Has anybody eaten/ate (sp?) Mackinaw.. Lake Trout, Char.

[Anonymous]

Is it just me... but for God's sake we need a spell-check on the forum....

I am so excited to be going over to Lake Chelan this weekend for a guided trip with another WAlakes.com person, Okanogan Sagerat" We are going out with Joe Heinlen's guide service.

I was just wondering if anyone here has consumed any Mackinaw, Lake Trout, Char, etc. I heard a bad rumor (from a Scandenavian friend) that they weren't the best eating. Honestly I don't really care. I am just so happy to be going after them, but I was curious if anyone else has put one down, and can say what they think on their eating. Or if they are a must to be smoked, or whatever.

What do ya know?:chef:

[Mike Carey]

Is it just me... but for God's sake we need a spell-check on the forum....

I am so excited to be going over to Lake Chelan this weekend for a guided trip with another WAlakes.com person, Okanogan Sagerat" We are going out with Joe Heinlen's guide service.

I was just wondering if anyone here has consumed any Mackinaw, Lake Trout, Char, etc. I heard a bad rumor (from a Scandenavian friend) that they weren't the best eating. Honestly I don't really care. I am just so happy to be going after them, but I was curious if anyone else has put one down, and can say what they think on their eating. Or if they are a must to be smoked, or whatever.

What do ya know?:chef:

Excellent smoked, first class flavor, very mild! The Chelan macks have a THICK layer of belly fat from all the miosis (sp) shrimp they eat. You'll be very pleased with the taste. BTW, there is a WDFW warning on eating too many, nothing to be overly worried about, but considering how many Joe's been catching with his clients you could have a full freezer.

Tell Joe "hi" from me. :thumleft:

[Big D]

I've had them smoked and they taste great.
I heard some where that Joe has a sweet deal with a Chelan local that will trade your fresh caught Mac's for smoked Mac's with a small up charge. It may be worth a phone call.
Good luck Quad.

[ckim85]

Chris, I'll do a taste test for you :thumleft:

[datsun]

I totally agree with ckim85, Ill definitely help you out!
=p~

[curado]

you should stop by my dads cabin on the way back lol.

[wolverine]

They are oily and don't keep well frozen for long time storage. As has been mentioned, they are good smoked. For fresh eating I marinate them in lime juice, crushed garlic, a little canola oil, salt/paprika/dill for seasoning. After the time in the marinade I grill the laker filets with just a sprinkle of lemon pepper.

[The Quadfather]

Thanks for your tips guys. I knew that there had to be some recipe ideas out there. If people in England eat dogfish then somebody is eating these guys and enjoying it.

[bionic_one]

I think Mackinaw taste great. I caught a 17" mack this past summer from the yak in Chelan. My girlfriend sliced it into fillets and removed the skin. I set out some tinfoil, coated it with butter, then put fresh ground black pepper, some salmon seasoning, and some lemon juice on it. Wrapped it up, threw it on the grill for 20 minutes, flipped it over at 10 minutes, and it was great.

[bionic_one]

Could this be moved to the cooking section (Culinary Delights?)

[Rich McVey]

I went to a pricy dinner theater Dec 5th and they had "CHAR" on the menu so thats what I ordered. I was NOT impressed at all. It tasted like salmon but thats about all I can say about it. The frozen bags of salmon from Sams Club are better. JMO.

[dave g]

i'll have to agree with most of the others here. we went out with anton last year and caught a mess of them. traded some fresh ones with him for some smoked ones from the resident old-timer there. excellent! smoked some myself with pretty good results using salmon university's recipe. a little extra brown sugar added to that recipe is my prference for this particular fish. we also grilled up some fresh fillets that night with butter, salt, and pepper with a little lemon. pretty dang good, but i'd say smoked is the way to go.

[racfish]

My sis is in town from New York and we went to a restaurant on Capital Hill last nite where we ate Artic Char. Very very nice. Texture was that of salmon not trout. It was good texture but not much flavor. Id like it smoked.This place was called "Anchovies and Olives". The waiter heard me talk about steelies and found out he fishes for Lk Wa cutties and other species.Char is take it or leave it kinda fish.