Smoked rainbow trout

Hot-smoked rainbow trout is one of the tastiest things you can make of a put-and-take catch, and it is simpler than it sounds. The base is to brine, dry and smoke the fish. One important thing first: hot-smoking heats the fish through and needs no freezing, but cold-smoking requires that the fish has been frozen for 2–3 days in advance.

How you hot-smoke

Brine:

1. Gut the fish (see gutting fish). You smoke whole fish or fillets with skin.
2. Brine in salt pickle (about 1 dl salt per litre of water) for 1–3 hours, or dry-salt lightly. A little sugar softens it.
3. Rinse off and dry the fish well — preferably airy in the fridge for a while until the surface feels dry. A dry surface takes up smoke well.

Smoke:

4. Put a handful of alder chips in the bottom of the smoker or smoke box.
5. Lay the fish on the rack, skin side down.
6. Smoke on medium heat until the flesh is opaque and comes away from the backbone — often about 30–45 minutes.

Cold-smoked — freeze first

Cold-smoking happens at low temperature and does not heat the fish through. Then the fish must have been frozen for 2–3 days first, just as for gravad rainbow trout, to deal with parasites.

Serve and store

Smoked rainbow trout is good lukewarm straight from the smoker, or cold with boiled potatoes, scrambled eggs or on a sandwich. Store it cold and eat within a few days. More ways to look after the catch are under cook the catch.