Smoked Trout

Filed under Seafood

Prep: 30 min | Cook: 180 min

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2009. Makes 2 pounds. Serve with a green salad, in a dip or as an appetizer. Keeps a week refrigerated airtight, or a month vacuum-sealed.

Inactive prep: 27 hours.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Kosher salt
1 qt Water
2 lb Trout, fillets, 3 to 5 ounces each, skin on, pin bones removed

Directions

Stir the salt into the water in a 4-quart container until dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Submerge the trout, cover and refrigerate 3 hours.
Rinse the trout thoroughly and pat dry. Set skin side down on a rack in a half sheet pan and refrigerate 21 to 24 hours, until the skin is shiny and somewhat tacky.
Bring the smoker to 150 to 160 degrees F. Set the trout skin side down on the racks at least 1/4 inch apart and smoke 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until cooked through, darkened, and as smoky as you like.