Put and Take Sverige
Cook the catch
A large part of the pleasure of put and take is taking the fish home and eating it, and on many waters it is even a requirement that you keep the catch. Lucky then that rainbow trout is really good eating fish that lets itself be cooked almost every way: boiled, fried, seared, oven-baked, gravad and smoked. Here we collect the guides, all the way from gutting to a finished dish.
First: look after the fish
Kill the fish at once, bleed it and gut it as soon as you can. Keep it cold until cooking. The whole sequence is under gutting fish step by step, and how you keep the catch fresh all the way home and in the freezer under freezing and storing rainbow trout. If you wonder how nutritious the catch is, see is rainbow trout healthy?.
Recipes and methods
If you want a simple weekday dinner, oven-baked rainbow trout is hard to beat. If it should be a bit more festive, gravad rainbow trout is a classic with salt, sugar and dill, and smoked rainbow trout gives that smoky flavour straight from the smoker. Smaller rainbow trout are also excellent cooked whole, with seasoning inside and lemon in the belly. If you want something more filling from the catch, a fish soup or fish burger is a grateful dish.
More favourites: rainbow trout in foil on the grill or over the fire, classic rainbow trout with lemon and dill sauce, and quickly cooked seared rainbow trout with crisp skin.
Want weekday food the whole family likes? Try creamy fish gratin, fresh fish tacos for Friday, or crisp breaded rainbow trout like homemade fish fingers. If you have an air fryer, rainbow trout in the air fryer is done in ten minutes.
Pan-fried fillet with almonds: rainbow trout amandine. A red stew without cream: fish stew. A tray for four: oven pancake with smoked rainbow trout.
More from the same catch: pasta with rainbow trout, fish cakes, fish pie, curry, wok and risotto. Fast oven with sauce: tomato and capers. Breakfast: omelette.
Cold, smoked and pickled
If the fish is to be eaten without being cooked through, the freeze rule applies. Cold-smoked rainbow trout is another job than hot-smoked. Pickled rainbow trout is vinegar and onion, not gravad. Ceviche and poké bowl are lime and soy — not heat treatment. Lunch without a stove: sandwich with smoked rainbow trout and salad.
At the water
Packing list, camping stove and when a fire is allowed: food at the water. Fish in a pan: rainbow trout on a camping stove. Pieces on the grate: grill skewers. Side: potatoes in the embers.
Kolbullar with pork and stirred lingonberries we do not write about here. That recipe sits on Swilderness.
Brown trout and Arctic char
Did you land brown trout or Arctic char instead? They are also salmonids and are cooked the same way as rainbow trout. See cook brown trout and cook Arctic char for the differences — and do not miss smoked Arctic char, which is char’s absolute speciality.
Important about parasites
One rule is worth repeating: all fish that is to be gravad, pickled, eaten raw or cold-smoked must be frozen for 2–3 days before or after preparation, to deal with any parasites. Fish that is cooked or boiled through, for example in the oven, does not need freezing. The warning comes back in the recipes, and it should be taken seriously.
Beginners find everything around catch and handling in the beginner’s guide, and more on the species under rainbow trout.
FAQ
Must I freeze the fish before I cure it gravad or smoke it?
Yes, if it is not cooked or boiled through. Fish that is to be gravad, pickled, eaten raw or cold-smoked should be frozen for 2–3 days before or after preparation, to deal with any parasites.
Can you eat rainbow trout from put and take?
Yes. Stocked rainbow trout is eating fish and often the whole point of put and take; many waters even require that you keep fish you catch. Gut and chill it as soon as you can after the catch.
How long does the catch keep?
Gutted and chilled fish keeps a couple of days in the fridge. If you are saving it longer, freeze it. Smoked and gravad fish keeps about a week in the fridge wrapped.
Where is the kolbullar recipe?
On Swilderness. Kolbullar is pork, flour and lingonberries over a fire — not a fish recipe. We link there from food at the water instead of writing a copy.