trout taste like mud...

Ogri the trog

Mod
Mod
Apr 29, 2005
7,182
71
60
Mid Wales UK
When I was a lad, we used to catch trout from a local river - and they tasted largely of whatever factory was pumping out upstream. We came up with some creative methods of cooking them to hide the taste.

My guess would be that the wild fish with a wild diet will taste of their environment, as opposed to the farmed fish which will be fed on fishmeal and whatever else we associate with shop-bought fish.

ATB

Ogri the trog

Oh, and welcome aboard!
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
26
Cumbria
All the fish I've caught have been nice- the smaller ones tend to be more gamey than the larger ones. I'd say diet, maybe they've been stocked. Some lakes do stock so there's more to catch- maybe they'd fed them on a muddy tasting pellet?
 

demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,762
785
-------------
I think that trout tastes like the river it was caught in.

Clean river? Delicate trout flavour.
Muddy river? No thanks.
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,855
3,270
W.Sussex
I think that trout tastes like the river it was caught in.

Clean river? Delicate trout flavour.
Muddy river? No thanks.

Yep, same as crayfish and carp. Seen Hugh Fairly Unstable put his carp in a holding tank with fresh river water flowing into it for a few days before cooking.
 

redsalmon

Member
Jun 12, 2010
21
0
divot
depends what theyre eating ... muddy tasting trout i ate once was caught after a spate, other fish from same river never tasted so muddy, so maybe eating earth filled worms?
 

nic a char

Settler
Dec 23, 2014
591
1
scotland
I've always found rainbows pretty muddy - not surprising as they are mainly pellet-fed - but brown trout are THEBIZZZ! Lol - but, it depends where they are living & what they are eating. Here in Scotland upland brown and brook trout beyond agriculture, forestry, and fertilisers, are probably as organic as it's possible to get nowadays.
 

Adze

Native
Oct 9, 2009
1,874
0
Cumbria
www.adamhughes.net
The muddy taste is frequently the fat lining between the skin and the flesh of the fish. With all fresh water fish - clean them of their innards and remove the blood gutter (actually the kidney) from the cavity around the spine towards the vent. Cooking them with something citrusy (is that a word? It is now!) lemon or orange helps break down the fat while it cooks, butter helps dissolve and further separate it from the flesh and will reduce the 'muddiness'.

Better still is to brine or salt the fish for a while before cooking. Everyone will have their own taste regarding salinity, a little goes a long way in my experience, brining takes longer than salting but both work.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,120
68
Florida
and sea-trout are even better than either!

What species do you catch there? I can catch Speckled Sea trout (best available here)

rh-spotted-florida-seatrout-02-12.JPG



and White Sea Trout (not as good but Ok)

th
 

Adze

Native
Oct 9, 2009
1,874
0
Cumbria
www.adamhughes.net
Likely Salmo trutta santaman - unless nic is outside of the UK. Sea run brown trout, as a steelhead is to a rainbow, so sea trout are to brown trout in the UK. I'm not sure how well they do in the North Americas but the Tierra del Fuego is a 'mecca' for them in the South Americas and the runs around the Falklands are supposed to be pretty good too.

Google image:
trout.jpg
 

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