11 replies to this topic

[Bryonfromtillsonburg]

I'm just looking to see what everyone likes. Personally we start by soaking trout in salt water, Lather them up in some clubhouse red pepper and roasted garlic marinade. Than off to the smoker for two hours. Finish off with a cold one and a lawn chair overlooking the lake. The odd time I'll use a salt brine instead of maranade. End of the season and I never changed, Time flys .
Tight lines!

[finnigan]

If you haven't tried it yet, I'd recommend a brown sugar brine before smoking.

We cover our rainbow fillets in it overnight and smoke the next day. Comes out like candied trout. Absolutely delicious.

[NADO]

I took it back to the simple recipe I started out with last weekend and it turned out great. I cut the lake trout fillets into slices and put them in a bag with salt, brown sugar, garlic powder and chili powder. The salt and brown sugar turns into liquid within a few hours, after 8-10 hours take the fish out and rinse all of the brine off with water. Then the most important part is that you let the fillets dry overnight so that they get a tacky surface. Smoke with apple wood for 2-3 hours at 175 and then another 2-3 hours at 200. Total smoking time is 4 hours for smaller fish and 6 hours for large fish.

[salmotrutta]

My preferred lake trout recipe couldn't be simpler:

 

Bake fillets in the oven. 

 

If you don't believe me, do a side by side comparison one time with a plain fillet vs a seasoned one. Plain for lake trout is where it's at.

 

Can't speak for stocked lakers or Simcoe lakers or Great Lakes ones. I've only ever eaten them out of wild northern lakes. 

[fishfreek]

Place fillets on foil , a few lemon slices and just a bit of olive oil . Tight wrap and on the BBQ. Couple a beers while you wait . Serve with a nice glass of wine . I personally like little hot sauce on my fish.

[Swing4Steel]

Nado hit them with the hair dryer for the tacky

[Swing4Steel]

I use 3 to 1 brown sugar and coarse salt. Sometimes glaze with maple syrup a half hour before done

[Fisherman Dave]

Salmon - mustard glaze for me is where it's at. Some good medium Dijon, and a home made maple glaze with garlic among some other seasoning.

 

Trout - smoked is the way to go. Brine heavy on the salt and onion powder, and definitely don't smoke it too long (it never lasts at my house to store anyway).

 

Neutral for everyone to like: tin foil wrapped, lemon, butter, garlic minced with parsley into almost a paste, diced onions, seasoned to taste (mostly seafood seasoning), bbq or oven. If you want it less fishy (why?) then you can add maple syrup and or brown sugar, or for an interesting contrast coat the top with parmesan cheese.

 

For you spice lovers: cayenne pepper smoked is wonderful. Still perfecting that recipe, a lot can go wrong with this one haha.

[pfc_ivan]

Slightly off topic, but is it OK to eat salmon right before it spawns? I do not mean taking the half-dead salmon on the river banks, but actually the ones that are caught.

Is there a way to check the quality of meat?

Thanks for help!

[Bowie]

The flesh changes and gets progressively worse to eat as they get darker/further upstream. I have only eaten lake-caught salmon in the spring. Anyone eaten a darker salmon that was still relatively "fresh"?

[Fisherman Dave]

Just use your judgment, a little dark will be okay, sores on it's body? No thanks. Worst that will happen for the ones that you catch at the mouth or a bit up river that aren't pure silver will be that it won't taste great, won't kill you though. I've caught a couple where they were a bit dark but caught them right at the mouth of the river so took the chance and the meat was still nice.