Nothing like smoked trout in the spring

[Mike N]

My son and his fishing buddy limited out on trout this weekend plus we had some in the freezer. After a night in an ice water salt and sugar brine, the head-on trout and fillets were brushed down with some Texas Pete hot sauce and smoked for 4 hours at around 200 degrees F for a nice, dry texture,.

[Midway Tommy D]

Ha! The head-ons reminds me of my high school days! They look delicious, Mike!

A group of 8 or 10 of us, in my junior & senior years would go to the Village Inn every Fri before @ 6:00 AM for breakfast & coffee. I really like grilled trout and in those days head-on trout was law in restaurants, at least in NE anyway. At least a dozen times over those and my freshman college year I would order trout for breakfast. Tables were always preset with silverware, coffee cups and saucers. When the waitresses, buss boys & maitre d were busy or in the kitchen I would cut the head off the trout & put it under a cup as we were leaving. Saw an old lady one time as I was walking out the door just about have a heart attack when she turned over her coffee cup. We could hear screaming out side. Needless to say, we hightailed it out of there laughing our butts off. I've always wondered if all those trout head escapades had anything to do with the head-on requirement being eliminated in NE.

[arley]

My only problem with smoking trout is keeping them lit. Sorry , couldn't resist.