Fresh Fish
from: Ryan (BigSkyRy)
I first clean the trout and cut it into chunks that are about 4" long, along
the length of the fish, 2-3 of which (the chunks) will fit into the kettle.
I ration about 1/2 oz oil/fish meal (olive oil containing garlic, a lot of
lemon pepper, and 2 drop/oz of Dave's Insanity Sauce), and pour it over the
fish, then use a utensil or stick or hand or leaf to fully coat both the
outside and inside of the fish with the oil mix.
You can make the choice to cook as is, but careful attention must be paid to
the heat applied to the kettle (which doesn't contain a nonstick coating) so
as not to burn the meat and make cleanup difficult. To make the
cooking and cleanup easier (and much quicker), I add about 4-8 oz of water
to the kettle, cover, bring to a boil, and simmer until the meat is done,
usually in a matter of minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. This
essentially "steams/poaches" the meat and cooks it quickly. Then, if you
like, pour off the water, and sear the meat for a few minutes to give you
that "fried" flavor.
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Take some peanut or olive oil in a small bottle all you need is a table spoon or two, filet the fish & fry it in the oil & your trail spice, take the pan with the fish gunk still in it & prepare your self a Lipton’s mushroom rice ricepy (SP) in the dirty pan. Add your trail spice, (I use Spike or my own mixture of salt, garlic powder, onion powder & a bit of dried mustard & a little pinch of ginger powder) While cooking the ricepy I will toss in a handful of dehydrated peas & corn. (Dehydrated corn & peas are available at REI or you can save some money by making your own) you can also add some wild mushrooms if you know what which ones to eat, just toss them in during the boiling the water stage of the ricepy. Ricepy’s do need a at least a 1 qt pan. That’s my two cents.
1. make a fire. create a coal-bed. wrap gutted, not filleted trout with a tablespoon of butter, salt, ground pepper, sliced fresh shallots (onion variation, delicious), a few dried jalepeno peppers, raisins (this contrasts sweet with onions and pepper). Use heavy duty al foil found in any grocery store. Lay on coals and time 20 to 30 minutes, depending on coals and fish size. Time from the time it starts puffing up (which may or may not be quite soon). If you are careful, you can literally eat outta the foil package. While this is going, you can prepare some rice or some carb to go with.
Fire Method #2 (FAVORITE): create coalbed or just use flames, find a flat plank of wood (usually a dead, fallen tree shatters and rots, but it dries too. Peel off a plank, about 6 foot. Place trout (filleted or just gutted) on one plank end and position reasonably over fire...reasonably high so it doesn't catch too soon. Use al foil hood to circulate heat rising above top half. Smoked Trout! Add stuff to taste.
SKILLET: Filleted trout here...I agree with the above, bring butter and/or olive oil, just a bit. But add the tasty variety of spices/flavorings mentioned above. Cover and fry, but not too fast. Trout have oily, scaleless (!!! DOn't Scale!) skin that can burn quickly if you crank it, leaving the meat undercooked.
Finally, just gut the trout...cut the heads off but leave the pectoral and anal and other fins alone...these are tasty when cooked to the point of brittleness (which the above methods should do). Be careful of bones. A trout that is left unfilleted (simply gutted) can be de-boned easily! Whence cooked (haven't used that word for a while), you can fork-lift the top meat, feeling for the spine...remove to dinner plate. Then pull gently and evenly on the exposed spine (which will include rib cage) and the fine bones will follow. BUT CHEW CAREFULLY. Bones supply calcium and are good for you.