Tea Smoked Trout

Home Smoked Trout

This is one of those lazy posts that I’ve had sitting in my drafts folder for about 2 months now. I have lots of others too, in various forms of shabbiness that will hopefully one day see the light of day. This however sparked an interest in smoking (insert joke about which end of the fish do you light) in general that has opened up a whole new world.

Since realising how easy it is to do some casual smoking at home with nothing more than a gas burner, a wok, and a steamer of some description, I’ve turned my hand to many different things. Smoking onions, garlic, capsicum, and soon plan to get a slab of beef brisket in there and made some home made pastrami.

Fish though, are a great thing to smoke. It’s been done throughout the years to cook and preserve food in lots of different cultures, and adds a richness of flavour that works so well. Trout I think is one of the best fish to smoke, and these rainbow trout I picked up at Kailis in Leederville are great value too, at around $12 per kilo.

Incidentally, if you’re after smoking wood, I just happen to know a guy (aka Dad) who has a business selling saw dust and wood chips for smoking, and if you were after serious quantities you should get in touch

Without further ado: here’s the technique – possibly also called Hunan Style – Tea Smoked Trout.

Recipe: Tea Smoked Trout

What you Need:

  1. 2 x whole rainbow trout
    1 cup jasmin tea leaves
    1 cup white rice
    1 cup brown sugar
    Salt

How I Made Mine

  1. Dry the fish thoroughly with absorbent paper, and then rub salt all over each of them. Leave the skin on, and the fish intact, as this will provide a barrier for the smoke, and is easy to discard afterwards.

    Find a deep wok, and in the bottom put down a few layers of aluminium foil.

    In a bowl, mix together the tea leaves, rice, and brown sugar, and then place the mixture onto the foil in the centre of the wok.

    Place the wok over heat and wait for the tea to start to smoke.

    If you have steamer inserts for the wok, then put them in and lay the fish on top and cover the top.

    I had a bamboo steamer, so I lined the edge of it with more foil and positioned it on top of my pan, then put the fish inside and closed the lid.

    Smoke the fish for around 15 – 20 mins or until it’s starting to turn a golden brown colour.

    Take the fish out of the smoker and let it rest, then carefully remove the skin and flake the flesh away from the meat, being sure to get rid of the small bones at the edge.

    Smoosh the smoked trout onto bread with some good butter and enjoy.

Oh, and if you’re a vegan, don’t leave comments about how much more beautiful this fish would be if it were swimming free. Do I come to your blog and leave snide comments about tofu and wheatgrass and how plants have feelings ? No, no I do not.

9 thoughts on “Tea Smoked Trout”

  1. Mmm, I feel this fish would be much more beautiful swimming free in my belly!! Nom! Might have to give it a whirl, looks pretty easy.

  2. I have a bamboo steamer that doesn’t get nearly enough use plus I love new fish recipes and get quite a few from my recipe club. I’d never thought to incorporate tea into a fish recipe, but this sounds wonderful.

    Cheers!
    Virginia O.

  3. Do it Kate, you won’t regret. Just perhaps do it outside or your housemates may be less appreciative of the smokey essence lingering inside the kitchen for the next week.

    Thanks Virginia, just make sure you keep the bottom of the steamer protected or you might end up with bamboo smoke flavour through the fish as well :)

  4. Great recipe. I cxan wait for go to the Hove Fish Market. I love trout, in Spain of course we cook them with spanish ham (recipie in my spanish section). But i am very courious to try your recipie. Thnaks for shre it !!

  5. Wow I must try this recipe. I love smoked salmon, so I’m guessing Trout may be similar, I buy the Hoen variety, but sometimes it is not available so now I can do my own…Cheers.

  6. Lol, Kate you’re funny.

    Matt, I think you beat out donna hay mag by a couple of days by posting this ;) But I like the idea of using jasmine tea leaves instead, sounds… prettier! And I’m agreeing with the others, definitely going to try this, sounds so easy!

  7. Byrt: I had no idea I was a trend setter :) Always nice to get one over Donna & Co. Though I’m sure hers was a lot more elegantly styled than mine…

    You should all give it a go, smoking is the new cool thing to do remember kids… *peer pressure*

  8. I LOVE fish! I can’t wait to cook this…thank you for the information! Thank you a lot! I will use a non teflon pan for this, as fish usually requires a higher temperature, and I don’t want any toxic teflon substances for this recipe in my food.
    I do want more recipes with fish! I’ll wait for them here :-) !

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