Smoking whole trout ??

I had another reply but when CS server had problems I lost it.

The essence of that post was that our highly respected Tom has given us a link for smoking fish that link is: http://www.3men.com/threemen1.htm I found this recently doing a search of all the CS forums.

There is also a book that I have used which uses a smoking method for trout very similar to the above link which you might like to have. "Smoking Salmon & Trout" by Jack Whelan. A new edition is available on Amazon and some larger outdoor stores, an older used version is also available, I would check abebooks.com for them.

My specific thoughts would be to use a small amount of apple or cherry, and with fish of that size it would probably be best to filet them before smoking for ease of handling etc. Smaller I would probably try to do them whole, head on. I have not done trout in my CS, but I did do them in my old refer with a hot plate. I am about to cold smoke a batch of pink salmon and I am planning on following the 3men link except for the temperatures to see how it comes out.

You can scale trout by running the sharp edge of a knife perpendicular with the skin from the back of the fish to the head, but I would probably just remove the skin before I ate it after smoking.

There really is not that much difference between the meat of different trout, but there is between where you catch them, water productivity, seasons, water temperature etc. That will affect the taste more than rainbow vs. lake trout.

Good luck

quote:

...but there is between where you catch them, water productivity, seasons, water temperature etc. That will affect the taste more than rainbow vs. lake trout.

should be quite tasty, cought during prime fishing season here in Québec, last week of May...

As a supplier of smoked trout I can tell you this. We smoke rainbows weekly and the skin will do just as it does on the lake trout. Apple wood and grapevines are great for flavor. Alot of smoke is a good thing. The most popular way of preparing them is to smoke them, then skin them and finally season them. Fillets are fine but you might not want to fillet them if they are not very big. Just not much meat to work with. We generally smoke 4 pounders with head and tail left on for presentation. Your trout should only take 1 hour or so to cook.
Hope this helps!
Zeb

Being totally ignorant of smoking trout, do the bones get soft and somewhat mushy (i.e, canned salmon)? If I have to deal with bones in a cooked fish, I would rather fillet before hand. We live close to both the Little Red and White rivers. Friends are constantly ofering rainbows and browns.

I catch trout between 12-15".

I too like leaving the head and tail on for effect. But the rest of the skeleton is removed.

I make a cut all the way through the fish, just behind the gills, from the bottom to just before the spine.

Then with a scissors I snip the spine making sure I dont completely cut the head off.

Next, I insert the knife between the flesh and ribs, cutting as clost to the ribs as possible. Repeat on the other side.

Then slide the knife down both sides of the skeleton to where the tail starts. Snip the tail loose from the skeleton.

Now you have 2 loose flaps of skin & meat with the skeleton still embedded in the top of the fish.

Wedge the skeleton in the "V" of your index and middle finger of 1 hand. Hold the fish down with that hand as you take the other hand and "peel" the skeleton out of the fish.

This method is totally optional, and takes some labor, but if you only have a few to do its kinda neat to show them off.

GeiyserQ,

I think I understand what you are saying and it sounds really neat. Does this take out the little lateral bones that seem to be the most annoying in small fish when fileted or just ripped apart after smoking?

How about some pictures so we can know for sure.

RendezvousQ,

I've never had any bone problems in the size of trout that I do. Once they are smoked and chilled the meat is just pulled off the skin and eaten on crackers or I will make it into a spread, and never had a bone issue yet.

Pictures will have to wait until this fall. I have no file footage of the trout at this time!