How to smoke trout properly: The best tips and tricks
You can easily smoke trout yourself at home. The trout must first be properly prepared, then you can prepare it in the smoker. With our tips and tricks, you can make your homemade smoked trout.
Smoking trout - the right preparation
Trout are usually smoked hot. Before you start smoking, you should prepare the trout properly.
- Get some fresh trout and take them out. Then clean the trout. Also remove the gills.
- Now the trout is put in brine. It is best to get a ready-made brine or smoked lye from the fishing shop.
- Depending on the size of the trout, they have to be soaked in the brine for different times.
- In the case of trout weighing around 300 to 500 grams, it is advisable to mix 60 g of brine with a liter of water and soak the trout in it overnight. Ten to twelve hours should be enough.
- As soon as the trout have been in the brine long enough, they should be taken out of the brine. Place the fish on a rack for half an hour so that they can drain.
- Now take incense hooks and pull each individual trout on a hook so that you can then hang it up in the smoker.
Tips and tricks for smoking
To be able to smoke trout, you need a suitable smoking oven. These are available in a wide variety of designs. For example, you can choose from a table smoking oven, a smoking barrel or a brick smoking oven.
- Regardless of which stove you ultimately choose, it is important that the stove is well heated before smoking. Use beech wood, for example. The temperature should be around 70 degrees Celsius.
- Before you hang the trout in the oven, you can throw incense on the burning logs. In addition to beech wood shavings, the flour contains smoked spices that refine your fish.
- Trout stay in the oven for about 45 minutes. You can tell whether the trout is ready by the golden-yellow color of the trout and by the dorsal fin. This should pull out with a slight pull.
- You can enjoy the trout immediately after smoking it.
You can read how to smoke meat yourself in our next practical tip.