the recipes

Lollipop Bluegill

½ dozen bluegill caught in School Lake, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

1 egg

1 cup masa flour

1 cup white flour

½ cup corn starch

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

2 cups peanut oil for frying

Scale all fish by scraping a knife or spoon against the scales until the fish skin is smooth on both sides from the tail to the pectoral fin. Pull the pectoral fin back and cut between it and the gill flap (located over the gills) all the way through the fish, discarding the head end of the cut. Make a slice down the belly, pull the fish open and remove the guts. Using a very sharp knife, cut along the pectoral and the dorsal fins, following the bones within the body of the fish that anchor these fins. Use pliers to remove them and the pesky little bones that are attached (these bones are the biggest nuisance when eating a traditionally gutted fish). Hold your gutted and cleaned bluegill up by the tail and you see why Keef calls it a lollipop.

Keef’s prep tip: The rationale for this method—an advanced version of traditional gutting—is that it’s less wasteful (much higher yield of meat) than filleting, and also results in far fewer bones to pick around in the final product. This method takes time to master, but if you hold these freshwater gems as sacred as I do, you’ll find it is worth the hassle. Go slow, and by the end of a few dozen, you’ll be flying through them.

Mix egg, masa, corn starch, flour and spices. Add a few teaspoons of water—until the batter is the consistency of crepe batter. Heat peanut oil in a frying pan. When a drop of batter sizzles in it, it’s ready. Dredge bluegill in batter and place in oil. Bluegill fry quickly, typically two to three minutes per side at most. When the meat flakes off the bones, they are ready.

Fresh Herb Tartar Sauce

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

3 Tablespoons pickle juice

Half lemon, squeezed

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 Tablespoons (or more) each of fresh dill, basil and chives, chopped very small

Place all ingredients into a bowl and stir together. Serve with freshly fried bluegill.

Lake Trout with Spruce Tips

1 lake trout, caught in Sleeping Bear Bay, using a trolling spoon on a downrigger

4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

¼ cup butter, softened

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 lemon, sliced

1 cup spruce tips (Keef collects these tender shoots at the tip of a spruce branch in spring from our neighbor’s yard. He says they taste of rosemary and lemon.)

Keef’s prep tip: Have two fillet knives ready when filleting lake trout—one to use when taking the skin off, the other to use when deboning the fillet. Anytime the knife touches the outside of the skin it should never touch the meat. The slime on the skin is what gives the meat its fishy taste. This is most important for Great Lakes lake trout, though it is recommended for inland lake trout as well. If you or someone you know finds lake trout to be fishy, try this method and you may be surprised how much you enjoy it.

With the first knife, fillet the lake trout as you would any fish. Remove the skin with knife #1. Using knife #2, cut down both sides of the rib bone line and pull it out like a zipper.

Lay the fillets on sheets of aluminum foil.

Rub the fillets down with minced garlic, working it into the meat. Blend the butter, olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper. Spread on both sides of the fillets. Cover them with lemon slices and sprinkle with spruce tips. Smoke (or use an oven) at 250 degrees until the fish reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees, or until it flakes with a fork (if you do not have a temperature probe).

Seared Venison and Fried Morels

For venison:

2 pounds (approximately) venison hind quarters from a deer Keef harvested on Alligator Hill, just outside of Glen Arbor the fall before this dinner

Salt

Ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup butter

Fresh thyme sprigs

Fresh chives, chopped, for garnish

Keef’s prep tip: The cuts I used were a bottom round and a sirloin, though all cuts from the hind quarter work for this method (and so does back strap).

Thoroughly salt down the venison, set on paper towels and place in the refrigerator overnight—