Steelhead Trout ~ Multi-Tasking

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thirdeye

Master of the Pit
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Dec 1, 2019
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The Cowboy State - Wyoming
I eat a lot of fish, and some of my favorite is grilled fish, smoked fish,... canned fish, fried fish, smoked fish (I really like it) , baked fish and pan fried meunière style.

So, my home water reservoir is undergoing renovations on the dam and is at the lowest level since the late '30's when it was built. My blue ribbon tailwater river is low and harder to fish even with fall runoff. But, Lake Sam's (Club) is open for business with Steelhead trout. This was a skin-on two-pack, and weighed in at 3#. So maybe a 9# fish before field dressing??
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Most of it I prepped for dry curing and smoking..., but there is a missing section...
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That was the piece I seasoned and grilled over live fire... without ever turning.
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Fast forward to the smoked Steelhead... I love this stuff.
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Looks good! Don't think I've had trout before but would definitely give yours a try.

Ryan
 
Looks very good. I've not developed a taste for Fatty Full Flavored fish like Salmon or Trout. But, folks here sure make me want to keep trying!...JJ
 
Looks very good. I've not developed a taste for Fatty Full Flavored fish like Salmon or Trout. But, folks here sure make me want to keep trying!...JJ

That's understandable, and you need a somewhat fatty fish for smoking. One of my buddies is a CIA graduate so he can cook a variety of salmon and trout dishes (he left NY in the 80's and moved to Montana), and he loves catching trout, but he doesn't eat what he refers to as "fin fish". I've come to the conclusion that some folks that say they don't like trout really mean they don't like bones, and trout have a bunch of bones! Some are very fine. I taught myself to completely de-bone fillets, which is very pleasant when pan frying them. All that said, you can still catch and release a trout, but you can't un-shoot an elk.
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Care to share your curing recipe?
I was going to ask the same question.
Did you brine it at all?

Absolutely. My cure is salt/sugar based and you can add 0.25% of Cure #1 if you have fillets thick enough you think you will exceed the 4 hour window of safety. It's a dry cure that turns into a syrup after drawing out some liquid from the fish. After trimming the belly, those two fillets ↑↑ were just over a pound each, trout fillets are much smaller, so I get them to 145° in about 3 hours or in the winter I move them into a 180° oven to reach temp. Parts of my technique are embedded in older posts here, but this is the direct link to my fish curing ARTICLE with many photos and some alternate smokers. I prefer the plastic wrap method, and my vintage Big Chief electric box smoker is the most reliable for me.
 
I've always liked steelhead and for the last few years Sam's has been a very reliable source, so it has overtaken salmon for me. I really like the consistency of the thickness.
We get ours from sam's as well. We've also decided we prefer it over salmon. Has a delicious fattyness to it
 
Absolutely. My cure is salt/sugar based and you can add 0.25% of Cure #1 if you have fillets thick enough you think you will exceed the 4 hour window of safety. It's a dry cure that turns into a syrup after drawing out some liquid from the fish. After trimming the belly, those two fillets ↑↑ were just over a pound each, trout fillets are much smaller, so I get them to 145° in about 3 hours or in the winter I move them into a 180° oven to reach temp. Parts of my technique are embedded in older posts here, but this is the direct link to my fish curing ARTICLE with many photos and some alternate smokers. I prefer the plastic wrap method, and my vintage Big Chief electric box smoker is the most reliable for me.
I read through your curing article. Very detailed and informative! Our Kroger here has steelhead from time to time. I'm going to get some this weekend and try your recipe. Thanks!
 
Parts of my technique are embedded in older posts here, but this is the direct link to my fish curing ARTICLE with many photos and some alternate smokers. I prefer the plastic wrap method, and my vintage Big Chief electric box smoker is the most reliable for me.
Wow that was a good read. I grew up in Michigan and they have some great smoked fish places. Really like Whitefish. This is going toward the top of my to long list.
 
Wow that was a good read. I grew up in Michigan and they have some great smoked fish places. Really like Whitefish. This is going toward the top of my to long list.
I have tried the same procedure on Ahi Tuna, and it's a nice cross over for people that don't like sushi or want something different than salmon.
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Love the colour you got on that! Big like!
I think it's a lot to do with species, time of year and feed plus I do use more cherry with fish. These are some late fall local trout, these have a shine coat of oil but the fish were feeding on fresh water shrimp and the flesh was really pretty.
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I fish regularly at Lake Sam's Club and steelhead trout is actually not that hard to catch. We love it smoked with mesquite for smoke. We usually smoke it at 275F to hurry things up.

Yours look great...like!
 
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