Lake Trout, prep and recipe

[Kill Switch]

Hey gang,
Heading up to CVL for May long weekend.
I always catch a few lakers but have never tried eating one.
1. Are they good?
2. what's the best way to cook them (I know everyone has an opinion).
3. And do you fillet them like a walleye? down the back from the gills and then remove rib cage etc.

I do know that I will bleed it out (if I am lucky). Neno showed me this last year with walleye. Best thing I have learned in a while.

bon appetite!

[Jay Thomas]

Here's a recipe for lake trout that I came across recently. I will be trying this recipe this summer.

Roasted Mustard Lake Trout
•   1 1/2 lb lake trout fillet (skin on)
•   2 teaspoons vegetable oil
•   2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
•   1 tablespoon butter melted
•   1 tablespoon wine vinegar
•   1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
•   1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
•   1 clove garlic minced
•   1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Brush skin side of fillets with oil
Place, skin-side down, on greased foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.
In small bowl, stir together mustard, butter, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt and pepper; Brush over top of fish.
Roast in 450°F (230°C) oven until fish flakes easily when tested, about 8 minutes.

Some lake trout don't taste as good as others - depends on the feed in the lake. From my own experience, white fleshed lake trout are not nearly as tasty as pink or orange fleshed lake trout. Pink or orange fleshed lake trout are the consequence of Copepods in a lake. Copepods, the dominant members of the zooplankton, are major food organisms for fish and other crustaceans. Copepods contain an oil that can change the colour of fish flesh. I've caught lake trout that have flesh as orange as an Atlantic Salmon.

Jay

[Canuckbass]

Head off, gut it and stuff with all the good stuff.. Onion, pepper, lemon etc..
Wrap in tinfoil and throw it on the bbq 20 to 30 mins usually. Open it up and eat away.

[Greg]

I agree with Canuckbass approach - we (try) to do one trout each year.  I usually put a couple of chunks of garlic butter on each side also (along with Canucks list).   I also put a couple of slices of bread in the gut area (rip bread in half and spread it out the length of the trout's body - we find it it absorbs oil so it makes the meat less greasy).

Wrap it in two layers of tinfoil helps it not burn - 12 minutes for each side of the fish on BBQ.

It is very simple - Enjoy!!

Greg

[Kill Switch]

Here's a recipe for lake trout that I came across recently. I will be trying this recipe this summer.

Roasted Mustard Lake Trout
•   1 1/2 lb lake trout fillet (skin on)
•   2 teaspoons vegetable oil
•   2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
•   1 tablespoon butter melted
•   1 tablespoon wine vinegar
•   1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
•   1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
•   1 clove garlic minced
•   1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Brush skin side of fillets with oil
Place, skin-side down, on greased foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.
In small bowl, stir together mustard, butter, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt and pepper; Brush over top of fish.
Roast in 450°F (230°C) oven until fish flakes easily when tested, about 8 minutes.

Some lake trout don't taste as good as others - depends on the feed in the lake. From my own experience, white fleshed lake trout are not nearly as tasty as pink or orange fleshed lake trout. Pink or orange fleshed lake trout are the consequence of Copepods in a lake. Copepods, the dominant members of the zooplankton, are major food organisms for fish and other crustaceans. Copepods contain an oil that can change the colour of fish flesh. I've caught lake trout that have flesh as orange as an Atlantic Salmon.

Jay

Jay. You just touched upon a question I had brewing in my head.  What colour is the meat in lakers from Kipawa. I thought lakers were red meat until I saw a few videos.  Does red taste better? Also you are now the official leader of Fishermen's MENSA with all those facts about zooplankton.
Cheers

[Greg]

The colour of the meat is closer to pink-ish with some orange - or "salmon" colour.

[Jay Thomas]

Jay. You just touched upon a question I had brewing in my head.  What colour is the meat in lakers from Kipawa. I thought lakers were red meat until I saw a few videos.  Does red taste better? Also you are now the official leader of Fishermen's MENSA with all those facts about zooplankton.
Cheers

I concur with Greg's description of the typical colour of Lake Kipawa lake trout flesh. I've eaten numerous Lake Kipawa lake trout and they are tasty - mind you, we have never eaten a lake trout bigger than 8 pounds.

Jay

[CaptainCrappie]

Admiral Jay grilled for the Americans the trout & walleye fixens below. We had this yummy meal twice.

C.C.

[RHYBAK]

I have found Lake Trout to have White, orange and reddish Meat.

It all depends on it's diet I believe.

I found white meat on the bottom hugging Trout and Orange flesh on the suspended fish.

A steady diet of herring produce healthy looking trout where a steady diet of Smelts produce very fatty trout.

just my 40 year observation.
Nothing to do with Kipawa.

I wouldn't waste my valuable fishing time on Lake Trout while on Kipawa.
I only fish Lake Trout in Ontario waters.

[Jay Thomas]

CaptainCrappie,

Your post brings back many many fond memories.

Jay

[Canuckbass]

I agree with Canuckbass approach - we (try) to do one trout each year.  I usually put a couple of chunks of garlic butter on each side also (along with Canucks list).   I also put a couple of slices of bread in the gut area (rip bread in half and spread it out the length of the trout's body - we find it it absorbs oil so it makes the meat less greasy).

Wrap it in two layers of tinfoil helps it not burn - 12 minutes for each side of the fish on BBQ.

It is very simple - Enjoy!!

Greg

I've never heard about the bread trick, sounds great.

With rainbow trout, same idea but fill cavity with mayo!!! I was surprised too!! So good, it's an oil and breaks down to almost rose sauce.

[smitty55]

My favorite way of baking Lakers is to make a stuffing similar to what I make with a chicken except I  will add a pile of cut up shrimp to the bread and onion mixture and use different spices like fresh thyme, garlic and lemon herb. It always works great, goes over very well and have never had a problem with it being too greasy at all.

Cheers