Smoked Trout

[Boreal Chickadee]

While in Massachusetts this weekend I had the absolutely most delicious rainbow trout. Smoked on the premises of an outstanding fish shop.

Does anyone here smoke their own trout?
How do you do it?

[redhawk]

While in Massachusetts this weekend I had the absolutely most delicious rainbow trout. Smoked on the premises of an outstanding fish shop.

Does anyone here smoke their own trout?
How do you do it?

You have to shred it real fine so that it fits in the pipe!!

[Gray Ghost]

I go to Oscar's in Warrensburg. Smoking at home is simple enough, but I haven't tried it because Oscar's does such a fine job and have very reasonable prices. It's pretty cool enjoying a mess of trout that you caught yourself. I've got a bunch in the freezer I need to take down there ASAP. Smoked trout is by far the best fish I have ever had......but the commercial stuff in super markets is garbage!

[Boreal Chickadee]

GG-Am I understanding you correctly that they only smoke the fish or game that you provide them with?

[Paradox6]

Was in Oscar's two weeks ago and they had smoked brook trout for sale.

[Sasquatch]

We had a smoker at my grandparents house when I was younger, actually, it was an old metal fridge with the bottom cut off and a few holes drilled in the top. We smoked turkey, beef, venison, pork, etc. I don't see why smoking trout would be any different. It's pretty simple really, you get a box of some kind and place racks to hang the meat in it with a few smaller holes in the top (if you're smoking only a trout or two at a time, a decent size cardboard box would work). You get a small fire going, small being the key. You want to smoke the meat, not cook it. Once the fire is down to coals, add your smoking wood to it. The smoking wood should be soak for a while before being placed on the fire, and it should be one of the more flavorful varieties of wood like maple, apple, or hickory (for trout, I'd bet maple would be good). You keep the meat up away from heat, again so that it doesn't cook. The idea is to dry the meat and let the smoke flavor it. For say two decent size trout, I'd say it'd take oh, 4 hours. It's an art, not a science. There is a quicker way, but it's nowhere near as good. You use liquid smoke and a dehydrator or oven. My suggestion is give it a try. You might ruin a few trout, but once you get it down, you'll have a lot more to enjoy.

[Gray Ghost]

Just make sure you butterfly the trout before smoking--or bringing them to Oscar's to be smoked.