I have been ask to smoke some trout for a friend of the family who is visiting from Germany, He & my brother went fishing & brought back quite a few fish. Most are about 9" to 10" if I use my vertical offset about how long will they take if they are not filleted & what temp should I use. Not sure if I have any alder if not will use pecan for smoke. any hints or help will be appreciated as always. I have not done fish on the grill before & hope I don't screw this up.
Thanks Dave
Hi Dave! I've done trout several times, I really like it. What I do is place the whole fish on the grates. The only prep done is gutting it of course, but other than that the fish is intact. I think it makes for a nice presentation when you serve the fish on a tray in the middle of the table. Everyone can dig in. But that's just me
Either way, both alder and pecan will be fine. Temp isn't supercritical, just avoid too low or too high. 220-240° F will be fine. The basic rule is that you want to give it enough time to absorb smoke flavor. Trout is rather lean, so it won't absorb as much smoke as salmon for example. A fish this size (9-10") shouldn't take more than 30-40 minutes. Just smoke it, remove from the grates, and serve.
I don't use those fish grill baskets that are available, because I don't want the skin to stick to the basket. Once you open the basket it tends to pull the skin off in places. All I use is a frogmat (non-stick grill mat, check Amazon.com). Works every time, plus it is easy to remove the fish from the grill by simply grabbing the frogmat. Most of the time you don't even need a frogmat.
You're aiming for an inner temperature of 118-125° F (48-52° C). Then it'll be just right.
Bonus suggestion:
Stuff the belly with fresh dill and halved lemon slices and salt. Leave in the fridge for a few hours to make sure some of those herb flavors are absorbed, then smoke as above. When I do this I use butcher's yarn to hold the fish together.
Ditto the comments, spot on. Only suggestion and word of caution would be to go light on the smoke. Trout is a lot more delicate than say salmon or mahi, don't want to overwhelm the sweetness of the meat. Hope you enjoy, smoking fish is our favorite way to prepare.
Trout
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