How to Cook Trout

• by April Sanders

Introduction

• Trout is popular amongst sport fishing enthusiasts because of the species' tendency to fight hard against the line.¹ They can grow quite large, at about 25 inches in length and seven pounds.² They are also fairly easy to catch and make a quick, tasty meal on the campfire or at home.

Why Eat Trout?

• 

  Whoa there, fishy. Take it easy. (Creative Commons photo by Trout Lore)
  As more and more Americans strive to make healthy changes in their diets, they are hearing from nutritionists that fish is a great choice for a tasty, nutritious meal.³ Moreover, trout itself offers a number of specific benefits, including:

1. Heart-healthy vitamins, minerals and high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids.⁴
2. It is inexpensive, or free if you catch it yourself.⁵
3. It is low in fat and high in protein.⁵
4. It cooks very quickly, compared to meat.⁵

Preparing Freshly-Caught Trout

• For many fishing enthusiasts, there is nothing tastier than a freshly-caught trout. Catching the trout may be the fun part for most people, but preparing the trout for cooking is not nearly as messy as you might think.⁶

Gutting the Fish

• First you need to remove the digestive tract of the fish. To do so:

1. Starting at the anal opening, use a knife and cut upwards (towards the head) and away from the fish.⁷
2. Continue cutting until you reach the gills.⁸
3. Grasp the head with your free hand and push your thumb through the throat of the fish, underneath the bottom jaw.⁹
4. Tug down firmly along the bottom side of the fish. The entrails should now be cleanly removed from the fish, all in a single mass.⁹

Finally, starting at the anal fin, cut open the belly of the trout and remove the guts from the cavity.¹⁰ Catch them in a newspaper for easy disposal.⁶

Trimming the Fish

1. Rinse the fish off with clean, cold water.
   • - Do not scrub it, since trout have a jelly-like cover that allows them to be breaded without using any type of liquid.⁶
2. Remove the head by cutting in a v-shape, towards the mouth.¹⁰ Use the line of the gills to guide you.
3. Cut off the pectoral fins on both sides of the fish.¹⁰

Butterflying Trout

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  Clean your trout as soon as you can after you catch them. (Creative Commons photo by Wesley Fisher)
  If you want to prepare your trout in attractive fillets, you can use a simple but elegant technique called butterflying.¹¹ To butterfly your trout:

1. Place the trout stomach-up on a cutting board.¹¹
2. Turning your knife upside-down (blade facing up), slide it along the backbone and cut up.¹²
3. Turn the knife back over and cut down along the backbone. Cut all the way to the tail.¹¹
4. Repeat this process on the other side of the trout.
5. You will end up with two sides of the meat flat on the cutting board, and the rib cage sticking up in the middle.¹³
6. Now, remove the rib cage by cutting underneath it.¹³
7. Finally, you will want to remove the bones still remaining in the two sections of meat.¹¹ You can feel them with your fingers.
   • - Try to remove them [without cutting through the skin.¹⁴
8. Detach the backbone from the tail using a knife, or break it by hand.¹⁴
   • - Don't pull too hard when you remove the backbone. It can be removed cleanly with smooth, gentle tugging.¹³

• • NOTE: Butterflying is especially useful when you want to bake your trout.

Buy Fresh or Frozen Trout

• Trout fishing is a popular sport, and most people love to catch, cook and eat their own fish. However, many people also choose to buy fresh or frozen trout. Here's what to look for when buying fresh or frozen trout:¹⁵

Fresh Trout

1. The trout should have a clean smell.¹⁵ Newly-caught freshwater fish should smell vaguely like cucumbers.¹⁶
2. The skin should still be shining and attractive. The glisten of a fish's scales indicates how long ago it was caught.¹⁷
3. The flesh should be firm to the touch.¹⁵ Press on it with your finger and if an indentation stays on the fish, it's not very fresh.¹⁶
4. The gills should be bright red. If the fish has been laying out for a while, the gills will be a faded red, like the color of old bricks.¹⁸

• Make trout the last purchase on your list, and store it in the coldest part of your refrigerator. Fresh trout should be cooked and eaten within two days.¹⁵

Frozen Trout

1. The trout should be rock hard.¹⁵
2. The package should not have any visible ice crystals, which are evidence that the fish may have been thawed and refrozen.¹⁹
3. The trout should have no white spots, which indicates freezer burn.²⁰
4. There should be no signs of any thawed juices.¹⁵
5. The package should be clean and tightly sealed.²¹

• Frozen trout can be stored for up to three months, at a temperature of 0°F or below.¹⁵

Cooking Your Trout

• There are three basic ways to cook trout: Pan frying, deep frying and baking or grilling. You can also microwave trout, but the amount of time and preparation varies widely according to recipe (see below for microwaving recipes for trout).

Small Pan-Fried Trout

• 

  Trout goes best with simple, mild flavors. (Creative Commons photo by Per Ola Wiberg)
  If your trout is small enough, you can pan fry the whole thing.¹¹

1. Cut off the head and gut the fish, as outlined above.
2. Roll the trout in flour.²²
   • - For extra flavor, mix your flour with cornmeal and preferred herbs and spices.^{23 24}
3. Place the entire fish in a frying pan and fry it at medium to medium-high heat.^{22 23}
4. The trout is ready when the skin is golden brown and the flesh is firm and flaky.^{24 22}
   • - If you left bones in the fish, the backbone should come out easily once the fish has been thoroughly cooked.¹¹

Baked Trout

• Baked trout is a popular method of cooking that takes advantage of trout's high protein content without introducing too many calories from fat.²⁵

1. Butterfly the trout.
2. To keep the fish from drying out while baking, coat the outside surfaces with a little bit of oil.^{26 27}
3. Dust the surface of the fish with a light coating of spices.²⁵
   • - Baked trout recipes often also include various stuffings and sauces to enhance the appearance and flavor of the dish.²⁸
4. Heat your oven to between 350 and 375 degrees F.^{29 27}
5. Bake until the fish is fork-tender.²⁵ It should take about for about 20-25 minutes.²⁷

Grilled Trout

• 

  The versatile fish can even be grilled. (Creative Commons photo by Brian Bennett)
  Grilling trout is just as healthy as baking, and can be even be done over a campfire.³⁰ The preparation steps will be similar to baked trout.

1. Coat the fish lightly in oil
2. Start your grill at medium-high, or wait until your coals burn down to white-hot ash.³⁰
3. Fillets should finish grilling in about 8 minutes, and whole fish in about 12.³¹
   • - When grilling stuffed fish, cook for 10 minutes, plus 10 more minutes per each inch of thickness.¹¹
4. Flip the fish halfway into cooking.³⁰
   • - Use a thin spatula and flip the fish very carefully. The meat will be very delicate as it starts to cook, and prone to splitting open.³¹

General Cooking Tips

• There are a few general techniques to keep in mind while cooking trout:

1. Do not scale the trout. If you remove the scales, you will also remove the thin coat of jelly around them, which allows you to bread the trout without using any type of liquid.⁶
2. Use very mild flavored oils so as not to overpower the delicate flavor of the trout.⁶
3. Trout should be cooked quickly, at a temperature between 325 and 350 degrees F.^{32 6}
4. Do not overcook trout or it will become dry. The fish is done cooking when it flakes easily with a fork.³³

Resources for Trout Recipes

• Below are some recipes to help you enjoy your trout!

Baked Trout

• Cooks.com: Stuffed Trout
• RecipeZaar: Delicious Tuscan Style Trout
• RecipeZaar: Italian Lemon Trout

Grilled Trout

• Allrecipes: Honey Mustard Grilled Trout
• RecipeZaar: German Grilled Trout

Fried Trout

• Allrecipes: Pan Fried Whole Trout
• RecipeZaar: Blue Corn Pan Fried Trout

Microwaved Trout

• Cooks.com Microwave Lake County Stuffed Trout
• Cooks.com: Patty's Trout Delight

References for How to Cook Trout

1. ↑ Ontario Trout Fishing: Temperature, Tackle and Techniques
2. ↑ National Geographic Animals: Rainbow Trout
3. ↑ Department of Health: Health Benefits of Fish
4. ↑ SeattlePI.com: Benefits of eating fish outweigh risks (July 11, 2006)
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Aquaculture Network Information Center: Rainbow Trout (January, 1995)
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5} United States Trout Farmer's Association: Trout Tips & Handling How-To's
7. ↑ About.com: How to Gut and Scale a Fish - Starting the Cut
8. ↑ About.com: How to Gut and Scale a Fish - Cut to the Gills
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} 2Crows.net: Clean and Skin Trout . . .
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} The Australian Women's Weekly: Fish Tips
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6} Ontario Fly-In Fishing: How to Clean & Bake Trout
12. ↑ Freshwater Fishing Canada: How to Fillet Trout
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2} About.com: How to Clean & Bake Trout
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} West Virginia University Extension: Trout Processing  
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6} Post Gazette: How to Choose, Cook Trout
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Advocate Health Care: Fresh Fish Facts
17. ↑ About.com: How to Select a Fish - Appearance
18. ↑ About.com: Before You Buy Fish or Shellfish
19. ↑ U.S. FDA & CFSAN: Fresh and Frozen Seafood Selecting and Serving it Safely
20. ↑ Kraft.com.au: Fish 101
21. ↑ FAO Corporate Document Repository: Handling and Processing Rainbow Trout
22. ↑ ^{22.0 22.1 22.2} Allrecipes.com: Pan-Fried Whole Trout
23. ↑ ^{23.0 23.1} Recipezaar.com: Pan Fried Trout Recipe
24. ↑ ^{24.0 24.1} Field & Stream: Pan-Fried Trout With Herbs
25. ↑ ^{25.0 25.1 25.2} University of Illinois Extension: Fiesta of Flavors - Baked Trout
26. ↑ Allrecipes.com: Healthful Ways to Cook Fish
27. ↑ ^{27.0 27.1 27.2} Recipezaar.com: Baked Trout with Garlic & Mushrooms Recipe
28. ↑ Strawberry Creek Shrimp Farm: Trout Recipes
29. ↑ Go Trout Fishing: Baked Trout Recipe, Mushroom Stuffed Trout
30. ↑ ^{30.0 30.1 30.2} Ventura County Star: Grill trout instead of frying to cut down on fat (October 8, 2008)
31. ↑ ^{31.0 31.1} About.com: Grilling Trout - Quick and easy, a fish meant for the fire
32. ↑ About.com: Grilling Trout - Quick and easy, a fish meant for the fire
33. ↑ About.com: Fish Grilling - Hot and fast, the best way to cook fish

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