# Lake Erie walleye and fried green tomato tacos. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300 "2018-09-13T21:28:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/1 "2018-09-13T21:28:31Z")
I just made some with Sriracha and mayo. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/2 "2018-09-13T23:34:52Z")
I dunno; I wouldn’t want to eat anything that came out of the lake. The food chain still has all of the same contaminants the water used to have, except now more concentrated. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/3 "2018-09-13T23:51:54Z")
That sounds absolutely inspired and divine. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/4 "2018-09-14T02:54:51Z")
Remove the mayonnaise and I’m in. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/5 "2018-09-14T14:00:22Z")
Lake Erie walleye are magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/6 "2018-09-14T20:46:39Z")
You had me at walleye. You lost me at FGT. Tomatoes should be unadulterated except with salt unless you’re making a caprese. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/7 "2018-09-14T20:51:14Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > You had me at walleye. You lost me at FGT. Tomatoes should be unadulterated except with salt unless you’re making a caprese. I had the oil heated to cook the fish anyway and my potted tomato plant had some nice sized green fruit, so I figured WTF? I ate a couple of them with some refrigerator pickled onions I made a week or so ago. They were some memorably good fish tacos. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/8 "2018-09-14T22:52:41Z")
Aren’t green tomatoes always fried? You’re not talking about a ripe, juicy, late-summer tomato, here. (Unless it’s a green heritage tomato and is supposed to look like that when it’s ripe.) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/9 "2018-09-14T22:57:26Z")
My family makes a dish that is basically everything from the end of the season garden thrown into a pot and stewed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Green tomatoes are usually a major ingredient. We eat it with lots of bread and rough wine. I doubt we invented it or are unique in consuming it. That said, I also make pickled green tomatoes which are totally awesome. Fried, though, is their highest calling. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/10 "2018-09-14T23:57:57Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Aren’t green tomatoes always fried? You’re not talking about a ripe, juicy, late-summer tomato, here. (Unless it’s a green heritage tomato and is supposed to look like that when it’s ripe.) I use them mostly for pickling, myself. [This green tomato hot dog relish](https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/green-tomato-relish-hot-dog-relish-70538) is particularly good. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/11 "2018-09-15T00:28:02Z")
Green tomato relish is big in my family, too. My mom likes fried green tomatoes, but she says that there’s a trick to making them, and she doesn’t know what the trick is: Hers have never come out good. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/12 "2018-09-15T00:34:20Z")
Big thumbs-up to you green-tomato-pickling dudes. Never done it myself, but I love ‘em out of the pickle bowls at Katz’s Delicatessen. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/13 "2018-09-15T02:54:09Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Big thumbs-up to you green-tomato-pickling dudes. Never done it myself, but I love ‘em out of the pickle bowls at Katz’s Delicatessen. Well, when you got a bunch of green tomatoes at the end of the season, you gotta do _something_ with them other than throw them out or let them rot in the garden (although sometimes the latter does happen when I’m not paying close enough attention.) Also, my local supermarket sells green tomatoes seasonally, though I haven’t been quite able to figure out the seasonal schedule. I seem to recall seeing them mostly in the spring and then again in fall. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/14 "2018-09-15T05:33:15Z")
I guess we have walleye somewhat local, but I’ve never had one. Planted, I’m sure. It’s something I need to try. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/15 "2018-09-15T13:19:16Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I guess we have walleye somewhat local, but I’ve never had one. Planted, I’m sure. It’s something I need to try. Walleye are perhaps my favorite freshwater fish. Absolutely delicious and you do need to try it! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/16 "2018-09-15T16:00:12Z")
When I was in Michigan a bunch of years ago I tried walleye, and it tasted weird to me. Bad weird. Maybe I got a bad one? Edited to add: I have had a lot of fish tacos (a LOT), and I’ll still go with Ensenada style every time. Just the absolute best combination of ingredients. With a large horchata, of course. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/17 "2018-09-15T16:10:42Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > When I was in Michigan a bunch of years ago I tried walleye, and it tasted weird to me. Bad weird. Maybe I got a bad one? > > Edited to add: I have had a lot of fish tacos (a LOT), and I’ll still go with Ensenada style every time. Just the absolute best combination of ingredients. With a large horchata, of course. Walleye should be a fairly mild, delicate tasting fish. It’s very clean tasting and what I might describe as “sweet” and “buttery.” Extremely versatile and a crowd-pleaser. Sounds like you got an odd one. That, yellow perch, and trout are my favorite fresh water fishes (with trout having the most dinstinct flavor of these.) ETA: oh, but I do love smelt, too… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/18 "2018-09-15T16:18:19Z")
Though, looking it up, it appears smelt are anadramous, so not exclusively freshwater. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/19 "2018-09-15T16:32:09Z")
Last time I had good walleye I was in Montana, so somebody pulled it out of a stream rather than a Great Lake. I’m always up for a Friday night perch fish fry. You never see these in the big cities, peopled by callous sophisticates — you have to look for a lonely roadhouse on some dark lane near a Great Lake in northern Ohio or eastern Wisconsin. Fried perch stuffed into a soft corn tortilla with fried green tomatoes and tartar sauce sounds pretty great, but the lonely roadhouse fish friars are a traditional bunch. The perch will come with French fries and coleslaw, just like it did every Friday night before Vatican II. You need to sop up a lot of local Pilsner with your fish, something like POC or Leinenkugel, straight out of the frosty longnecks. None of your fancy callous sophisticate micro-brews. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300/20 "2018-09-15T16:45:56Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I’m always up for a Friday night perch fish fry. You never see these in the big cities, peopled by callous sophisticates — you have to look for a lonely roadhouse on some dark lane near a Great Lake in northern Ohio or eastern Wisconsin. Oh, you can definitely find fried perch at a good number of places here in Chicago, from fast food to more mid-scale places. Plenty of perch here. But the special tradition of a “Friday night fish fry” is not quite as popular as to our neighbors to the north. You’ll find them around lent hosted by churches, but those are fundraisers and usually use some other kind of fish. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-erie-walleye-and-fried-green-tomato-tacos/821300.md?page=2)