Gutting Trout and other fish

[Guest goin_fishin]

How do you gut trout and clean there insides out and how to prepare trout?

[Guest Vagabond]

Fish under a pound - return

 

Fish one to two pounds, cut vertically down behind head and as soon as the backbone is severed, just pull, and the guts will come out attached to the head. Slit to vent for final clean up. Cook whole. (forget about leaving the head on - thats for pretentious hotels)

 

Fish 2 to 8 pounds, Fillet without gutting or beheading.(Plenty of books show the method - eg Falkus and Buller) Cook or hot-smoke the fillets

 

Fish over 8 lb Send for professional COLD smoking. Gut first, and trim off the fatty body wall that enclosed the gut (if you dont, you will get those fatty bits back smoked - and will get charged for them - not nice)

 

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Vagabond

[Guest SAMCATGETTER]

Hey goin, Clean fish as Vagabond advised. To the side you have 2 bowls. #One with a mixture of eggs blended well (wisked) or use a fork. #Two with a mixture of flour, a little salt, a dash of pepper, dash of onion/and /or garlic powder. (A small ammount of cornmeal is good also,(but optional) Preheat a frying pan, with 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of corn oil,w/dash of olive oil(optional) over medium heat. Make sure the oil is hot but dont over do it. Dip the fish into the blended eggs covering the fish well. Then dip the fish into your flour mix, once again covering well. Fry in the oil until golden brown, turning them occasionaly making sure that they are cooked uniformly on each side. Some variations to this recipe..; add a slight ammount of finely ground dill to the flour mixture, and some people like a little bacon fat in the oil. The trick to spicing is of course to enhance the flavor of the fish without overpowering it. Try it you'll like it...Sam