A How-To for Cooking Fresh Brook Trout

Here’s a Recipe to Help You Succeed and Impress Your Guests

If you feel anxious about cooking fish, specifically trout, I guarantee that this recipe will help alleviate any concerns about your cooking success and help you impress your dinner guests.

I understand the anxiety some people feel. Fish is expensive, regardless of whether you’re an avid fisherman who can catch his own or not. Either way, you don’t want to ruin it. People tend to worry about several factors when cooking it: selecting fish, cleaning fish, seasoning it too much or little, under-or overcooking, and deciding which method to use.

The most common error is cooking fish too long, which dries it out and causes it to lose its natural flavors. A good rule of thumb: The flesh should feel firm and turn from translucent to opaque or white, but it should still be slightly translucent in the middle. The skin should peel away with very little effort. Once the skin is removed, the meat should look moist and flake nicely. For this recipe, low and slow is the key, meaning low heat and a long cooking time.

You’ll notice the ingredient list for the recipe below is very short. That’s because fish come packed with healthy natural properties that are very important for your health. Fish bones, cartilage, and fat are nutritious, and they contain extra-high levels of vitamin A, iron, zinc, and calcium. Not fileting fish or piercing the rib cage or skin, and cooking it with the bones intact, serves three purposes. One, no additional oil is required because of the natural oils contained in the trout. Two, by only gutting the fish, you create a sealed membrane around the meat, which allows the natural oils to infuse further into the meat. Three, you won’t waste time making fish filets, which still contain small bones. In this recipe, even the tiniest bones are removed all at once when this fish is done cooking.

PREP TIME: 5 minutes
COOK TIME: 55 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour
SERVES: 2-4 per fish

Ingredients

Required:

• 1 gutted trout, in the 1–3-pound range
• Low heat source

Optional:

• 1 small lemon or lime (sliced) per fish sliced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic per fish
• 1 tablespoon Dash per fish
• Handful of fresh herbs (like sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme) for each fish
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Fresh basil for toppings

Instructions

1. Start an open fire or set the barbeque to
2. Optionally, insert the lemon or lime slices into the fish cavity, along with the spices and Wrap the trout in tin foil (shiny side in).
   Optionally, insert the lemon or lime slices into the fish cavity, along with the spices and herbs. Wrap the trout in tin foil (shiny side in).

3. 

   If cooking on an open fire, engineer a method to hang the fish by the head with its spine facing the heat source and in the (Don’t get it too close to the heat source, though.) If it is within a couple of feet of the smoke’s path, that’s fine
4. If cooking on a barbeque, place the wrapped fish on the top rack with the spine facing down towards the Turn the barbeque to low.
5. Cook for 45-55 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish’s back.
6. Remove from heat and lay on one Remove tinfoil (if applicable).
7. Peel away the fish skin, starting from the open gut to its back.
8. Using a fork, gently slide the fork along the Remove the cooked fish on top and place it on a serving plate.
9. Again, using the fork to keep the remaining meat intact, gently lift the entire bone structure, starting just below the head and working your way towards the Use the fork to slide between the smaller rib bones and remove any meat attached to them.
10. Separate the remaining meat from the skin and place it on the serving plate.
11. Optionally, top meat with fresh basil and spices to taste.