Forgotten Treasures #19: THE SPECKLED BROOK TROUT--PART IX

THE SPECKLED BROOK TROUT

PART IX: SOME NOTES ON COOKING BROOK TROUT.
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There are two ways to test whether a fish is fresh or stale; first, if the
eyes are bright and glossy, it is fresh; if sunken, dull, and discolored, it
is stale; second, if the finger be pressed on the fleshy part and it is
solid and elastic, it is fresh; if the pressure leaves a mark, it is stale.
This applies to salt as well as fresh water fish. It has been said that a
trout is not fit to eat twenty-four hours after being landed; in that short
time the flesh not only loses color, but solidity. No fresh-water fish so
quickly changes. Five minutes after death we notice the rich, deep lovely
colors growing paler and duller. In taking a brook trout from the water it
will be seen that a thick, slippery, gelatinous substance cover his entire
body, particularly the head, shoulders, and tail. When laid on the
river-bank in the sun for a few minutes, this substance will cake, and if
wet again will moisten as before, but in a few hours, even it be placed on
ice, this jellied substance entirely disappears, leaving the skin thin,
soft, and colorless, the flesh insipid, the delicate color gone, and it is
in this condition that city people have their trout cooked and served. An
angler while feasting his happy and fortunate friends on the trout he brings
in from his favorite stream, sits and watches them enjoy what he will not
touch, for still lingering on his palate is the feast of fresh-caught fish
his guide prepared the day before in a clearing of the forest beside a
rippling stream.



Many guides prefer to prepare trout (up to ten inches) without being washed,
dexterously tearing out the gills, the inside being drawn at the same time,
leaving the head, body, tail, and fins intact. For larger trout, the gills
should be cut from the lower jaw and back of the head, a slit made from the
head along the lower body to the fin. On the gills being pulled it will
draw the inside away. If done with care, a perfectly clean inside is the
result. In all fresh fish the blood is encased in a thin skin close to the
backbone, and ought to be pulled entire. A fish so treated can be prepared
without the use of water. The case is different if the trout have been
carried some distance, the creel at intervals laid down on a sandy beach or
covered with grass or ferns and a little pine leaves, from the bed of the
basket. After being cleaned and prepared, they should then be place for a
few minutes in clear cool water ready for the pan or broiler. Anglers
should be careful to thoroughly clean the creel, replacing new ferns or
grass every day. It often happens, after long wading, large flies will
creep in the basket, and leave fly-blows in the mouth or gills of the trout.


Much depends on the length of time an angler wishes to stay in the woods,
and how large his outfit, and also the place he chooses for his camp, the
place to build, and method of preparing a fire. An old hand, or guide, can
do much even with the primitive two logs, a large stone, with only a small
broiler and frying-pan without a handle. Taking for granted that the trout
are prepared for cooking and all necessary utensils at hand, the first
requisite is a number of square pieces of birch-bark newly cut. Lay the
cleaned fish on the inside of the bark, scattering some roasted bread-crumbs
or rolled toast mixed with sufficient quantity of salt and pepper, each from
small tins kept for the purpose, and the crumbs will adhere to the fish.
Then lift them by the head and tail, laying one by one softly into the pan
of bubbling fat, either of salt pork, lard, butter, or olive oil. Small
brook trout fried quickly in oil, with or without crumbs, is a delicate
morsel. If crumbs be fine mixed with a beaten egg, the trout browns and is
crisp in a few minutes. To test if thoroughly cooked, place a fork in the
flesh. If done, it will sink easily to the bone. Nothing is more
distasteful than under-done or unsalted fresh fish. If brook trout are
fried with a three-inch slice of good bacon to each fish, the fat is
absorbed, and gives the fish a very agreeable taste. When the bacon is
partly lean, less salt will be required. But the richest and most delicate
dish is to quickly and sharply fry the trout in plenty of good butter, with
a bay-leaf dropped in the pan while cooling. The fish cuts up a golden
orange, with a decidedly agreeable taste. Even the smell creates a longing
for the dinner-bell announcing that it is time to fall to.



In preparing small trout for broiling, two flat stones should be placed to
rest the broiler on, and the coals, though hot, should not blaze. Skewer a
piece of fat pork or bacon on the top of each trout, and place them on the
broiler. The heat will soon melt the fat, partly dripping in a blaze and
the rest soaking in the fish. Before turning, take off the fat and skewer
it on the other side as before. This will be done easier and better if the
broiler is removed from the fire. The outfit is more complete when provided
with a bunch of small toothpicks to use as skewers to hold the bacon on and
to bind together the opening of large fish. To broil a large fish, it
should be cut open along the back, clean by the bone; open carefully and
remove the inside. The backbone can be removed by holding the head and
shaving the flesh away to the tail. Make small incisions to allow the heat
to get through and melt the fat on top. The entire fish is ready to be
cooked, the cut-skin side being cooked first, which enables the fat to soak
well in the flesh. When ready to turn over, lay a clean piece of bark on
the top of the fish, lifting the broiler over, leaving the fish on the bark,
repeat the turn-over on another piece of bark, and from that bark to the
broiler. By that method the fish is properly turned over without breaking.
The double or clasp broiler is useless either for small or large fish, as in
turning over they slip out on the coals. To bake a two or three pound fish,
it should be cleaned, and the tail and fins cut off, the inside stuffed with
pork or butter and a small raw onion, and the skin carefully pinned together
with small skewers. It is then laid on a dish or Dutch oven. Scatter a
little flour mixed with salt and some pieces of bacon arranged along the top
with half a cup of water to moisten the fish, which can be basted after the
fat melts. In a very hot fire it will cook in forty-five minutes.



Another method is to bake the fish in a hole two feet deep. Build a good
hot fire till the charcoal ashes are red. Spread enough green grass or fern
on the ashes and place the fish thereon. Then another layer of ferns. Put
on some small dry sticks and let it burn well and build it entirely over
with small logs. By the time it is burned through the fish will be baked.
This method is not always a success, unless done by an experienced hand,
there being no chance to test if the cooking is complete.



A very primitive way to bake a fish is to cover it (undrawn) with clay two
inches thick; place it in the hottest part of the fire. The clay hardens
almost instantly and the fish in its rough over bakes through, retaining
also its juices. The clay is then poked out of the fire, cooled with a dash
of water, and a sharp stoke with a stick separates it from the fish. The
skin peels off with the clay and it is ready for serving. If clay is not at
hand, wrap the fish in thin buttered tissue-paper and bury this in some wet
brown wrapping-paper. Then bake same as the clay. The easiest and quickest
way of all to bake fish is to split, cut off the head, tail, and fins, then
season, pin it to a board by wooden pegs, and prop the whole up before a
smart fire of hot coals.



To fillet a trout, use a keen, sharp knife, cut off the head and fins, split
the back, shave clean along the backbone to the tail, then open the fish
flat, and take away the inside. Lift the backbone at the shoulders, and
shave the other side. There remains two fillets of boneless fish. Wash in
fresh water and dip the fillet in beaten egg and crumbs. Scatter a little
fine-chopped parsley and roll up in a ball. Then place a piece of butter on
top, and it is ready to bake or fry.



The most sumptuous dish for camp is baked, stuffed trout. This can be
accomplished better near a farm or store where materials can be secured.
Only a large fish is worthy of being cooked in this manner. Begin by
slitting the lower part, take out the gills and inside; wash thoroughly; cut
incisions two inches apart along the sides, and skewer pieces of fat bacon
in the cuts. To prepare stuffing, chop separately a piece of suet or fat
pork, some sprigs of green parsley, four small onions, the yolk of a
hard-boiled egg, and a little dried sage. Take three cups of rolled
bread-crumbs, add a few cloves, mix thoroughly together, and moisten with a
cup of white wine. Put the stuffing in lightly and skewer the fish
securely. Place it carefully in the bake-kettle, pour in half a pint of
white wine or hot water to prevent the fish from adhering, lay on the fish
some pieces of butter, and place the kettle in the hottest part of the fire.
Baste at intervals. It should be cooked in fifty minutes.



To cook fish properly, as in everything else, requires some experience and
practice, and a novice should only attempt the simpler methods. More
attention should be paid to the proper preparation and cleaning of fish. A
work on camp-cooking says: "It is supposed that everybody has known how to
clean fish ever since he was a school-boy." A greater mistake was never
made. Few men understand properly how to clean and cut up fish; fewer still
know how to cut fish served to eat when cooked. A small fish should be slit
down the back, the flesh stripped off in one piece from the side. With the
left hand, take the head, lift it slowly (a fork holding down the other
half), and it will pull along with the backbone the ribs from the flesh,
leaving practically two filleted and boneless pieces ready to be eaten. To
carve or cut a large fish, it should be first slit down the back, then cut
crosswise every two inches, and taken away from the backbone in pieces.
When the first half is cut away, disjoint and lay aside the backbone,
leaving the head and tail, cutting the lower half as before. Use a keen,
sharp knife for cleaning; a dull, broad fish-knife for cutting when cooked.
Many guides use their jack-knives and are always slovenly. In preparation
for meals, even in camp with few utensils, it is possible to prepare dainty
dishes in a dainty way. This can be proved whenever a capable housewife
camps and directs the cooking; the results are entirely different. In a
thousand ways, everything seems to be more agreeable to a dainty palate.
Rough-and-ready methods become habit through constant use of trying to
escape extra trouble. Camp-cooking can be just as enjoyable in the
preparation as the joys of angling. Hurry, impatience, and loss of good
temper take away much from the keen delight and pleasure of camp-life.

END PART IX