Brown sugar-cured hot smoked trout

Ingredients

• 100 g fine sea salt
• 100 g brown sugar
• 500 g whole rainbow or brown trout, gutted and scaled

Curing time: 12 hours to overnight

Drying time: 6 hours

Instructions

1. In a bowl, mix the sea salt and sugar thoroughly. Sprinkle some into a tray. Put the clean fish down on top, then open the cavity and evenly sprinkle the inside with the curing mix. Pat the rest on top, then cover and refrigerate the fish for 12 hours or overnight.
2. Wash the cure off the fish, pat dry and leave on a tray in the fridge so the skin can dry, approximately 6 hours.
3. Preheat a smoker to 60°C and use your choice of wood chips. Once the chips are smoking and the chamber is preheated, lay the fish on an oiled rack (this will be important for removing it after). Cook it to an internal temperature of 58°C (anywhere between 1-2 hours), which will make it extremely moist and just cooked, or you can take it a few degrees higher if that is your preference. It’s recommended to use a meat thermometer as cooking time for the trout can vary greatly depending on the thickness of the fillet.
4. If you don’t have a smoker you can also cook the trout in the oven. Just preheat to 60°C get a small tray of wood chips smoking and slide them into the bottom of the oven while your fish is in there.

Analiese Gregory explores life at the bottom of the world in A Girl's Guide to Hunting, Fishing and Wild Cooking.