Lightly Salted Trout at Home
Description
Perfect for the table and with drinks. For this recipe, both a sea trout carcass and a river trout will work. I suggest you clean and fillet it yourself, but you can buy ready-made chilled fillets. Salting trout at home is quite easy — I'll share a very simple recipe that any home cook can handle. You can serve this delicious fish on its own as an appetizer for a festive table or use it as a base for many gourmet dishes. Simple, very tasty, and suitable for any occasion.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Using this recipe, you can salt-cure any cut: a whole fish, fillets, or even a steak. Depending on the weight of the fish, reduce the amount of salt and sugar proportionally—the curing time will also vary. I used a whole fish weighing 3 kg; I kept the head and tail for fish soup. Rinse the fish thoroughly and gut it, if necessary. If you will be using the head, for example for fish soup, clean it well too and remove the gills.
- 2
Step 2
Cut the fish into 2–4 fillets, depending on the size; remove the backbone, large bones, and fins. Cut off the belly flap—the fatty strip on the underside. Weigh the fish. I ended up with 2 kg of trout for salting. I carefully remove the skin, but you can leave it on. In that case, carefully scrape the fish with a knife beforehand, removing the scales, and then rinse.
- 3
Step 3
Prepare the ingredients for salting. Mix the salt with the sugar (use coarse rock salt), and break the bay leaves by hand. You can add seasoning to taste—I don't use any. I only add whole peppercorns, since this noble fish is already very flavorful on its own.
- 4
Step 4
Rub the trout pieces on all sides with a mixture of salt and sugar.
- 5
Step 5
On each slice of fish, place black peppercorns and crushed bay leaves.
- 6
Step 6
Cover each sheet with a second piece.
- 7
Step 7
Wrap in foil and refrigerate for 1 day. Then you can move the fish to the freezer until you're ready to eat it.
- 8
Step 8
Lightly salted trout prepared at home is ready.
- 9
Step 9
Done. Serve with greens.