COOKING TROUT
A few weeks ago the game fishing forum on this website contained interesting ideas and recipes for smoking trout. However, in common with many, I cannot say that I like most trout dishes even in restaurants. I maintain two exceptions to this; freshly caught wild brown trout grilled in the open air over a wood fire and home smoked trout eaten hot.
I have not had a fresh grilled brown trout for some time as I go along with the general rule that we do not kill native brown trout, rather we conserve them. Occasionally, a fishery owner or bailiff (usually in Scotland) has informed me that there are too many small brownies in a river or loch upon which I happened to be fishing and that I was free to take a couple for lunch. I even used to smuggle those little pats of wrapped butter out of the hotel breakfast just for this purpose…..
My wife and daughter quite like the occasional rainbow and they have their own favourite recipes but I have never really cared for the taste of rainbow trout no matter how it is disguised. The same applies to salmon, I can take it or leave it. In fact, I prefer it out of a tin!
Country Knowledge
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of one of those local characters who spend most of the night time hours out on the hills with a pair of lurchers ‘lamping’ for rabbits or setting nets and traps for anything edible from grouse, to eels, to trout. One evening in the Hare & Hounds at Holcombe Brook and after plying him with several pints of Raglan’s Sleeve, I gleaned from him the basics of smoking trout (or any other fish) and, after some trial and a lot of error, I managed to produce smoked trout that I found enjoyable to eat.
The Smoking Equipment
I use a standard barbecue with a lid, sometimes called a kettle grill, the kind you can get from any garden centre for about fifty quid. I do not make my own charcoal but I do purchase the best British produced charcoal that is as free as possible from any additives that may taint the food as it cooks. There’s a place in Gollinrod, north Bury, that produces its own high quality stuff and a visit there once or twice a year is enough for a whole series of smoking sessions.
The Trout
I take a couple of fish each week from one fishery or another, clean them and freeze them as freshly killed as possible. I like a fish of around two pounds and the following directions are based on this weight.
Wood Collecting
The preparation starts at least the day before you want to smoke the fish. I take a walk through the woods across the road from where I live and I collect some small branches of oak, sometimes birch or even mature hawthorn. Back home I chop and chip the wood into small fragments.
Filleting the Trout
Meanwhile the fish has to be prepared. After defrosting thoroughly, usually about half a day at this time of the year, I insert the knife behind the gills until I feel the backbone and then, using the backbone as a guide, I cut the fish down to the tail. This gives me two lovely ‘steaks’ from each fish with very little waste even after trimming the fish’s abdominal flesh.
The Salting Process
The trout now requires to be salted for up to twelve hours. If you wish to smoke a very large fish or several smaller ones you may extend this period to twenty four hours. This process helps kill off any micro-organisms and, of course, helps give the fish its distinctive flavour. I believe that frozen fish absorb salt more than fresh killed fish, so you may experiment a little with the amounts used to suit your palate.
Use a non-aluminium container, for example a large Pyrex-type dish. Fill it with cold water and add six tea spoons of salt to the water and up to a dozen for the bigger fish or for three or four smaller fish.
I also add a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar, a bay leaf (though I do not know what flavour this adds), a spoonful of chilli powder from Marie’s spice drawer and a sprinkle of fresh thyme from the garden. Cover with cling film and leave it overnight in the fridge.
Next day, get the fish out of the fridge and remove it from the salt solution. Pat the fish fillets dry with a paper towel and then air dry them on a wire rack. A shiny film will develop after about an hour and cover the fish; this helps seal in the flavours.
Cooking the Trout
Move out to the barbeque and the first job is to soak the oak chippings in water so that they will not burn too quickly and at the same time produce plenty of the smoke we want to flavour the trout.
Light the charcoal and, like any barbeque, let the coals burn for about an hour until the heat has built up and it is ready for cooking. Now add the soaked oak chippings to the barbecue and you should be rewarded by plenty of aromatic smoke.
I quickly wipe the griddle with a smear of olive oil to stop the fish sticking and then place the fillets on the griddle skin side down. There will be no need to turn the fish over half way through. Put the lid over the barbecue and open the air vents a little. The fish should be ready in forty five minutes, again depending upon just how you want it but after this smoking period the fillets will be extremely well flavoured and still quite moist when you bite into them.
I would apologise to any professional chefs who may read this. Remember, I learnt this method off an old rogue of a poacher in the pub, not Gordon Ramsey.
I like smoked trout served hot but it is also very well received after cooling and served cold with a slice of lemon, salad and either chips, jacket or mashed potatoes. I also enjoy the task of preparing the fish, mostly in the fresh air and with a couple of tins of cold Stella for company.
Good eating!
