Walleye Ceviche

[Timothy]

Originally Posted by CWS4322

Anyway, I don't know anyone who has ever gotten tapeworm from walleye. Bones caught in your throat maybe, but not tapeworm.

In a casino one time, I saw "11" rolled 5 times in a row. With reports of 40% of the walleye in Michigan testing being infested with Tapeworms, I think perhaps you've just been lucky so far.

I've found that a quick call to the FDA will tell you if the walleye in your area has ever had a reported infestation of parasites. When I emailed them about a fish here in St. Augustine, they were very helpful.

This report may interest you:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dn...e_231757_7.pdf

And a quote from a guy who caught a mess of them in Saginaw Bay:

"Caught a few walleye the other night on Saginaw Bay, when we were cleaning them several fish had tapeworms crawling out of them. Did an Internet search and found some info about this from the Michigan DNR. Out of 15 walleyes 6 of them had tapeworms in them."

And another report from the walleye caught in the St. Lawrence River:

"this morning i was filleting some walleye fillets and i discovered 2 tapeworms...these fish were caught on the st.Lawrence river..."

Just a warning folks. You can disregard it if you wish, but it's kind of like playing Russian Roulette with your health.

[CWS4322]

I've never eaten raw walleye, nor do I intend to--I don't eat raw fish. And the people I know who eat walleye eat MN walleye. I've never had Michigan walleye. However, I've never encountered parasites when cleaning MN walleye, and I cleaned a fair number of walleye every season when I lived in MN. In MN, golden perch, bass, and northern are more likely to have parasites when you cut them open. Probably why my family always has preferred walleye and why we release everything else (well, we will keep sauger)..

[Dawgluver]

Summering on Lake of the Woods in Canada, I too never saw a wormy walleye. Northerns and perch we threw back, as Dad said they were wormy. That said, I would never eat raw walleye.

[Timothy]

Actually, I would never eat any fish that hadn't been prepared for eating raw by freezing at Minus Four Degrees Fahrenheit for 7+ days.

I imagine the freezing would work on fresh water fish also. I really don't know though.

I'm glad you folks haven't run into that problem. When eating them cooked, it's not an issue, as long as you don't mind the possibility of eating cooked tape worms.

I think I'll stick with the traditional sushi fish...

[powerplantop]

I have ate a lot of saltwater fish that was fresh or even still moving as sashimi. I have never eatten fresh water fish as sashimi but I was going to I would frezze first.

BTW: I love Ceviche....

[Timothy]

Originally Posted by powerplantop

I have ate a lot of saltwater fish that was fresh or even still moving as sashimi. I have never eaten fresh water fish as sashimi but I was going to I would freeze first.

BTW: I love Ceviche....

The temperature and duration of the freeze makes a huge difference.

If not performed at a minimum of Minus Four Degrees Fahrenheit and for a minimum of 7 days, the parasites are not killed, but just placed into dormancy. When the meat is defrosted, the parasites are alive and well again.

Normal household freezers usually don't get cold enough to properly kill parasites.

[powerplantop]

Originally Posted by Timothy

Hey Joe, as long as your freezer maintains Minus Four Degrees Fahrenheit or lower, 7 days at that temp or lower will rid it of any of the parasites common to walleye.

Originally Posted by Timothy

I know that freezing saltwater fish to below Minus Four Degrees Fahrenheit for the proper amount of time, will kill all but a few uncommon parasites, but I've not researched if freezing also does an acceptable elimination of parasites in freshwater fish.

Originally Posted by Timothy

Actually, I would never eat any fish that hadn't been prepared for eating raw by freezing at Minus Four Degrees Fahrenheit for 7+ days.

Originally Posted by Timothy

If not performed at a minimum of Minus Four Degrees Fahrenheit and for a minimum of 7 days, the parasites are not killed, but just placed into dormancy. When the meat is defrosted, the parasites are alive and well again.

Why post the same info 4 times in the same thread?

[Timothy]

Originally Posted by powerplantop

Why post the same info 4 times in the same thread?

That happens here all the time. It's no big deal. Each time was as a response to a different post.

However, to be more accurate, I did so to make very, very sure that the information was seen by as many people as possible. It's an extremely important process that is misunderstood by lots of people.

Some people think that *any* freezing will rid meat of parasites. It won't.

Some people think that bringing meat just to the point of freezing at below Minus Four Fahrenheit and then using it the next day is safe. It isn't.

If the repeated information bothers you for some reason, I'd suggest that you just skip over it instead of making an issue of it.

My intent was to help people. I'm not sure what your intent is in asking this in the public forum instead of utilizing the private messaging feature of the site.

If you wish, you may PM me and we can discuss it further.

[Dawgluver]

Timothy is very passionate about his prep, and also very knowledgible. He also wants to make sure nobody gets sick. I know I appreciate his insight and experience, as well as his recipes!