Cover Image: Fish

Fish

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Member Reviews

What a great book! I've learned so much about the different types of fishes that we eat on a normal basis. I appreciate seeing all the beautiful photographs. There was recipes and instructions on how to handle the fishes.

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What a delightful and easy to follow fish cookbook.

Fish, is beautifully illustrated with detailed recipes that anyone can make. Yummy!

Synopsis:
Written by the author and chef behind Venison and a Minneapolis-based catering services company specializing in wild game, Fish takes readers through Jonathan Wipfli's techniques for efficiently processing and cleaning game fish, as well as a raft of 50 contemporary recipes for dishes and accompanying sides. Addressing the most popular freshwater game fish pursued by North American outdoors enthusiasts—including walleye, pike, catfish, trout, salmon, bass, panfish, and more—Fish puts a new foodie-friendly spin on game fish cookery.

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What do you get when you cross a gourmet chef and a fisherman? Fish: Recipes and Techniques for Freshwater Fish. John Wipfli has divided his excellent cookbook into three parts: Fishing, Cleaning and Filleting, and Recipes. For those who love to fish, the first chapter features good information on actually catching the fish; interesting to read, and enough to get a few people interested in actually catching a few fish. The second chapter is excellent. It features everything anyone would want to know about what to do with the fish once they are caught. The photography is a cut above, and there are photographs of every step of cleaning, including scaling, gutting, and storing. There are also detailed instructions for filleting fish.

The third chapter begins the fun part: cooking the fish and pairing it with mouthwatering side dishes. Wipfli includes classic ways to cook freshwater fish, and also some innovative and gourmet ways to cook it. Many of the recipes are simple, and can be easily made by novice cooks. Every fish recipe has a recipe for a good accompaniment, and those are where the gourmet chef in Wipfli shines. Wipfli includes a recipe for Catfish Tikin Xic (Mexican-Style Catfish) and the frijoles churros that go with it are fabulous. It was possible to adapt that recipe to an Instant Pot®, to save soaking and cooking time; that recipe is now one that will be made over and over again.

Anyone who has spent time in Michigan or Minnesota is most likely familiar with walleye. Wipfli includes a recipe for Breaded Walleye with Charred Jalapeño Tartar Sauce (classic fried walleye), as well as Pan-Roasted Walleye with Warm Aioli, and Walleye BLTs. There are recipes using other freshwater fish which include chowders and Pan-Fried Crappie with Wild Rice and Grain Salad. Yum!

Anyone who has access to freshwater fish (some have to get it frozen, but that’s better than not getting it at all), will get good ideas, great recipes, and timely information from this excellent cookbook. There are photographs of most of the recipes, and they are very nice.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

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If you're lucky enough to live near a source of freshwater fish, this is a useful and comprehensive guide to catching, cleaning, filleting, and cooking various types of fish--from salmon to crawdads. Plenty of pictures and detailed instructions. My one complaint is that all of the photos show men fishing. I'm guessing these are probably friends of the author, but doesn't he know any women who like to fish? Lots of women also enjoy the sport.

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Mit Leidenschaft erzählt der Autor viel Lehrreiches rund um den Fisch.
Liebevoll gestaltet, umfasst das Buch den Werdegang genialer Rezepte vom Fisch im Wasser über putzen, ausnehmen und diversen Zubereitungsarten.
Das etwas andere Kochbuch. Großartig.

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Thank you Quatro - Harvard Common Publishing for an ARC of this book.

This was a well presented book with great photography and lots of instructions on how to actually fish for food , along with many many recipe.s. The recipes used different cooking styles and also many different ingredients. This isn’t a recipe book I would use regularly as many of the ingredients are not possible to find easily, if at all where we live. However, I would use it as a beautiful coffee table book to flick through for inspiration and beautiful scenery from a different part of the world.

Thank you for this digital ARC in return for my honest opinion.

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From walleye to pike to trout, this is such an important book for anyone wishing to clean and prepare almost any freshwater fish. Mouthwatering ideas and recipes make this a must for your book shelf.

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What a wonderful book!
The photography is gorgeous. The writing insightful, describing and illustrating the breakdown in detail how to clean the fish, scale and prep for either immediate cooking or freezing.
You can see between the lines the love for local and sustainable ingredients.
The recipes are mouthwatering.
A must for the fisherman (or woman) in your life.

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TITLE: Glorified.....and not much to offer the family of an experienced fisherman bringing home a limit

If the fishermen in your family bring home their limit already filleted and lumped into a plastic bag and tossed into a cooler on ice--this book is not what you are looking for. If you are one of those fishermen who got up before dawn, sat in a boat all day, or walked or waded the shoreline all day, and you've caught your limit, cleaned it and are now back in camp wanting a nice and simple fish dinner--this is not the book you are looking for. If you are looking for a variety of batters and coatings to change up your fried fish dinner; if you are looking for some simple and new ingredient combos for your fish packets; if you are looking for some great northern pike pickling recipes; if you are looking for a list of ingredients to pack for a practical, extraordinary shore lunch; this book is NOT FOR YOU!

That all being said: This book is NOT FOR ME. And the fact that they include a recipe for cooking Muskie--no matter that it comes from an overpopulated lake in Wisconsin--kind of turns my stomach......especially after they mention that the fish was beat up and looked to have a broken spine.....

And this book is not for Gulf Coast fishermen, as it does not include Redfish, specs, white/sand trout, or any of the other many species that inhabit the skinny waters and back bays and transitional waters along the coast. I guess those fish are not considered fresh water fish. And that can be debated.

The recipe examples on this product page give a very good idea of the type of recipes included in this book. Maybe they are exactly what you are looking for, but they are not really suited for the space, equipment and refrigerator size of a fish camp--at least that's the case with our fish camp.

The info on how to dress and fillet fish is somewhat helpful, but a bit ambiguous and missing some details. And, really, if you are out on a lake and don't have much experience--and don't already know how to fillet--you probably have a guide, right?

Some recipes are confusing: Mention of walleye steaks, when the cleaning instructions only cover fillets; and mention of a "mild" tasting "pike", which I hope the inexperienced cook does not try to use Northern Pike. Why not just say walleye, like the rest of the recipes do?

Enough said, I guess--only you know what type of recipes you are looking for. It was an interesting book to read, but--relying on my personal experience, (I've been fishing since I was 5 years old; Lake of The Woods, all around Minnesota and Wisconsin, down to Biloxi and below NOLA, but only as far west as the Texas Gulf Coast and Texas reservoir lakes.) Maybe this book is more suited for fishing in the west and west coast states? I wouldn't know.....

And, please excuse my use of the term "fisherman". Somehow, "fisher-person" doesn't sound right. I am the most enthusiastic "fisherman" in our extended family--and I am female.

*I received a temporary download of this book from the publisher.

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Beautifully photographed, and loads of easy to follow recipes! Will definitely be going on my cookbook shelf to refer to over and over again.

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Some nice ways of using different freshwater fish, but less relevant to a UK audience as the focus is on North American game fish. Its adaptable though and the writing and illustrations are spot on.

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I loved this book for many reasons: it is comprehensive, organized and an informative resource. The book is organized into three parts from the actual catching of the fish, then cleaning and preparation to the recipes and preparation of fish and crawdads. The pictures chosen were phenomenal especially with the recipes and the step by step instructions. The recipes included everything from light appetizers, to grilled and even stews, the recipes provided will be something for everyone and instructions easy enough to follow. This is something I will purchase to fish lovers and home-cooks who need fundamentals of fish cooking. This is appropriate for the home cook and advanced cooks.

Thank you to the author and publishers to allow me this ARC. I am honored to read this and give my thoughtful review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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I liked that this book covered both cleaning (aka gutting, scaling and so on) and recipes. The recipes themselves looked great and I would love to try several of them. I would think this book would be suitable for both those who like to eat fish and those who like to go fishing.

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Jon Wipli's Fish is a beautifully photographed and thorough guide on freshwater fish. Wipli walks you through everything you need to know about freshwater fishing: how to fish, how to clean and fillet, and recipes. It was well-organized and easy to follow.

I will admit that I am not myself a fisher, but I sure love to eat fish and our friends often leave us with packages of fish from their own excursions. So I came here for the recipes, and I was not disappointed. However, do be prepared to see recipes with seasonal ingredients, such as ramps. If you aren't keen on "fishing" for uncommon ingredients (sea what I did there?? heh...heh), then you might be disappointed. The salt, sugar, and dill cured salmon is worth the cost of the book alone, in my opinion. Such a great way to process your salmon!

Wipfli's book on freshwater fish is guaranteed to be enjoyed by the fisherman (or woman) in your life. Published today, you could order this on Amazon Prime and have in plenty of time for Father's Day.

Thank you to Jon Wipfli, Quarto Publishing Group - Harvard Common Press, and NetGalley for allowing me access of an advance copy to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

A review will be forthcoming on my blog.

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Great all around book for freshwater fish! Covers fishing, preparing, and a variety of preparations.
The most useful part is how the section on how to clean the fish, scaling, and how to prep for either immediate cooking or freezing. Highlights of the recipes were five ideas for catfish and NO fried ones! As a kid we caught lots of catfish at the lake at my grandparents house and there was only one cooking style: battered and fried. This offer more different, healthier options.

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This book is quite lovely and would make a fabulous gift for any fisherman or cook in your life. I loved the variation on the fish and styles of cooking. I'm very much interested in expanding my fish cookery skills and I think this book will easily serve me quite nicely. I would say that the recipes are on the medium to advanced level of difficulty so this isn't a book for a novice but the instructions on fishing and butchering in the beginning are superbly photographed - no easy feat. This is more of a book that I would use for the recipes and not for stories alongside - they do exist on some level that reads more "please read my book!" and less like "here's this fascinating experience I had catching catfish!" but the creativity is there - it's just in the recipe section.

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Fish: Recipes and Techniques for Freshwater Fish written by Jon Wipfli came to me at the perfect time to review! For the first time ever, I was going to go with a guide to do fresh water fishing in central Wisconsin. I have fished for a number of years, but always just from the shore. This time I would be fishing by boat and I wanted to get enough information that I didn't look completely clueless and this book is exactly what I was looking for.

Fish Part 1 Fishing

This section gives you the big picture - everything from obtaining your fishing license to bringing friends along on the adventure. Talking about eating and cooking your fish over the fire were also part of this section.

Part 2 Cleaning and Filleting

I bravely read through this section, learning about scaling, gutting, storing, and filleting. There are a lot of pictures to help make this section easy to understand. I will admit, that my experience with this section was book information only. Our guide prepared all our catch at the end of the trip. However, I was brave enough to watch, and he did filleting just like the book described, so I can say that this section will be helpful to everyone, whether you do it yourself, or get a little help.

Part 3 Recipes

This was the best part of the book, and it is broken down into the major fish categories

Salmon and Trout
Walleye & Northern Pike
Crappie, Bluegill and Perch
Catfish, Sturgeon, Muskie and Whitefish
Crawdads

During our trip we caught a lot of great Walleye's that were of the size that you are allowed to keep. So we made Walleye our dinner of choice that night. I decided to start with the recipe for Breaded  Walleye with Charred Jalapeno Tarter Sauce.  I choose this recipe because I also wanted to try out the recipe for Walleye BLTs which used the same recipe for Breaded Walleye fillets. The Tarter sauce was amazing and really easy to make. You fry the fish in Grape seed oil and the breading is created with egg, flour and panko bread crumbs along with a few key spices for a great taste. I highly recommend this recipe to enjoy your own fresh caught fish. 

Here are some of the other recipes available in this book, and ones that I am going to try in the near future; Newspaper Trout, Crappie Terrines with Marinated Cucumbers, Chopped Bluegill and Corn Chowder, Catfish Cakes, Smoked Whitefish and Wild Rice Pancakes, and Crawdad Bisque. There is also a recipe for Basic Fish Stock that sounds really good. 

Fish: Recipes and Techniques for Freshwater Fish is a great book if you like fishing and eating the freshest fish that you can get! 

Disclosure:  Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Harvard Common Press for providing me with a complimentary copy of this e-book for review purposes.  No other compensation was received, and all opinions are my own.

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I would give a 5 for the images! The pictures were eye-catching, sleek, and artistic. The recipes did not grab me, and many of the fish are not available to me where I live. I would purchase for fish lovers in my family but not something I could see my self using.

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I'm not really a big fan of eating fish but my brother and mom do. Definitely will recommend some of these recipes depending on which fish can we find in my country.

Having info on how to clean fish and filleting them was a nice touch. The photos are tickling my aesthetic appreciation too. The food looks delish that I'm tempted to try these myself!

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I love fish and am always looking for new ways to cook it. I enjoyed the recipes that I did make, however I felt that there were too many with hard to find ingredients. I also did not really need to know how to clean wild caught fish. I am more of an on-the-go, dinner-in-a-hurry kind of cook so this one just wasn't for me. It is beautifully photographed and well-written and I woukld definitely recommend it for the fishing enthusiast or serious cook.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I will post to other review sites on the June 11th release date.

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