When you’re reeling in the biggest catch of the day, you might be thinking about how you’re planning on cooking up that fish. Pan fry it? Roast it? Maybe put it on the grill? You may even be considering turning your fresh fish into some delicious sushi.
Trout is one of the most popular freshwater fish in the country, and you may be wondering if it can be prepared raw and laid on top of rice. Well, we’re here to talk about how trout should be eaten, as well as provide a delicious recipe that you can follow to get the most out of your next big catch!
Table of Contents
Can You Eat Trout Raw?
If you’re looking for the short answer, trout really shouldn’t be eaten raw for a number of reasons.
While saltwater anglers like to boast about bringing in a hefty mackerel and eating it right there on the boat, freshwater fishing doesn’t afford anglers the same kind of opportunity. Saltwater fish are less likely to carry parasites and are generally safer to eat, while freshwater fish are far more likely to carry them. Eating raw fish can result in tapeworms, herring worms, lung fluke, or bacterial infections.
In most cases, scientists recommend that the meat from fish be frozen for at least a week. Freezing the meat will kill any of the parasites in the fish itself before cooking it. Then, the act of cooking the fish will kill off any bacteria that populates while the fish thaws out. Keeping the fish at a temperature of at least -4 degrees fahrenheit for a full week is the standard that sushi restaurants stand by.
Can Trout Be Eaten as Sashimi?
It’s highly recommended that no freshwater fish, including trout, be eaten raw. Therefore, trout should not be eaten as sashimi. In any case, however, there are still many delicious ways to prepare trout, and recipes that include using smoked trout in other forms of sushi.
Preparing Your Trout
To prepare your trout for smoking, you’ll need to fillet the fish properly. Use the following steps to clean and fillet your fresh caught trout.
Descale Your Trout
Place your trout on your cutting board on a firm surface. Carefully, using the back of your knife, descale the trout by scraping the knife from the tail to the head of the fish. To make this easier, hold the fish down by its tail. Once you’ve completed one side, clean your knife and descale the other.
Separate the Gill From the Jaw
After descaling, you’ll need to separate the gill from the jaw. To do this, place a thumb into the gills of the fish and hold it over your sink. Using the other hand, take your knife and slit the skin that holds the gills to the rest of the fish.
Cut the Stomach From Anus to Gills
Using your knife, slit the stomach of your trout from the anus to the gills. Be careful not to cut too deeply, because if you do you’ll puncture the organs.
Remove the Gills and Organs
To remove the gills and the organs in a clean sweep, pinch the gills from the front of the fish, and pull them down towards the tail of the fish. Once removed, wrap the guts in a plastic bag to avoid the fishy smell escaping your garbage bin.
Rinse the Fish
Using your thumb, clean the vein in the back of the fish out, and rinse the inside with cold water, removing any grit left over. It’s important that the water is cold, as hot water can change the texture and even partially cook the fish.
Cutting the Fillets
Now we get to the fun part. To cut your trout fillets with expertise, follow the below steps carefully with a fillet knife.
- Break the neck of the trout by bending the head backwards towards the body.
- Separate the ribs from the fillets by slitting between them with a fillet knife.
- Cut the fillet at the spine, separating it from the bones of the spine itself. Run the knife from the neck to the tail.
- Remove the head and the front fins by cutting them off with the fillet knife.
- After the head has been removed, remove the dorsal fin. Now you’ll have two expertly cut fillets!
How to Smoke Your Trout
Once your fillets have been cut, you’ll be able to prepare them for smoking. Smoked salmon is excellent when making sushi, and this recipe is easy to make for anyone.
Make a Brine
When smoking trout, you need a brine to help prevent the fish from drying out during the cooking process. A simple dry brine is made from the following:
- Kosher Salt
- Brown Sugar
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Paprika
Once the brine is finished, liberally apply it to your trout and let it sit in the fridge for four to six hours. After four to six hours, wash the brine off of the trout with cold water. Then, an important step that is often missed, place the fish on a rack and place it back in the fridge for about an hour, allowing it to dry. After this, your trout is ready to be smoked!
Smoking the Trout in the Oven
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and bake on a rack for an hour and a half to two hours, checking periodically to see if the fish is flaky and finished smoking. Once it has finished, you’ll need to let it cool, and you’ll be on your way to making delicious smoked trout sushi!
Making Smoked Trout Sushi
Making smoked trout sushi requires more than just making smoked trout. You’ll need an assortment of prepared ingredients, all of which play an integral part in making sure that the sushi is high-quality. For smoked trout sushi you’ll need:
- Nori sheets
- Cooked white rice
- Cream cheese
- Sliced cucumber
- Smoked salmon
- Pickled ginger
- Wasabi
- Soy sauce
- Bamboo sushi roller
Preparing the Rice
The key to any good sushi is good, sticky rice. You’ll cook your rice normally, but the preparation beforehand is imperative to making the rice correctly. The rice needs to be rinsed until the water runs clear. This removes extra starch, and allows the rice to stick together better. After cooking, you’ll remove the rice from the pan and place it into a glass bowl to cool. The rice needs to be cool or cold to make good sushi.
Making the Sushi
Follow these steps to make delicious smoked trout sushi!
- On a cutting board, lay down your bamboo sushi roller and place a nori sheet on top.
- Using your cooled rice, place an even layer of rice on the nori sheet, leaving a gap on the top and the bottom of about a half an inch.
- In the center of the rice running from one end to the other, place a layer of cream cheese, smoked salmon, and sliced cucumber.
- Using very little water on your fingertips, moisten the exposed edges of the nori sheet.
- Carefully roll the sushi using the bamboo roller, bringing the exposed ends of the nori sheet together. This part takes some practice!
- Once your sushi has been rolled, cut the roll into slices and serve with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce! Enjoy!