Eric F.
Yelp
For what 'Valley Fish and Cheese' is, it deserves the five stars that I gave it. The owners actually send their own 'Valley Fish and Cheese' boats out onto the Mississippi River to fish - so you can imagine how fresh their freshwater fish is, and how pure and clean of any additives their smoked fish is.
'Valley Fish and Cheese' is situated at a point in the Mississippi that has a large permanent island called St. Feriole Island, or "Island #172" (which is at least semi-permanent when looking at it in geological-time terms, because the river is always shifting). There are three launch docks for 16' long roofless aluminum motorboats, so they do a lot of river fishing, mostly with nets, like in the 'Old Country'. The most common edible fish from the river are Bass, Perch, Bluegill, Buffalo Fish, Crappie, Catfish, and Biting-Turtles, as well ancient fish such as Paddlefish, Lake Sturgeon and Shovelnose Sturgeon. A typical morning's haul yields around 30 to 60 fish. I guess that's why the top selling items at 'Valley Fish and Cheese' are Smoked Whitefish, Bass, Perch, & Sturgeon (with it's dense yellow meat), with all of them being delicious (and believe me, I've tried almost everything). Also, the fish are expertly filleted into steaks (washing off the blood & slime), leaving plenty of fresh clean flesh on the frames to sell for stock (which I bought and used to make a delicious American style Bouillabaisse, as well as an extra two gallons of plain fish-broth, which I froze in 8 one pint freezer bags for... whatever).
Some fillets are salted, peppered, and grilled over charcoal to sell in sandwiches or alone. Other steaks are put into a rotating smoker heated with smoldering wood covered in brown sugar. Some smokers have stationary cooking shelves, while others are more like ovens with many slow-moving rotating shelves. The remaining bits & trimmings are grilled or smoked to create snacky-bite tenders, great for kids (but I liked them too, especially when I got them in a bag for the car). They also Brush-on Marinades and later-added spice rubs, which are all also key to the flavor. From Teriyaki to Old Bay, and from Cajun to plain Salt-Pepper & Lemon, the extra added flavors transforms each piece of every different type of fish species, with their variety of textures and density, whether grilled or smoke, into a different delicious experience with each and every combination. I cannot praise this place highly enough.
NOTE: 'Valley Fish and Cheese' offers homemade Candy, as well as numerous other fresh, smoked, cured, and pickled products including - Live Turtles for Meat (Turtle Soup with Sherry is delicious), Turtle Jerky, Catfish-Bologna, Alligator Jerky, various homemade exotic rare Deli Meats (like smoked Coon Paws), and of course, lots of Cheeses, including Wisconsin's Famous Cheese Curds. All that I can say is "YUM"!
