Cooking trout fillets on a fire

[Stanleythecat]

I have to say that straight out of the water and eaten raw is so it's unreal.
In fact, I did this when I was out fishing last week and do so most times, much to the disgust of my fishing buddy.

Fish doesn't need to be cooked and the Japanese rarely do.

I'd probaly give that a go too. I'm a pretty big fan of fish. For this instance though I have to confess I am cheating somewhat. This is being done for a group of volunteers and the trout will have been frozen. Not perfact I know but my father is a fish farmer (no not a wurzles song!) and I get it for free so I can't complain!

Leo

 

[Bushwhacker]

Double post.

 

[Bushwhacker]

I'd probaly give that a go too. I'm a pretty big fan of fish. For this instance though I have to confess I am cheating somewhat. This is being done for a group of volunteers and the trout will have been frozen. Not perfact I know but my father is a fish farmer (no not a wurzles song!) and I get it for free so I can't complain!

Leo

Ah, I see. Frozen wouldn't be any good, it needs to be straight out of the water really.

You might struggle with pinning the fish out with pegs too, as some others suggested.
The freezing makes the flesh a bit mushy and you may end up with the fish falling apart and into the embers. I may be wrong but, in my experience in fishing, frozen baits don't stay on the hook as well as fresh.
Ramming a stick down it's throat would work, but I'm not keen on that method because I hate picking at a whole fish.
I reckon thawing, filleting, de-boning and using the flat rock method would be best.
Just make sure the rock's good and hot and don't be tempted to flip the fish over, just leave it on its skin side.

I'm not a fan of wrapping it in foil - it tends to get over cooked (you can't see it cooking), the skin doesn't crisp up as nice and it's always swimming around in a big puddle of oil/fat.
I don't really like adding stuff to it either, trout tastes great on its own.

You could always try hot smoking them - improvise with a couple of large biscuit tins and a metal rack of some desciption.

 

[Stanleythecat]

Hot smoking... now there's an idea!

Definitiely right about the mushyness of the frozen fish, the meat becomes more friable and will undoubtedly fall to bits I think. Had one last night and it was flakey... still nice though!

 

[Bushwhacker]

I've improvised with lots of things for hot smoking and biscuit tins work as well as any.

2 large square tins, ideally the same so that they stack nicely.
Remove the lid of one, which will be the bottom one holding the wood chips and put holes in the bottom of the other (top tin) and a couple of vent holes in the sides.
Bend up some wire mesh and place inside the top tin so that you can get the lid on without touching/squashing the fillets.
Whack all the metal bits on the fire to burn off any paint or whatever.

Get a nice lot of embers going, place the bottom tin with the wood chips (applewood, oak, cherry, alder are all good, (there are plenty of other good ones mind).
Stack the top tin on, put in the fillets and close the lid.
Depending on the heat of the fire and size/thickness of the fillets, it should take about 15-20 minutes.
If you find the fire's too hot, you could use a third tin with the lid off and the bottom cut out to act as a spacer to raise the top tin away from the heat a bit.

 

[Stanleythecat]

Thanks Bushwhacker that sounds like an excellent plan! I have two tins that I had reserved for making birch bark tar... they'll work a treat.

Leo

 

[Melonfish]

wrapped in newspaper, dip in water to get the paper wet so it don't burn and spoil the fish and your sorted to throw it in the fire.
don't forget to stuff with what you can find locally

 

[Doc]

I have to say that straight out of the water and eaten raw is so it's unreal.
In fact, I did this when I was out fishing last week and do so most times, much to the disgust of my fishing buddy.

Fish doesn't need to be cooked and the Japanese rarely do.

Eating raw fish does carry the risk of getting the fish tapeworm though.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Eating raw fish does carry the risk of getting the fish tapeworm though.

Can't say I've ever had that problem.

 

[Melonfish]

raw fish is very nice, but yeah there's always that risk of tapeworm. not sure if i can do sushi rice in my trangia tho?
tell you what tho those bambo roll mats for making Maki rolls are excellent for the outdoors.
instant floor mat to keep food elevated and in a pinch can be rendered down into simple skewers
you know what i now have a mission. sushi a la bushcraft!

 

[Sisyphus]

Can't say I've ever had that problem.

Even the japanese freeze their fish first to kill parasites it is mandatory in the UK to freeze fish intended to be served raw aswell. It's not just normal freezer temp either, I think they have to take it down to something like -40c. I winced when seeing people like hugh fernlea whittingstall serve up raw mackerel, they are full of worms that often have migrated into the flesh and they can cause serious problems for people if the worms or their eggs are ingested without being cooked or frozen first.

But hey, tapeworms do appeal to some people! http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/Tapeworm_Diet/

 

[Nagual]

Even the japanese freeze their fish first to kill parasites it is mandatory in the UK to freeze fish intended to be served raw aswell. It's not just normal freezer temp either, I think they have to take it down to something like -40c.

Not heard about that before, do you have any links at all, I've tried a few searches on Google but haven't found anything. Would be interesting to read up on that.
....


EDIT to say : I know boats will put fish on ice as soon as the catch em, or usually do - even the fishermen I've spoke to have never mentioned this at all, talked about selling their catch straight off the boat sometimes too.

 

[Sisyphus]

http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_concerns/sushi_parasites.html

Most parasites which are fully grown into worms are visible and obvious. Fishes that contain these do not even make it to the fish market.

That refers to the japanese market where perhaps huge migratory ocean-going pacific tuna are less susceptible to parasites.I guarantee that any sea fish you catch off the shores of the uk will have parasitic worms in its gut and more than likely a few in it's flesh. All the white fish landed here has to be "candled" to inspect for worms in the flesh, and despite that, I've brought a fillet of smoked cod home from sainsburys once only to unwrap it and find live, moving worms coming out of it that had survived the smoking process. Incidentally when I rang them to tell them about it, they didn't bother to close the fish counter my dodgy fillet came from.

I fish for mackerel a lot in the summer and some of them are so badly full of worms you can see the little spiral pattern of the ones that are living in the belly wall just under the skin.

Bushwhacker: I can imagine the typical wild brown trout or carefully farmed rainbow trout is unlikey to contain parasites, the tapeworm is much more likely to inhabit the salmon or sea trout, but really, I hope you didn't bite it's head off like bear grylls when you could've done it justice and cooked it in a delicious but respectful manner.

Not heard about that before, do you have any links at all, I've tried a few searches on Google but haven't found anything. Would be interesting to read up on that.
....


EDIT to say : I know boats will put fish on ice as soon as the catch em, or usually do - even the fishermen I've spoke to have never mentioned this at all, talked about selling their catch straight off the boat sometimes too.

 

[Bushwhacker]

No, no head biting - that's mental.

 

[Jaysurfer]

At the midlands meet recently i did a whole trout wrapped in newspaper and a whole monk fish wrapped in newspaper - with boil in the bag rice and boiled veg.

Although to get it tasting as good as possible i stuffed the fish with lemon and lime, lemongrass, garlic and green chilli's.
Tasted great... plus the great thing with wrapping it in newspaper is when you peel what is left of the newspaper off it takes the skin with it and you can throw the rubbish/head/tail all on the fire so leave no rubbish.