Trout is a medium-sized fish from the salmon family. Due to its noble origin and pleasant taste, it is highly regarded in cooking. Fish meat has a lot of useful substances and is great for a wide variety of recipes. How to choose the right fish? How to cook trout tasty? Read about all this in our article.
Trout and its varieties
Trout is a red fish closely related to salmon, pink salmon, sockeye salmon, chum salmon and other representatives of the salmon family. It can grow up to one meter in length, but basically its size does not exceed 40 centimeters, and its weight is 600-700 grams.
The color of the trout is very diverse and depends on the reservoir in which it lives. So, it can be gray with a blue or green tint, copper-orange, pinkish or white-silver. A distinctive feature of the fish are black and red spots on the back and sides.
Trout is not a separate member of the family. This is the collective name for several freshwater fish found in rivers and lakes. These include marble, rainbow, brook, Sevan, gold trout, American pale, Malma, Clark salmon, etc. All these species are eaten, and some (brook and rainbow) are even bred for sale.
Benefits and nutritional qualities
Trout meat is yellow, red and white. It has a delicate taste and a distinctive aroma reminiscent of cucumber. The brightness of the fish’s smell depends on what it eats. Usually it is the higher, the more trout of crustaceans in the diet.
Fish contains a lot of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which reduce the risk of blood clots, strengthen blood vessels, promote brain function, and improve skin and musculoskeletal system. It is rich in vitamins and trace elements necessary for our body, for example, iron, phosphorus, zinc, selenium, calcium, fluorine, vitamins A, B, E, D, riboflavin.
Trout meat is less oily than salmon and slightly cheaper. In various diet recipes, trout is recommended, since it does not burden the gastrointestinal tract, but it is quite nutritious. 100 grams of trout contains 119 calories, 20.5 grams of protein and 3.5 grams of fat.
She is considered one of the most healthy fish for health and is recommended to eat her at least twice a week. In addition to personal intolerance, there are no serious warnings for trout, the main thing is that it is fresh and properly stored.
Cooking trout
In culinary affairs, this fish is considered a virtually universal product. There are many recipes for fried, baked, smoked and even raw trout. It makes excellent soups, salads and the most common sandwiches with butter.
It can be served with potatoes, cereals or legumes, can be combined with various vegetables and cream cheeses. There is only one rule - it is advisable to use a fried side dish with fried fish, and it should also be boiled for boiled fish. It does not work only with smoked and raw trout, raw vegetables are best combined with them.
How to choose a fish?
Cooking fish does not require special efforts and special skills from the chef, but even the simplest trout recipe can be spoiled if you initially purchase a low-quality product. It is better to choose trout in the store fresh or chilled. Her eyes should be clear, slightly arched (not depressed) with clear black pupils.
Fresh trout will have an elastic body, after pressing the pulp with a finger, the hollow on it will not remain and straighten right there. The gills will be bright red and slightly moist, in no case brown. The fish should not be damaged, dried or upturned scales.
Chilled trout stays fresh from 24 to 72 hours, depending on the temperature of the contents. It can be stored frozen for several months. And now that all the details are known, let's talk about how to cook trout deliciously.
Salting trout at home
Salted trout in vacuum packaging in pieces or in the form of thin slices is often found on store shelves. But to check the quality of such products is not possible. When salting trout at home, surprises do not have to wait. In addition, this option will help to significantly save the budget, without denying yourself a delicacy.
There are a lot of recipes for slightly salted trout. For the simplest you will need:
- one peeled fish;
- 2 tbsp. l salts;
- 1.5 tbsp. l Sahara;
- a few peas of black pepper;
- Bay leaf.
Trout should be washed and dried, remove the fins and tail, cut into two halves. Grate the fish with salt and sugar, and then put it in a bowl, adding pepper and a couple of leaves of laurel. Then you need to cover everything with a plate and squeeze a little, putting something heavy on the dish, for example, a jar of water. Next, the fish is left for a day in the refrigerator.
In the recipe for slightly salted trout, you can add greens and spices, replace sugar with honey, and sweet peas. The finished product is cut into slices or thin slices, put it on a sandwich, added to salads or wrapped in pita bread.
Head and Tail Ear Recipe
Trout is good for soups and mushrooms. It has a brighter taste than white fish, and the broth with it comes out more rich. In the preparation of liquid dishes, one should not be limited only to the loin, the density and expressiveness are given not by meat, but by bones, heads and tails.
For ordinary trout fish soup you will need:
- 300 g of fish;
- 3-4 potatoes;
- 1 onion;
- 1 carrot;
- spices (optional);
- black pepper peas;
- salt;
- 2-3 cloves of garlic;
- greens.
Pieces of trout and onion are poured with two liters of water and boiled for about 20 minutes. Then the liquid is filtered, the head and tail are pulled out, and the meat is separated from the bone and again thrown into the broth. You can not filter anything, but there is a risk that then the bones will come across.
Next, the broth is salted and pepper, chopped potatoes and carrots are added. After boiling, wait about 10 minutes, then throw the chopped greens and squeeze the garlic. The soup will be ready when the vegetables are soft.
The recipe for fish soup from the head and tail of the trout can be supplemented with other ingredients - beans, lentils, cereals, bell peppers and tomatoes. The main thing is not to overdo it with spices, otherwise they will clog the whole delicate taste of the fish. Five minutes before cooking, you can pour in 500 ml of cream or add cubes of cream cheese - this will give the ear tenderness.
Cream Baked Fish
Perhaps the trout in cream, baked in the oven, is one of the simplest recipes. For him you will need:
- fish;
- 150-250 g of cream;
- spice.
In order not to waste time and energy, it is better to take trout steaks or chopped fillets. You can buy a whole fish, but then you have to clean it, remove the fins, head, tail and cut into portioned pieces.
Before cooking, it must be thoroughly rinsed under running water and dried with paper towels. Then grate with salt, pepper and spices, and let soak for several minutes. Next, you need to place the fish in a baking dish, pour the cream and put in the oven for only 15-20 minutes. Cream trout will be tastier if you sprinkle it with grated cheese or lay pieces of mozzarella on top.
Fried trout
When fried, the fish will be no less tasty. To do this, it will need to be cleaned, washed and dried a little. Previously, you can remove the head and tail, but the whole fried rainbow trout in the pan will look more appetizing and aesthetically pleasing. For whole fish, it is imperative to remove the gills.
When all the preparatory work is done, the trout is sprayed with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spices and juice should be applied not only from above, but also to process the inside of the carcass with them. Then it is left to soak.
After a while, the trout is taken out, completely covered with flour and put on a frying pan well-heated with oil. Fry it for about 5-10 minutes on each side and serve with lemon wedges.
For cooking trout steaks, the recipe is also suitable. The technology is no different. It is tastier and healthier to use corn or olive oil instead of sunflower. For better frying, you can cover. If the flour is replaced with breadcrumbs, the fish will come out more juicy, and less will stick to the surface of the pan.
Trout Pate
This trout recipe is not as simple as the previous ones, and not everyone may like it. However, fans of experimentation will definitely appreciate it. List of ingredients that you will need:
- 300 g smoked fish;
- 3 egg yolks;
- 200 g of any cottage cheese;
- 1 tbsp. l lemon juice;
- spice;
- some butter.
First you need to grind the egg yolks and cottage cheese. Cut the fish into small pieces and mix with the curd and egg mass. Next, add salt, pepper, lemon juice and your favorite spices. Mixtures of herbs with rosemary, basil and oregano are best suited. You can also add fresh dill.
To make the paste more tender and homogeneous, all the ingredients can be ground in a combine. When everything is added and mixed well, the pan is greased with butter and the fish mixture is placed there. Cooking time on medium heat will be approximately 30-40 minutes.
Pate is eaten with various side dishes or used as an independent dish, serving it with fresh lettuce leaves sprinkled with lemon juice. Balsamic vinegar and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil are also used as dressing. For zest, you can sprinkle salad with toasted sesame seeds.