Cold Smoked Trout

Smoked trout with shaved horseradish

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Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 10 hrs
Brine: 12 hrs
Total: 22 hrs 5 mins
Servings: 2 to 4 servings

Cold smoked trout is a delicious treat that can be enjoyed on its own or in recipes. You can use this method to smoke other small to medium fish (salmon, whitefish, grayling) as well.

This is a combination of first cold smoking, then hot smoking the trout. This method preserves the fish rather than simply cooking and flavoring it. To make this dish, you'll need a smoker with an accurate temperature gauge that allows you to adjust with precision. Keep in mind that this method doesn't preserve the fish indefinitely. After a few weeks or months, you'll need to get rid of the trout if unused.

Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Stir the brine ingredients until the salt and sugar dissolve. Add the trout and use a plate with a jar full of water or other weight on top of it to keep the fish submerged in the brine. Leave the fish in the brine in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.

  2. Rinse the trout under cold water and then pat it dry with either a clean dishtowel or paper towels. Lay it out on a rack set over a dish or tray and let it dry at room temperature for approximately 30 minutes. As the fish dries, a shiny, tacky layer called a pellicle will form. The pellicle seals in juices that keep the fish tender and also gives the smoke something to adhere to. This gives the final product a richer smoke flavor than it would have otherwise.

  3. While the fish is brining and drying, get your smoker and smoking components ready. If you are using commercial charcoal and soaked wood chips, begin soaking them. Only use hardwoods such as pear, apple, and birch for the wood chips.

  4. Cold smoke the trout for 2 to 3 hours at between 90 F and 100 F. On the hottest days of summer, the ambient air temperature may be higher than this, but smoking trout is a cool weather project. Add the soaked hardwood chips to the coals as needed to keep a consistent amount of smoke wafting over the fish. Open the vents or add water to the bowl in some smoker models (as needed) to maintain the temperature.

  5. Separately from the smoker, start another wood fire or get some charcoal burning. A charcoal chimney is useful for this. Add more hot coals to the smoker and bring the temperature up to 225 F. Insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the fish. Maintain the 225 F temperature as closely as you can until the internal temperature of the fish reaches 180 F. This will usually take about 3 to 4 hours, but if you've got an especially big fish and are smoking it whole, it could take as long as 10 hours. During this time, continue to add soaked hardwood chips to the coals to keep the smoke surrounding the fish.

  6. Once the internal temperature of the fish reaches 180 F, maintain it for an additional 30 minutes before removing the trout from the smoker.

  7. Once the trout has completely cooled to at least room temperature (or colder if you're undertaking this project outdoors on a chilly day), wrap it tightly in foil, butcher's paper or vacuum seal it. Trout smoked by this method will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month and in the freezer, for at least three months.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
174 Calories
3g Fat
28g Carbs
10g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2 to 4
Amount per serving
Calories 174
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 4%
Saturated Fat 1g 3%
Cholesterol 23mg 8%
Sodium 7600mg 330%
Total Carbohydrate 28g 10%
Dietary Fiber 6g 20%
Total Sugars 21g
Protein 10g
Vitamin C 42mg 210%
Calcium 68mg 5%
Iron 1mg 8%
Potassium 344mg 7%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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