I would like to know if anyone has a better way to smoke trout. The cookbook isn't cutting for my taste. The fish are cooked and don't seem to have enough smoke flavor for me. Anyone got a better recipe for Trout?

Howdy,Spectrumseven.Try www.3men.com......they cover techniques,with pictures in a cookshack.Hope this helps.

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Good Q 2 Ya,Tom.

Spectrumseven:

Hi!

It's hard to make a diagnosis without examining the patient Did you brine the trout? Were they whole, butterflied?

I've had great luck using fresh 8 oz Idaho Rainbow trout which are 90% boneless - head and tail left on. I brine them for 1 1/2 hrs using a brine of 1 cup Kosher salt + 1/2 water, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 2 smashed cloves of garlic and 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice.

I let them air dry (refridgerated) overnight to form a pellicle, and them smoke them at 150 o for 1 hour. The smoke is light but you can tell it's there. 150 degrees strikes a nice balance between cold/hot smoking.

Hope that helps.


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Topchef
BBQ...it aint rocket science, it's ZEN



[This message has been edited by topchef (edited May 15, 2001).]

Thanks for the information. I will try this process next time and see how it works. The fish were in a brin just as you mentioned. They were whole and had the heads and tails on. I did not split the fish. I left them over night in the refrig and then cooked them the 45 minutes but was not satisfied with the result. I left the remaining fish in the smoker for another 30 minutes. A bit better but still not enough. I'm gathering others advise now and will move one. These were rainbows caught in april at the little red river in Arkansas. Great time but I'm running out of fish to experiment with. Oh you say have to go fishing again. darn it what is one to do? Thanks again.

spectrumseven , Did you ever smoked a batch of trout to your liking ? I am hunting brining recipes . Thank you , Dale