Canning Lake Whitefish: Can It Pass as Faux Tuna?

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Lake Whitefish are highly revered by Great Lakes anglers for their white oily flaky meat. Here in the Pacific Northwest they are largely overlooked as food fish and underutilized despite being very common. In this video I can some fresh Lake Whitefish and see if it can pass muster as faux tuna.
Equipment featured in this video:
Presto 23 qt Canner: amzn.to/3wNudvi
Half pint jars with lids and rings: amzn.to/48P0IXt
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[@TimTorell]

Great video, u made me hungry.😂

[@gstebens1]

Thank you, had no idea how to can anything.

[@adamsnyder9347]

I missed out on a bunch of winter fishing opportunities, and decided to wait til next year to buy a dry suit due to breaking my stupid wrist and needing surgery. The first fishing adventure I got back into was taking my son herring fishing. We both got limits, and I canned a batch of them. This video, and all of your others were inspirational while I was looking for a light at the end of the tunnel haha. I used to work on a farm and canned all my tomatoes and sauce for the year.

[@Christof60]

Good video! If you want a little less "Fishyness" to the end product, trim every bit of red off the fillets. Then hardly any strong flavor. I live on Rufus Woods. Have some really GREAT fishing here. If you're close, you should come fish here sometime. River has really slowed down, but not here. 😉

[@redderdog14]

Great stuff! I have wanted to try canning for some time. I appreciate the detailed video of your canning process.

[@lunchbox5825]

Great video. The vinegar is key on the rim of the jar. The jars pop when sealing always makes me smile. Sidra reaction was great.

[@chubbrock659]

my parents were borderline homesteaders when I was growing up, I spent many days helping can fruit and veggies from our trees and garden and that lid popping sound totally just took me back

[@elbrus65]

By the way Tyler, your canning video of sockeye I think is the one I watched to learn how to can smoked salmon. Now I do it regularly. Another good fish to lightly smoke then can is shad...really softens the million pin bones they have and oh it tastes so good! Have a blessed day!

[@ncalais09]

Okay, I have to know, I've been wanting to do this forever, when you smoke and then can the shad, do you eat it straight from the drawer? Do you do something like this video where you turn it into a smoked shad melt? I really want to can shad but I haven't fully committed cuz I don't know exactly what I would do with it haha

[@pnwhunter]

growing up we always had home canned Tuna and we still do today, i love the process. looking forward to canning some elk this year.

[@spiltmilt]

Canned venison is so good. It’s like ready made roast

[@enderst81]

Great smoked

[@Gregfishes]

Haven't bought canned tuna since we moved to the coast 13 years ago. Home canned is a completely different experience.

[@shelleyszulinszky9732]

You have mad canning skills. I used to can a lot I really liked our whites rubbed very well with curry inside and out and baked wrapped in parchment paper. ❤️✌️👍

[@elbrus65]

Tyler Im cold smoking white fish , canning , hot smoking it- its very tasty...good video! Good to see your family in your videos brother. I usually ice fish for them but this season I only got out once but it was productive trip coming from Federal Way, so have a nice little stash of this fine tasting table fare in my freezer.

[@loose_fur]

Thanks for the video! Wiping down the lips of the jars with vinegar and adding a splash to the canner are great tips.

[@scottrouwhorst881]

Nice

[@Mtpumpkinsman]

Lake whitefish can be great table fare. Breaded and cooked make great fish fingers. Love the idea of using it in other ways

[@MrAcuta73]

Mountain Whitefish smoked is amazing. Never tried it canned. I generally don't target them, but tempting to try it.

[@David35445]

Great video, have you ever tried pickling fish? we do it with pickerel (snot rockets) and mackerel. like pressure canning the pickling liquor totally dissolves all the bones.

[@spiltmilt]

I’ve not tried pickling fish myself

[@dougmccoy1260]

I lived at a family bible camp at Leech Lake in Minnesota. In the fall I would run gill nets for whitefish. We smoked most of them, they also made a good fish burger. Boil them with celery and onion, salt. Serve them with boiled potatoes with plenty of butter. They are a great fish. I've caught a few mountain whitefish here in Oregon rivers.

[@russelrogers2540]

My brother would get whitefish from a creek dumping into the Colorado River. He canned them and swore they were just as good as tuna. Plus he had the fun of catching them.

[@scrambledeg]

Canned shad is a great replacement for canned tuna.

[@jimmychesney7162]

From my experience anything caught in freshwater tastes a little fishier than a fish that’s been living in salt water. With that said I’ll bet a lot of people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Impressive canning skills!

[@MrAcuta73]

I dunno, canned tuna is definitely fishy. Just not in a bad way. lol

[@adamsnyder9347]

I love how 99 is more than 100 on a microwave.

[@s33dub3]

Completely off topic- i live about an hour from Lake Merwin and am going to start targeting Kokanee- your videos have been amazing in getting started. I get off work about 4- as the days get longer would it be worth the trip up to fish in the evening? Or should I just make the trips up in the early morning when I can?

[@spiltmilt]

Evening bite can be as good as the morning. After full moon nights the evening night is often better than the morning. Go for it.

[@s33dub3]

@@spiltmilt awesome thank you!

[@TheMadC]

So is this the beginnings of a new channel? "Cooking with Tyler" I have canned fruit, jams, jellies, and some veggies. I have always been a touch cautious about meats. Maybe it is about time to start.

[@spiltmilt]

I have many videos on canning and preparing fish. Most don’t perform very well

[@samsmith7150]

I'd watch!!!

[@mannymayer9250]

Now I’m hungry! I’ve never canned anything but found your video wonderfully informative. I’m to lazy for canning

[@samsmith7150]

As always great info Tyler! Walleye and White fish are on my list to get but I'm on the Olympic peninsula.

[@verdeanpetersen8350]

I've been canning mac. Pups. There just great.

[@danielcamarajr398]

Incoming vid for Banks Lake whitefish?

[@spiltmilt]

Not sure. Not my favorite fishery to participate in.

[@scottulbrich5376]

have you tried canning Kokanee and Coho

[@spiltmilt]

Of course it’s delicious

[@northerntribeoutdoors5938]

Cheap tuna has more dolphin in it. So you can add dolphin to your home canned Albacore to get that canned from the store flavor or substitute whitefish. Good to know. lol

[@saltywalrusfishingcompany]

Whitefish gets an undeserving bad wrap ... It actually very delicious just simmered in a pan with butter id say as good or better than walleye

[@TheFishingDoctorsAdventures]

So is it worth canning??? That's the big question. Or would you say not really something you'd want to eat.

[@spiltmilt]

I love canned fish tuna, salmon, and whitefish are all delicious, shelf stable for years, and versatile.

[@TheFishingDoctorsAdventures]

@@spiltmilt yeah me too! That's why I asked. Your wife's face seemed pretty suspect so wasn't sure if she liked it. I can lots of salmon coho, sockeye, Chinook and pinks. Amazing how long it lasts. We just finished the 2018 sockeye run stuff off this last year. I've heard rumors of guys eating 50 year old jars... might be a bit of a stretch, old fisherman tales from the Island, haha.

[@SergioRodriguez-dp6ss]

We have stripped bass here in my area I wonder how it would taste 🤔 Thanks for all your videos

[@TheFishingDoctorsAdventures]

Do you cover your canning up when not in the video? Do you find any degradation if not over time from the exposure to light?

[@spiltmilt]

Not sure what you mean by cover canning up? However, we have an open air pantry and we've eaten 4 year old salmon that tastes the same as freshly canned.

[@TheFishingDoctorsAdventures]

@@spiltmilt sorry that wasn't clear, but your response is exactly what I was referring too... the open pantry behind you. I thought you might have a curtain or something like that. Just used to people keep their canning in cellars or closed pantry. I haven't seen it open like that before.

[@Gregfishes]

Nice cutting board, is it custom made for you?

[@spiltmilt]

Yes

[@warrenhunts]

The one acceptable way of using a microwave for cooking fish, lol.