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Brook Trout in Cider
To 8 trout: 1/2 QUARTS CIDER I SMALL CARROT, SLICED I CELERY STALK, SLICED 6 SCALLIONS, SLICED (OR I SMALL ONION) 3 SPRIGS HERBS SALT AND PEPPER Bring all to boiling point, add the trout and slowly simmer, but do not let boil, for 10 minutes or less. Drain, keep hot, quickly reduce liquid to 3 cups. Heat 2 tablespoons butter, add 2 tablespoons flour and stir, then add liquid and stir until it thickens. Pour over fish, and sprinkle with minced parsley or chervil. Or use less cider, arrange all in a covered dish and poach in oven.
See other trout recipes under Come and Get It! and Squaw Feeds Paleface.
A court bouillon made with cider rather than wine, followed by a quick blond roux sauce from the reduced poaching liquid. The whole thing takes about half an hour once the fish are cleaned.
- The cider quantityThe printed amount reads "1/2 quarts," which is almost certainly a dropped figure for 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups). That is the volume you need to cover eight pan-sized trout in a wide pan, and it reduces sensibly to the 3 cups called for later.
- Which ciderIn an American outdoor-cooking book of this vintage, cider usually meant unfermented sweet apple cider -- cloudy, unsweetened, often bought at a roadside press -- though the recipe does not say. Modern filtered apple juice is sweeter and will make a cloying sauce; look for fresh or unfiltered cider, or use dry hard cider if you want the sharper result.
- Do not let it boilThis is the hinge. Trout flesh at a rolling boil tears off the bone and turns cottony. Bring the court bouillon to a boil first, then drop the heat so the surface only shivers before the fish goes in.
- Ten minutes is a maximumThat timing suits whole trout of about 3/4 lb. Smaller brook trout of 8 to 10 oz are done in 5 to 6 minutes, and fillets in 3. The fish is ready when the flesh at the thickest point behind the head parts from the backbone.
- Reducing to 3 cupsLift the trout out first and hold them covered on a warm platter, because the reduction wants a hard boil and would wreck the fish. Strain out the vegetables before reducing so the sauce stays clear.
- The sauce proportionsTwo tablespoons each of butter and flour will only lightly bind 3 cups of liquid — the result is a thin nappe, not a coating sauce. For something that clings, reduce to 2 cups instead, or double the roux.
- "3 sprigs herbs"Parsley, thyme and a bay leaf are the default trio for a court bouillon of this kind; a strip of lemon peel is not out of place with cider.
- The oven variationThe book gives no temperature. For the covered-dish method, use enough cider and aromatics to come halfway up the fish and bake in a moderate oven (about 350F) for roughly 15 minutes. Then pour the liquid off and reduce it on the stove as above.
- YieldEight trout serves eight as a main course, or four generously if the fish are small.