How do you get that bleedin' muddy taste out of lake trout?

[Jason IR-2010]

It does my head it when you have a lovely lake trout thats been in the lake for a good number of years, so it's not really a stockie, and it tastes like crap becasue of that muddy taste. Does anybody know how to get rid of that taste?
Thanks,
Jason.

 

[spaghetti]

It does my head it when you have a lovely lake trout thats been in the lake for a good number of years, so it's not really a stockie, and it tastes like crap becasue of that muddy taste. Does anybody know how to get rid of that taste?
Thanks,
Jason.

keep it for at least 6 hours in saltawater and vinegar, then rinse it with fresh water before cooking. This is the method we use in Italy for mud tasting freshwater fish, where grape vinegar is very cheap.

 

[trux]

What we do traditionally for lake fish in Czech lands, is keeping it a few hours in milk. Milk is a rather efficient neutralizer, not only for odour, but also for many chemicals and toxins.

 

[Jason IR-2010]

Two very different methods but I sahll try both of them out. When you are leaving the fish in the milk/vinegar mix do you leave it in the fridge or outside at room temp to marinate?

Thanks,
Jason.

 

[devondave]

You can poach trout in milk.
Cover the fish or fillet with cold milk, add peppercorns, bay leaf, chopped onions or shallots, seasoning.
Poach gently until cooked though.
It used to work fine for getting rid of the pellety taste in stockies too.

 

[trux]

When you are leaving the fish in the milk/vinegar mix do you leave it in the fridge or outside at room temp to marinate?

In the fridge

 

[Mr. X]

Trux, do you cook it in the milk or just wash it off before cooking (as Spaghetti suggested for vinegar)?

Great ideas. I regularly eat trout but I must admit that I don't relish it in the same way I do seafood or salmon, too earthy. So really interested in these suggestions.

I was surprised when a colleague recently told me he'd bought a sea bass to eat (I think from Tesco ), after we'd been talking about fishing, and he thought it wasn't very special! To be fair, when we cook bass or mullet, its usually fresh from the sea or has been frozen soon after catching and we "go to town", using generous amounts of garlic, olive oil, butter, fennel and other fresh herbs. We're also careful not to overcook it. I think eating what you've caught/prepared (or a friend/family member caught/prepared) adds immensely to the experience. I love preparing*, cooking* and eating the fish & shellfish that I catch, game that my brother shoots and the deer that I bled, gutted, skinned and butchered (but did not kill) - meat from a supermarket can rarely compare.

*I actually feel that I've missed out on a significant part of the fun of spearing if I don't clean, prepare and cook the fish myself.

 

[trux]

No, the milk is just to remove the odour, not for cooking. You won't want to use it for cooking, since it (hopefully) absorbed all what you wanted to get rid of. You remove the fish from the milk, rinse in water, and prepare in your preferred way.

I forgot to tell - if it is a bigger fish, you best cut the fish into smaller portions before putting into the milk.

 

[agbiv]

I use the milk method for muddy fish, wild game, and liver. Dogs love the cast off milk. Yes, yes, yes soak in the 'fridge or you'll have a lovely bacteria farm growing even at European room temps.

Also a less expesive white wine can be used. Use a funnel to place back in the bottle after use, recork, and place in a brown paper bag wrapped tight at the top. hand off to a local wino on the street. You'll have done your civic duty to swear'em off alcohol for at least a month.

 

[Andrew the fish]

interesting that somebody mentioned game meat along with fish. My lady soaks bear meat in water with cranberries and spices to get rid of most notorious obnoxious gamey flavour. I also heard of milk many times, mostly about dogfish wich is barely edible anyway. Also along those same lines were water with lemon juice (read- mild fruit acids, same as grape juice and alike) or straight plain orange juice. I tried fish that was soaked in orange juice and coudn't stand it, aparently there was something else to the recipe that I didn't get.

 

[Jason IR-2010]

Thanks for the help once again. So much infromation on this forum, it's great!

 

[agbiv]

Orange lit the light in my memory bank! Around here quite often they will marinate (soak for kitchen clods) gar and mud cat in orange soda pop overnight before battering and frying up!

 

[ReefTroll]

I've heard that some people will keep muddy fish live, and put them in clear water, ie - a bath tub filled up, overnight? Any truth in this?

 

[trux]

Yes, we do this traditionally especially during the Christmas. Carp is a traditional Christmas Eve meal here, and a lot of people are used to buy a living carp, letting it a day or two in clean water, before killing and preparing. Carps swimming in bath tubs belong inseparably to the Christmas memories of most Czechs.

 

[Jason IR-2010]

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall did that in the program "River Cottege". He put the carp (caught from his landlords lake) into a container that took fresh water from the local river and he left it there for a few days. He said, or more his guests said, that the carp tasted grassy. I suppose it's better than muddy!

 

[spaghetti]

Carps swimming in bath tubs belong inseparably to the Christmas memories of most Czechs.

...or in Jacuzzi's if they're wealthy Czechs. rofl

 

[Jason IR-2010]

Cook and clean, I like your thinking. Throw in a few lobsters aswell and your set rofl

 

[agbiv]

Adding Cajun spices to the hot tub gives a whole new meaning to red beans & rice! :naughty:t

 

[Jason IR-2010]

Well at the end of the tread we have come to a useful conculsion, if you want to cook and clean your meal in one swoop buy a ....... Jacuzzi :king.
At the end of the day it's a big cooking pot and if you want to feel some empathy for the lobster, get in with it :duhrofl