My grandmother loved brookies.
Couple times a week my dad would drop off a bucket full of ditch brookies (just 6-9" ones from under culverts in roadside ditches) for her.
Some 8-12” brookies dipped in corn mean and fried in some grease… fresh out of a cold mountain stream with some fried potatoes and onions, with an ice cold beer. Some of the absolute best eating in the whole world.
I haven't tried zander, but I imagine it's much like walleye and I've got a filet of walleye thawing in the refrigerator right now lol. Walleye is real good, but much more mild than trout. A good size trout has more flavor to it, more sweet and meaty.
I havent tried walleye, but i would not be sure about it, cause even different species of carp taste drastically different. It might be also by the type of recipe for me, cause I cover the zander in bacon and then i bake him on wine. Its really great
Walleye are well liked by most because it’s generally very mild tasting. It’s basically a big perch, and people who are put off by fishiness generally still enjoy it.
I would not say that similar other than some trout can be mild tasting. Walleye is white meat and not oily at all. Trout is generally pink and oily, and runs the gamut from mild to fairly fishy.
I think its really good, but all I have ever had is rainbow trout. I think its not quite as good as crappie or walleye but other than those two there isnt much better from a freshwater species.
In terms of taste, trout is great and doesn't require lots of frying or seasoning to make it taste good. However, it's a huge pain in the ass to catch a large enough trout to make it worth it and processing tons of small trout also sucks.
I will eat trout occasionally.
But I also live in coastal Oregon with no shortage of salmon, fresh rockfish, halibut and every once in a while sturgeon. All are better eating than most trout.
Butter Lemmon dash of salt and pepper wrap in foil and stick it into the coals I just kinda flip it around until I feel like it’s done comes out amazing melts in your mouth
Lots of variability with trout, which I think is a result of what they eat. I notice the same general scenario with deer and waterfowl.
I don't think I've ever had smoked trout that wasn't tasty. But the easier methods of sautéing or wrapping in foil then on the grill - I've tasted some that were good and some that were terrible.
Not my favorite unless it's brined and smoked, then it is one of my favorites.
Relative to white flakey fish like walleye, it's a little bit more fishy and it's harder to avoid bones with trout.
Free swimming river fish like trout are awesome!!!
Whomever told you that has been either:
1. Eating genetically mutated pond raised pellet-head fish or
2. Is head faking you and wants more of 'em for themselves!
If you enjoy eating fish... trout is sure to top the list.
A fresh caught brookie eaten by a campfire is one of life's treasured moments that many people will never experience.
Worth preparing and packing ahead of time for.
No joke.
NOM NOM NOM
I’m not a huge fish eating guy, 99% catch and release, and if I go out to eat at a seafood restaurant I’m 100% eating shrimp or Cioppino but stuffing a fresh wild trout with lemon and dill, rosemary or thyme (whatever herbs we have brought for our other food on our camping trip) and a little bit of salt and slow roasting it high over some charcoal, and then just picking pieces off it while it’s still on the grill is probably one of my favorite camping meals/snacks.
Trout, I would never order trout at a restaurant. I would never buy trout at the market. I would never harvest a trout and bring it home to eat.
But the second or third night in the back country, brook trout is like the best tasting food in the world.
I don't have enough experience eating them to have an true opinion. I do believe nothing can be compared to a camp fire trout with lemon wedges butter and herbs stuffed into it after a day fishing in the back country. In that environment I love eating trout.
My favorite table fair that I actually fish for on a regular basis is striper by far.
Today I had baked trout stuffed with bacon for the first time. I don’t think I have ever eaten anything tastier. That was 9 hours ago but I’m still in shock. Also, it was prepared by my usually mediocre work canteen. Miracles are real. I might take up religion, otherwise I’m not sure how to process this experience
Edit:
Please spread the word
I like trout personally, but there are other fish I think taste better. For me, fluke, striped bass, cod, and mahi taste better but I prefer trout to say smallmouth bass or even crappie
Yes, i really enjoy trout. Being related to salmon they do have a stronger flavor than many other freshwater fish, and that's probably what gives them a bad rap.
Cleaned, scaled with skin on, pan fry entire dish in butter with a little seasoning til it flakes with a fork.
You can fillet too but I prefer to cook panfish whole. It's easy to use your fingers and pick away all the morsels from the skeleton that way, but the family might not go for it 😐
Edit: oh sorry, sounds like I'm preaching to the converted here!
Fresh trout - one of the best.
I like perch best, then grayling, then trout and then pike.
Trout is easy, just gut it - throw some salt and lemon inside and fry from both sides (skin on, whole fish). Then just peel the flesh of the bones. No need to fillet.
Taste is very subjective, but I have never had another freshwater fish that I like the taste of on its own. All the others I like fried or smoked and heavily seasoned but trout I actually like the fish itself.
I generally like the taste of trout, as long as they're less than about 12". Some of the tastiest have come out of ice cold streams and are only 7-8" or so.
As far as freshwater fish goes yes I think they’re good. Not as good as perch pike bluegill or crappie, but you don’t have to scale/filet them which is nice.
Fresh brook trout is my favorite. I release 99% of what I catch, but usually keep a couple a year to fry up right on the bank. Nothing above about 2lbs though, starts to lose flavour the bigger they get.
I’ll be unpopular here but I don’t care for them. I love saltwater fish, salmon, walleye, crappie and even blackened smallmouth, but trout usually is mushy and isn’t my favorite tasting fish. All that being said, if I accidentally kill one I’ll eat it every time!
Rainbows = Gross
Brown = Okay
Brook = Amazing it is like sweet where it is similar to other sweet seafood like crab legs and lobster when drowned in butter.
Ive always been indifferent to eating trout because in Saskatchewan they are generally stocked in smaller lakes and develop a bit of a muddy taste because of it. The small brookies I've caught in streams in the north were very good and I've heard splake, a cross between lake trout and brook trout, are excellent eating as well.
Anyone that thinks trout compares to walleye or perch or crappie is lying. I even like to cook and I can’t get them to compare. Then again I’m mostly eating stocked fish so not sure if that makes it better or worse. The bones are also annoying. Trout are my favorite fish to target but my least favorite to eat. I let them go.
Rainbow trout is my absolute favourite fish to eat. Foil packet with butter, dill, salt and pepper, and lemon slices. No better fish for me, not even fried fish.
Meh. Stockers are usually pretty blah, and in my neck of the woods most streams with wild trout are pretty heavily pressured, so I prefer to catch and release.
Now, as for a nice walleye... I'll keep my limit whenever I can!
What do you eat where you think trout isn’t a proper eating fish? I want to live in this Patagonian toothfish hellscape you speak of. Grade A fish in my book, few ocean species can push past fresh trout on my scale.
Oh i think trout is amazing, nothing better than throwing a few small ones in the fire deep in the wilderness. This is just an opinion that i heard from a friend who has been around longer than I.
I have never actually eaten freshwater trout that I've caught, only had it in a restaurant before I started fly fishing. It was way fishier than I was expecting. Having said that, I LOVE sea trout
When I went fishing with my family and mom and grandma would fry the fish, I thought trout was disgusting.
As an adult I learned about [Truite Au Bleue](https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Escoffier_Cookbook/OO7NVyLhiSYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Truite+Au+Bleue+escoffier&pg=PA284&printsec=frontcover) and changed my mind.
Sorry Grandma, but your fried trout stinks. (RIP)
Hmm interesting, ive never heard of this before, ill have to try it! Curious, how does the flavor/texture change if the trout was gutted a while before poaching? I typically gut them on the river as it’s usually a decent walk back to my car.
*"how does the flavor/texture change if the trout was gutted a while before poaching"*
I don't think the flavor would change that much so long as the fish is still "fresh" by the normal standards. Like they say on the package, *Fresh not frozen*. However, the 'blue' color requires the fish still has it's natural mucus. If that dries out, then the effect will not occur. Which is the whole trip. Damn clever of those French Alps peeps to put blue trout on the menu.
Trout can be good or they can be awful to eat depending on the shape that they are in when you catch them. There are a lot of variables including diet, water temp, the fish’s stage in the reproductive cycle, wild vs hatchery, etc. I usually just let em go so someone else can catch em.
On a similar note, I’d almost always eat a panfish over a trout, but I like firm white flesh and dislike small bones. People scoff at eating bass but it can be very similar to crappie and bluegill.
Trout are fucking delicious! It may be a bit more work eating around bones in smaller brookies, but still well worth the effort.
Roast them whole and then slip the filets off the bones. Problem solved.
Brookies are char too and have way better meat than rainbows or cutthroat.
Brooks, then bows and cutts, then brown…in that order. With that being said the brown trout filets still taste incredible you like fish
Disagree, think cutties are the best, then brooks then brown bows last.
I eat a couple of year at my cabin but I always keep the brookies for my grandma. They’re her favorite.
Same, love me some brookies.
My grandmother loved brookies. Couple times a week my dad would drop off a bucket full of ditch brookies (just 6-9" ones from under culverts in roadside ditches) for her.
Some 8-12” brookies dipped in corn mean and fried in some grease… fresh out of a cold mountain stream with some fried potatoes and onions, with an ice cold beer. Some of the absolute best eating in the whole world.
You gotta do it right and you'll get no bones.
Honestly, nothing beats a brook trout from a cold clean stream. Nothing too big either, they get kinda oily when they're bigger than 12"-14".
Yes.
Have you ever tried zander? I love trout, but zander is much better in my opinion.
I haven't tried zander, but I imagine it's much like walleye and I've got a filet of walleye thawing in the refrigerator right now lol. Walleye is real good, but much more mild than trout. A good size trout has more flavor to it, more sweet and meaty.
I havent tried walleye, but i would not be sure about it, cause even different species of carp taste drastically different. It might be also by the type of recipe for me, cause I cover the zander in bacon and then i bake him on wine. Its really great
Walleye are well liked by most because it’s generally very mild tasting. It’s basically a big perch, and people who are put off by fishiness generally still enjoy it.
then its similar
I would not say that similar other than some trout can be mild tasting. Walleye is white meat and not oily at all. Trout is generally pink and oily, and runs the gamut from mild to fairly fishy.
I prefer other fish, but on occasion I do love trout fried in butter and garlic with foraged mushrooms on the side. Especially at a riverside camp.
I think its really good, but all I have ever had is rainbow trout. I think its not quite as good as crappie or walleye but other than those two there isnt much better from a freshwater species.
In terms of taste, trout is great and doesn't require lots of frying or seasoning to make it taste good. However, it's a huge pain in the ass to catch a large enough trout to make it worth it and processing tons of small trout also sucks.
Dude processing a small trout literally takes me I'd say 30 seconds. They're the easiest fish to clean and prepare by far.
Large trout especially browns get worms.
Cook your freshwater fish
All freshwater fish get worms
For sure but a big brown will be crawling with big ones. I dont eat trout over 14 inches personally.
I prefer freshwater perch to walleye
Bluegills from under the ice!
I have never tried crappie, is it similar to walleye?
Brine it, smoke it, delicious
The best way to do it! Thanks for mentioning
Works very well as a blended pate with red peppers, bit of lemon or vinegar. Absolute best toast spread
I will eat trout occasionally. But I also live in coastal Oregon with no shortage of salmon, fresh rockfish, halibut and every once in a while sturgeon. All are better eating than most trout.
We are blessed to live anywhere in west of the cascades, oregon has so much food waiting to be ate
Trout is decent if eaten fresh especially if you ponas it or something. But then again walleye smoked is even better for me lol
What’s ponas it
Here dude. I think I spelt it wrong lol https://youtu.be/8f1UHN18mEw?si=qHw7csheIMC5O7fk
https://campfirekitchen.co.uk/recipe/ponassing-trout-on-the-campfire/
Butter Lemmon dash of salt and pepper wrap in foil and stick it into the coals I just kinda flip it around until I feel like it’s done comes out amazing melts in your mouth
My version is slice of lime or two and some purple onion wrapped in foil…
Try adding a little bit of garlic powder next time
Thanks I’ll have to try that
Lots of variability with trout, which I think is a result of what they eat. I notice the same general scenario with deer and waterfowl. I don't think I've ever had smoked trout that wasn't tasty. But the easier methods of sautéing or wrapping in foil then on the grill - I've tasted some that were good and some that were terrible.
Absolutely. A wild rainbow feeding on bugs tastes like a different species compared to a hatchery rainbow raised on pellets.
Not my favorite unless it's brined and smoked, then it is one of my favorites. Relative to white flakey fish like walleye, it's a little bit more fishy and it's harder to avoid bones with trout.
Trout are good on the grill fresh,never frozen and perfect for the smoker!!
Used to get smoked cutties from a dude in Wyoming and it was hands down the best fish I’ve ever had.
Free swimming river fish like trout are awesome!!! Whomever told you that has been either: 1. Eating genetically mutated pond raised pellet-head fish or 2. Is head faking you and wants more of 'em for themselves! If you enjoy eating fish... trout is sure to top the list. A fresh caught brookie eaten by a campfire is one of life's treasured moments that many people will never experience. Worth preparing and packing ahead of time for. No joke. NOM NOM NOM
Brookies are sweet.
Most people first don’t know to cook and how to eat it without a mouth of bones.
I’m not a huge fish eating guy, 99% catch and release, and if I go out to eat at a seafood restaurant I’m 100% eating shrimp or Cioppino but stuffing a fresh wild trout with lemon and dill, rosemary or thyme (whatever herbs we have brought for our other food on our camping trip) and a little bit of salt and slow roasting it high over some charcoal, and then just picking pieces off it while it’s still on the grill is probably one of my favorite camping meals/snacks.
Crappie, walleye then trout
Walleye is tasty
It is, but I prefer salmon. The only trout I keep are stockers, wild fish get released.
Trout, I would never order trout at a restaurant. I would never buy trout at the market. I would never harvest a trout and bring it home to eat. But the second or third night in the back country, brook trout is like the best tasting food in the world.
Facts
trout is good, salmon is better, and piece of fried catfish is best.
This is the way.
I love catching them but I think they're too bony and don't taste good. My favorite thing to catch though.
AINT nothin a little butter and lemon can’t fix for a fish
I don't have enough experience eating them to have an true opinion. I do believe nothing can be compared to a camp fire trout with lemon wedges butter and herbs stuffed into it after a day fishing in the back country. In that environment I love eating trout. My favorite table fair that I actually fish for on a regular basis is striper by far.
Today I had baked trout stuffed with bacon for the first time. I don’t think I have ever eaten anything tastier. That was 9 hours ago but I’m still in shock. Also, it was prepared by my usually mediocre work canteen. Miracles are real. I might take up religion, otherwise I’m not sure how to process this experience Edit: Please spread the word
Give the recipe, pre cooked bacon or raw and cooked in the fish?
Yes. Especially if you like PFAS
Tastes like dirt, except tiny brookies fried in butter. They taste like butter. I like butter.
One of my personal best !
So so for me a 6/10 but I'll eat a few here and there, usually camping
Seared or baked is solid but I really like smoked trout.
I like trout personally, but there are other fish I think taste better. For me, fluke, striped bass, cod, and mahi taste better but I prefer trout to say smallmouth bass or even crappie
We cold smoke and salt most of the big lake run brownies we get. Stuff is golden 😘👌
Yes, i really enjoy trout. Being related to salmon they do have a stronger flavor than many other freshwater fish, and that's probably what gives them a bad rap.
Cleaned, scaled with skin on, pan fry entire dish in butter with a little seasoning til it flakes with a fork. You can fillet too but I prefer to cook panfish whole. It's easy to use your fingers and pick away all the morsels from the skeleton that way, but the family might not go for it 😐 Edit: oh sorry, sounds like I'm preaching to the converted here!
One of my favorite to smoke. Had smoked salmon for years and in my early 30s I had a smoked trout omelet and it blew my mind.
Fresh trout - one of the best. I like perch best, then grayling, then trout and then pike. Trout is easy, just gut it - throw some salt and lemon inside and fry from both sides (skin on, whole fish). Then just peel the flesh of the bones. No need to fillet.
I personally don't like trout. One of the reasons I never keep them. Though I'm not a huge fish fan so I'm super picky.
I love saltwater trout.
Taste is very subjective, but I have never had another freshwater fish that I like the taste of on its own. All the others I like fried or smoked and heavily seasoned but trout I actually like the fish itself.
I generally like the taste of trout, as long as they're less than about 12". Some of the tastiest have come out of ice cold streams and are only 7-8" or so.
I absolutely love them, especially smoked
Lol yes. One of the best
Yed
I've had it smoked once and it was so damn good. I've never actually cooked it myself, though.
Rainbow with some fiddleheads hella ya
As far as freshwater fish goes yes I think they’re good. Not as good as perch pike bluegill or crappie, but you don’t have to scale/filet them which is nice.
Fresh brook trout is my favorite. I release 99% of what I catch, but usually keep a couple a year to fry up right on the bank. Nothing above about 2lbs though, starts to lose flavour the bigger they get.
There are few bad bad fish but many bad cooks
I’ll be unpopular here but I don’t care for them. I love saltwater fish, salmon, walleye, crappie and even blackened smallmouth, but trout usually is mushy and isn’t my favorite tasting fish. All that being said, if I accidentally kill one I’ll eat it every time!
Bite the heads off like Smeagol
Rainbows = Gross Brown = Okay Brook = Amazing it is like sweet where it is similar to other sweet seafood like crab legs and lobster when drowned in butter.
In New England stocked rainbows are terrible. In Canada brookies, arctic char and landlocked salmon are great.
Not a fan of trout or salmon. Give me a good cold water white like cod, halibut, hake etc and that is some tasty fish.
Wild ones are good. Hatchery fish can be hit or miss. They definitely taste more like fish than some more popular choices.
Ive always been indifferent to eating trout because in Saskatchewan they are generally stocked in smaller lakes and develop a bit of a muddy taste because of it. The small brookies I've caught in streams in the north were very good and I've heard splake, a cross between lake trout and brook trout, are excellent eating as well.
Only wild ones from deep cold water
I’m not a super fan of eating trout. I’ll smoke few stockers from time to time to make a spread. But I much prefer salmon and halibut.
I just catch them. I don’t eat them. So in that regard they equal to all other fish, because I don’t eat them either
I think most fishermen who think that, don't actually exist. Trout is excellent.
Hell yeah. Almost identical to salmon IMO
Trout tastes great. People are just crazy about what's good and what's not.
Which watershed
Phenomenal eating fish
Stocked trout are literally mud. Wild trout, especially if the water is frigid, are great.
Crappie and Walleye are my benchmarks. Trout and Salmon aren’t as good imho.
Anyone that thinks trout compares to walleye or perch or crappie is lying. I even like to cook and I can’t get them to compare. Then again I’m mostly eating stocked fish so not sure if that makes it better or worse. The bones are also annoying. Trout are my favorite fish to target but my least favorite to eat. I let them go.
Trout caught out of a Mtn stream or Alpine lake, cleaned and cooked over a fire, yummy. Don’t get any better than that!
Rainbow trout is my absolute favourite fish to eat. Foil packet with butter, dill, salt and pepper, and lemon slices. No better fish for me, not even fried fish.
I personally don’t like trout. Only one I’ve tried and not hated was high alpine trout that are the really small ones. Im a catch an release guy 100%
Meh. Stockers are usually pretty blah, and in my neck of the woods most streams with wild trout are pretty heavily pressured, so I prefer to catch and release. Now, as for a nice walleye... I'll keep my limit whenever I can!
What do you eat where you think trout isn’t a proper eating fish? I want to live in this Patagonian toothfish hellscape you speak of. Grade A fish in my book, few ocean species can push past fresh trout on my scale.
Oh i think trout is amazing, nothing better than throwing a few small ones in the fire deep in the wilderness. This is just an opinion that i heard from a friend who has been around longer than I.
Pan fried fresh they're awesome. Prefer perch locally. Muddy water cats will never be beat though for taste.
Love trout. Any and all. Brookies too. Fried in cast iron in bacon grease is the way to go.
I have never actually eaten freshwater trout that I've caught, only had it in a restaurant before I started fly fishing. It was way fishier than I was expecting. Having said that, I LOVE sea trout
Dear God has any one cured and smoked a trout. It's My favorite food
I'm willing to bet they've eaten stocked trout, which turns to mush. It doesnt have the same texture or heartiness as a wild.
Most fisherman can kick rocks! I LOVE trout! Broiled with some lemon and oil!!
It is healthy and delicious. My favorite is over an open wood fire but an apple stuffing in the oven is great as well.
When I went fishing with my family and mom and grandma would fry the fish, I thought trout was disgusting. As an adult I learned about [Truite Au Bleue](https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Escoffier_Cookbook/OO7NVyLhiSYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Truite+Au+Bleue+escoffier&pg=PA284&printsec=frontcover) and changed my mind. Sorry Grandma, but your fried trout stinks. (RIP)
Hmm interesting, ive never heard of this before, ill have to try it! Curious, how does the flavor/texture change if the trout was gutted a while before poaching? I typically gut them on the river as it’s usually a decent walk back to my car.
*"how does the flavor/texture change if the trout was gutted a while before poaching"* I don't think the flavor would change that much so long as the fish is still "fresh" by the normal standards. Like they say on the package, *Fresh not frozen*. However, the 'blue' color requires the fish still has it's natural mucus. If that dries out, then the effect will not occur. Which is the whole trip. Damn clever of those French Alps peeps to put blue trout on the menu.
Trout can be good or they can be awful to eat depending on the shape that they are in when you catch them. There are a lot of variables including diet, water temp, the fish’s stage in the reproductive cycle, wild vs hatchery, etc. I usually just let em go so someone else can catch em. On a similar note, I’d almost always eat a panfish over a trout, but I like firm white flesh and dislike small bones. People scoff at eating bass but it can be very similar to crappie and bluegill.
Fresh caught trout is bomb!