Kitchen Essential

Cold smoked trout

Many anglers fish lakes and reservoirs for large trout, usually rainbows. These fish are sometimes less than prime specimens. I am no expert on marine biology but under some conditions it would appear that the fish wish to spawn but are unable to do so. They produce normal quantities of spawn and milt, which as it is not utilized is absorbed into the system again. The fish turn an unpleasant colour and the actual flesh tends to turn pale, so the best possible destination for this type is the inside of a cold smoking kiln. Needless to say, prime fish, as always, will produce a superior finished product, particularly in appearance but this is still the best method to utilize poorer quality trout.

The fish should be gutted and beheaded and the blood channel along the inside of the spine removed. It should be split by placing the fish on its back and cutting through one set of ribs as close to the spine as possible, slicing right down through the flesh almost to the skin of the back. The trout should be brined in 80% solution for a rather elastic period depending on size, usually 2-4 hours for a 2 – 4 lb fish or more for larger specimens. Care must be taken over hanging as trout flesh is very tender, but the best method, after washing in cold water, is to drive a meathook right through the top of the spine about 1 inch below the end.

A second hook should then be passed under the lug bone on the opposite side. The hook through the spine will support the entire weight of the fish and the other one will keep the fish opened when it is hung on a rail.

The fish should be allowed to drip, preferably overnight, then smoked in exactly the same way as salmon at 70 – 80^° F. Weight loss should be slightly more than salmon sides, around 20%. Smoking time varies according to size and atmospheric humidity but I find they are usually ready in 24 – 36 hours.

Unlike salmon, the smoked surface of the fish does not form a rind. It is soft and glazed, like smoked haddock or cod, and can be sliced off and eaten along with the rest, after the spine and ribs arc removed with a sharp filleting knife. Cold smoked trout is an excellent substitute for smoked salmon and should be served in exactly the same way. Some of my patrons even consider it to be superior.

Smoked mallard, wigeon, teal and divers

My own preference is for wildfowl to be prepared and cooked according to conventional recipes but all forms of wildfowl can be hot smoked to great advantage. This is particularly so in the case of wigeon and diving ducks, which are not to every person’s taste when cooked in a conventional manner — some consider them to taste fishy. I do not, and enjoy wigeon whether they have been feeding inland or on marine grasses. The divers, pochard and tufted duck do consume small fish but I find these birds perfectly palatable although I do admit that both wigeon and divers do have a very distinctive flavour. Smoking will certainly mask this to a considerable extent.

In common with all feathered game destined for the smoker, wildfowl should be prepared within 3 or 4 days of being shot.

Brining

Fat content of wild ducks varies considerably according to the time of the year and on what the birds have been feeding. Basically, wild duck flesh is lean and dark but most ducks carry a layer of subcutaneous fat as insulation against low temperatures. Mallard should be well pricked and brined for 2 – 3 hours, depending on fat content, in 80% brine. Teal should be pricked and brined for 1 – 1¹/2 hours. Wigeon normally carry less fat than other ducks, relying more on an exceptionally thick layer of blackish down to keep out the cold, so 1¹/2 hours in the brine suffices. Diving duck usually carry a good layer of fat and require pricking well and brining in 80% brine for about 2 – 2¹/2 hours.

Smoking

The ducks should be strung by the wings and allowed to drip overnight before being placed in the cold smoking kiln. Alternatively they can have a meathook driven through the neck cavity and out between the shoulders, care being taken that the neck cavity remains open to facilitate the free passage of smoke. Teal should be cold smoked for 12-15 hours at 70 – 80^° F and mallard for 24 hours. Wigeon and divers will benefit from a longer period in cold smoke, the better to mask their distinctive flavour, say 36 – 48 hours. Teal can then be treated like quail, and hot smoked for about 2 hours at 200^° F but, better still, they can be finished in an Abu. The Abu takes two teal comfortably and one burn of 20 minutes should be sufficient for young teal. If upon examination the birds are underdone owing to their age, another 20 minute burn will finalize the business. Mallard will require

3 – 3¹/2 hours in the hot smoker at 190 – 210^° F. Wigeon being fatless, are best done in the lower temperature ranges, 180 – 190^° F, for from 3 – 4 hours.

Divers, having more fat, can be hot smoked at 210^° F for about 3 hours.

Being close grained, wildfowl when smoked can be sliced very thinly and no additives other than a little lemon juice or soured cream should be used.

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