Favorite way to cook freshwater Trout?

AllenOK

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JSC's post in the Saltwater board had a couple people talk about how they liked to cook freshwater Trout. I figured I'd start this thread, to keep from high-jacking the OP's thread.

Some of you may know that I cook professionally. I've worked in country clubs, as well as a steak house and a Cajun restaurant.

One nice way to prepare trout is Pecan-Breaded Trout. Start with a seasoned flour, seasoned egg wash, then a mix of panko bread crumbs and ground pecans. Your trout needs to be butterflied. Dredge in the flour, then the egg wash, and finish with the panko/pecan mixture.

From here it's a basic saute or pan-fry. Clarified butter (or veggie oil, butter tastes better), get it hot, and put the trout in flesh-side down. Once that's brown, carefully flip it. From here, you can finish cooking in that pan, or take the entire thing, pan with fish, and put it in the oven to finish.

For the sauce, we used to dice up a few shrimp, and saute that with shallots until the shrimp were cooked. Hit it with a splash of white wine, and a bit of heavy cream, and bring to a boil. Once it starts to get thick, plate the fish and drizzle the sauce over the trout.

At the Cajun place, we did a seafood-stuffed Trout. The stuffing was a mix of stuffing, shallots, shrimp, and maybe some oysters and/or crab. It's been what, 17 years since I worked there???? ROFL. We would dust the whole, butterflied trout with seasoned flour, and sear it in a saute pan skin-side down. Once the was seared, carefully use a spat to fold the trout back into it's natural shape, and place the whole thing in the salamander/broiler until done.

I never made the sauce for that from scratch; it was always pre-made on the line; all I had to do was put some in a pan and reduce it until thick. It was a cream-based sauce, and might have had some orange juice in it??? Can't remember. Although, the shallot/shrimp/cream sauce above would probably go really good.

Personally, I'm rather simple in my taste for Trout. Clean them, remove the head and fins, but leave them whole. Don't bother with deboning. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and dot with some butter/margarine. Wrap them up in a few layers of foil. Place the packet on the grill and cook for 10 minutes on one side, flip, and repeat. MMMMMMM.
 

hookup

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VA
Mmmm - the pecan bread crumb receipe sounds great.

I've cooked trout so many ways; from inside a well stocked kitchen to over a campfire while back packing through the high sierras. While backpacking we'd clean them, then fry them up with butter & whatever fresh wild onions, bracken fern, or pine boughs (sp?) we'd pick up from the land. I started bringing a mess kit that we'd steam/fry them in that came out great. Then to serve, simply put on a plate & 'peel' the bones off the meat. If the fish was properly cooked, then the results were a perfect boneless fillet.

In Big Bear lakes we'd troll for trout & usually catch some nice sized one.

BB5.jpg

These we'd fillet, mix up some bisquick, beer, seasoned salt, and fresh ground pepper, dip the fillets in & cook up over a wood fire stove. The stove & kitchen was build in the early 1900's and updated in the 1980's, but kept as rustic as the update would allow. (The fish in the pan's is just posing for the pix)

BB6.jpg

At home, I usually marinate them in a variety of wet marinades, them slow smoke them for a couple hours. If the fish were small, you'd pick the meat off the bones easily. If the fish were large, we'd fillet them.
 
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