the Couquet, the Aln, Lochs by the side of Hadrian’s wall and perhaps the favourite the small yet highly productive River Pont which provided our student house with more protein than the Tesco Metro down the road.

Being poor students, we weren’t always able to pay for fishing and there was one such incident that occurred on the River Pont involving a Game keeper, Charlie’s inability to manufacture a good bullshit story on the spot and the two of us narrowly avoiding large fines. The large Geordie Game keeper had the best line which I can still hear today: “99.9% of the time you try fishing here lad, you WILL get caught”. Well, that hadn’t happened the 25 times we had fished there before…but some things are best left unsaid.

Charlie and I have always had a healthy competition in the fishing stakes, rarely do we both have a good day: one always out-fishes the other, banter runs high but more importantly: fish are always caught. Our “secret” spot has provided numerous Specimens over the years, and it was me who was into the first of the day on a spinner, whilst ‘3 rods -no fish’ Butcher sat waiting for his bite alarms to go off. The pike put up a good scrap, it wasn’t a beast probably only 4-5lbs, but it was the perfect size for supper. So, in a moment of culinary inspiration, I knocked it on the head and got on with trying to pack in a few more fish to make Charlie look particularly crap at fishing.

 

Sadly the moment never came, I heard the bite alarm go and looked up to see Charlie into something big- a nice fish of about 15lbs (pictured). Over the next half hour the first fish was followed by a 10lb, 5lb and 3lb and none were caught by me…Charlie became smug and the taunting began…Dick. Clearly deadbaiting sections of Lamprey on the bottom was the way forward. I did manage one more as the rain swept in from the downs and steadily grew more intense, so we packed up around 3pm and went in search of an establishment offering Log fires and Harveys by the pint.

My First Pike age 7 found inside my first book: Fishing by N.R.Weston- a series of scribbles and pictures by a 12 year old.

Pike have always been a favourite of mine, probably because it remains to be the only fish I have ever caught over 20lbs (the picture of the one in the top left corner of the blog) and the first fish I caught of any size.  Or perhaps it is just that they are the most sinister looking fish, Esox Luscius is the perfectly designed predator. Pike have a hidden weapon: their Saliva. This contains an anti coagulant, even the slightest nip whilst sticking the forceps in their gob for unhooking can cause a serious gush of blood.

 "Go on, stick your hand in there and make it weight a bit more..."

The short video below from some Nordic chaps illustrates this perfectly…lucky he didn’t lose his hand!

  

 

Evil is a word that is frequently banded about with this species, there have been stories of attacks on people, them taking dogs, swans almost anything that paddles near them- even their own, pike are cannibals and quite often, when I a have caught them there is usually a couple of telltale scars from a lucky escape in their youth. Sometimes you can even catch them by accident whilst fishing for something entirely different- nothing attracts pike more than a bit of fishy commotion and many is the time I have been reeling in a chub or dace only to have a pike attack! Here is a short video I got of a hungry pike trying to nail the Chub on the end of my line:

    

 

Gastronomically speaking, pike have been a favourite for 100’s of years, many people still eat them today, but sadly Britain has lost its appetite for this tasty predator. I admit I don’t eat them that often, because I would rather put them back and catch them again when they have gained a bit of weight. But I do urge you to try it- the firm white flesh is delicious, but there is a catch…actually there are two: Devilishly fiddly bones and also you will have to catch it yourself. Fishmongers don’t do pike! Big pike are always female, males rarely get over 10lbs, smaller pike are fairly easy to catch with a lure or spinner and that is the size to target for the table- nothing over 5lbs.

There are a few different ways you can cook them: most common is to poach them in a fish kettle with a rich Court bouillon. Once cooked, they are best turned into quenelles- a thourough de-boning to remove all the Y-shaped bones (click here for a handy recipe). The Court bouillion makes an excellent sauce- simply reduce it, season and add a little cream. We opted for a slightly different approach and roasted our pike whole using ‘Floyd on France’ recipe from Burgundy which involved stuffing the fish with a breadcrumb, wine, cream, garlic, onion and parsley concoction and then roasting it on a bed of onion, bay, lemon and Thyme. It was incredibly good- and though it pains me to say it, I might have to start eating my favourite fish a bit more regularly!

 

Blog update:

You may have noticed a new ‘Navigation Bar’ at the top of the Blog which lead to new pages…I have been pushing my technophobia to one side and getting to grips with CSS and the like which has been a nightmare!

As you can see I am know offering a series of Hunter:Gather:Cook packages as well as tailor-made packages for private groups. So if you want to go out and learn a bit more about what parts of the landscape are edible or fancy a day hunting the fur, feather and fish of  our pleasant little Island, do please get in touch! The Revised plan for this year is to start a Tree house Foraging school in Sussex, which is slowly coming together…and France is most certainly still on the Cards! I would definitely recommend watching the showreel!

I am also constantly tinkering in my workshop building stuff out of wood, so please visit the ‘Product‘ Page and have a browse at some of the things I am making- you might see something you like, from your own full size Tree house to  a Hazel & jute stool all hand built by yours truly. Oh yes, and there is of course the book I wrote about living in a Tree, apparently it’s rather a good read...

 

 

 

Comments

[Mike Jones]

Hehe. Nice post. When's "Fishing" by N.R.Weston being released? A 12 year old N. Weston could probably teach me a thing or two about fishing!
Enjoyed that YouTube Vid, how did that guy not see that beast lurking? More to the point why didn't his mate say something? ;-) hehehe Good work Nick, will check the gift shop on my way out...

[James]

Great post. Frankly I struggle to regard Pike any differently to Great White Sharks, but this is purely down to my over active imagination.
Maybe once I've handled a few I could go the next step and cook one... I too look forward to "Fishing"... Gonna check the shop too... may bump into Mike there...

[msmarmitelover]

Just bought your book and looking forward to reading it. I love quenelles.

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[The Curious Cat]

As always an enjoyable post...I wish i'd been brought up in the countryside learning to fish etc...wouldn't know where to start right now...maybe leaving the city would be a good start? xxx

[Tamar@StarvingofftheLand]

I've always been jealous of people who had interests early on. Now that I'm pushing 50, I really wish I'd learned to hunt, fish, ski, play golf, speak French, and fix internal combustion engines when I was a kid. But dilettantism outs early, and I was too busy learning a tiny bit about a lot of things so I could sound good at parties but not actually do anything. A fishing book at 12. Damn.

[Hamish]

Great post. Not sure if it works for freshwater, but salt water fish it really works a treat for. If you get bitten or spiked by a fish, rub the bite on the slimy belly of the fish. The natural fish slime helps clotting and also works as an anesthetic to ease the pain.

Not sure with pike though. I propably would get bitten on purpose just to try it out. Keep up the great blogs. I actually jump on your site before checking my own emails.

[Paul Kirtley]

Nice post Nick. As you'd imagine, I've caught a few pike in my time. Like you, I had to turn to the French for decent recipes as, with the exception of Hugh F-W, we English seem to have forgotten about eating pike. I've tried a few ideas from Larousse Gastronomique and I agree pike is worth the effort if you do it right.

[Roger Colson]

Great post.Pike is indeed fine fare.
I also enjoy perch and eels.
Perch is great wrapped in a dock or butter burr leaf and cooked on the embers of a camp fire.

[Daniel]

I agree great post. I have worked with fish for years and pike is not always the favorite fish to eat out there but do enjoy it.

[phill cornick]

I am going to Sweden we have a place in North Sweden in Ytterhogdhal, I am a beginner at fishing and have been told the lake next to the house we have bought has lots of fish in it especially pike, we are going for self sufficiency life style but we have lot to learn yet, pike will likely be a main source of food for us, never caught any thing big yet what are the dangers when handling a pike?

[Dan Baillie]

It's just the very fiddly bones which put me off - a great post though....[off to buy the tree house diaries]

[sean newton]

Great post, sadly Pike fishing has nearly been killed of by eastern europeans that kill all pike they catch which is shamefull as there an awesome fish to catch.

[Charles Surholt]

Nice post. Very informative all thru from catching the pike to cooking. You spent alot of time on this post. Good Job

[stan cook]

great video what was he thinking (or not)never been pike fishing can't wait to try.looks like alot of fun.

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[Edward]

Great post i found it very useful where you share your story about pikes. I learn a thing or two.

[Melanie Daryl]

I love pike, especially the big ones. They taste great when roasted. But pikes are best boiled in a sour tamarind-based bouillon. The Japanese have this saying about them: "Bite the cheek." They say the most delicious part of the fish is the cheek, so you do have to cook the head with it. The eyeballs are particularly tasty, haha.

[Niall]

Great blog. Pike is also delicious when smoked or indeed when used as a base for fish cakes.

[Tom Gustin]

I have not encountered pike. Where can I find more stories about them? Sounds wild! I love to fish with friends.

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[Carl Bennett]

I caught a 5lb pike in Loch Awe while I was looking for trout. If you stay at Portsonnachan they will clean and cook it for you, so it was on a nice plate with fish knives within the hour. It was superb, just steamed, really dense meat like a steak on full boost! The little bones were visible but not hard enough to be a problem, but I didn't want my hand anywhere near its mouth. I wasn't fishing for pike, I didn't want to kill it but I didn't want to be ripped to shreds either and we have a simple rule in my house: if you kill it on purpose, you have to eat it. Well worth it. Hugh F-W or no, we have lost our collective taste for almost everything that doesn't come plastic wrapped from a supermarket, however many TV chefs there are. Really nice to see this blog.