This post was last updated on August 4th, 2021 at 07:00 pm
If you’re asking are whitefish good to eat, then the quick answer is that mountain whitefish are delicious! Cooking mountain whitefish can be done the same way you cook other fish, however frying and smoking them seems to be the best way. Baking them could be a big mistake, however it all depends on personal taste I suppose. Keep reading and be sure to watch the video below to find out how I cooked a couple “whities” and made them taste like a fried slice of heaven on earth.
(Don’t miss the video where I catch these whitefish here)
Keep in mind that mountain whitefish are not the same species of whitefish that you’d find on a buffet or behind the seafood counter at your local grocery store. These are“prosopium williamsoni” they are more greasy and have a stronger flavor, not to mention they are not closely related at all.
Yesterday I went fishing on the Snake river in search of mountain whitefish. My goal…figuring out if eating mountain whitefish was a good idea. The bottom line is that I caught and cooked 2 of them (both on camera in the video below) and they were as good as any fried fish I’ve ever eaten.
I cut my mountain whitefish video into 2 sections, so that everyone can have what they want. The first video involves the fishing portion of it, the second is the cooking. I’m not the kind of guy who sticks with recipes too closely. I’ll almost never even measure anything unless I’m baking breads or something using yeast. However watch the junk I throw together in the following video and you’ll find out how to make a very delicious beer batter and dry batter for mountain whitefish and other meats.
How to Cook Mountain Whitefish
Personally I cooked them in beer batter and dry batter and both were very good. I have talked to several people who have smoked mountain whitefish and they claim that they are absolutely amazing.
Check out this video about how to cook whitefish!
Are Whitefish Good to Eat? You Bet!
Do mountain whitefish have multiple spines, weird bones and other things that make them undesirable to clean and cook? NO! These fish are can be cleaned and filleted exactly the way you would clean a trout or bluegill. They are not hard to clean and are a seriously underutilized resource. In Idaho we are allowed to keep 25 whitefish. This means you could easily go out and do some nymphing, come back by mid afternoon and have a feast for you and all of your friends…. just like that.
