Smoked Rainbow Trout
Smoked rainbow trout are a great and inexpensive fish to smoke. You can purchase whole rainbow trout from Costco for $3.99lb. They are about 1 1/4” a piece, which is pretty good sized. They will have to be brined for about 3 hours. Once brined, pat them dry inside and out. You can smoke them whole, or you can remove the heads and backbone, have them butterflied open flat, and smoke them that way. They will take no more than 2 hours to smoke if done headless and boneless; about 3 hours if done whole. Using a probe thermometer, internal temp should read 160 degrees.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 5 whole rainbow trout cleaned and gutted
Brine
- 4 cups water
- 1/4 cup sea salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
Wood Chips
- applewood chips
- cherrywood chips
Instructions
- Mix the brine ingredients together.
- Wash the rainbow trout inside and out.
- Brine the rainbow trout for 2-3 hours.
- When ready to smoke, pat the rainbow trout dry inside and out with paper towels. Place on the smoker racks.
- Preheat your electric smoker to 225 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. Smoke the rainbow trout for 2-3 hours. For ones 1lb and under, 2 hours is plenty. Ones over 1lb, smoke for up to 3 hours. The internal temp should be at 160 degrees.
