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Trout, Spanish Style
If you have the temperament you'll try them Spanish style for a change. Pick out one of the lesser fish of your catch, cut it up, put the pieces in cold water and bring slowly to a boil. Let it cook a good fifteen minutes, then take out all the fish and throw it as far away as you can. But be sure to save the rich liquor, for that, reduced to a tasty half-cupful, makes the incomparable flavor of this dish.
Clean the rest of the catch, remove gills, but leave heads on. Rub the inside of an earthenware dish with a crushed clove of garlic, salt and pepper the trout and lay them in the dish. Toss in a sprig of parsley, another of celery or a dash of celery salt, half a dozen whole peppers, a little lemon juice, half a cup of claret and the rich fish broth. Cover the dish and put it into a hot oven or over glowing coals. Baste several times. Blend a tablespoon each of butter and flour and drop bits of this mixture into the simmering sauce, shaking the dish gently to bring everything together. Then fish out the used-up whole peppers, celery and parsley and let hunger be your guide.
The whole point of this dish is the half-cup of concentrated fish broth made from a sacrificed small trout; everything else is straightforward braising. Plan for that stock first, since the trout themselves need only minutes.
- The broth is the dishSimmering one small cut-up trout in cold water for fifteen minutes and discarding the flesh is a rough camp fumet. Fifteen minutes is enough for a small freshwater fish. Reduce the liquid to about half a cup before it meets the other trout.
- "A hot oven"In period usage roughly 400-450F. Over coals, you want a bed that has burned down to an even glow with no flame, and the covered dish set close enough that the liquid holds a steady simmer.
- ClaretA dry red Bordeaux in period usage; any dry, low-tannin red works. Red wine with trout is unusual to modern eyes but the peppercorns, garlic and fish broth carry it.
- Whole peppersWhole black peppercorns, not chile peppers; they are fished out at the end rather than eaten.
- TimingThe original leaves this to hunger. Whole trout of 8-12 oz will be done in about 15-20 minutes in a hot oven, larger ones in 25. The flesh should just part from the backbone at the thickest point; trout overcooks easily.
- EarthenwareA shallow glazed earthenware or stoneware baking dish with a lid, or any covered enameled cast-iron pan.
- The butter-and-flour bitsEqual parts softened butter and flour kneaded together, worked in cold and in small pieces off the heat or at a bare simmer. Shake the dish rather than stir it so the fish stays whole; the sauce should thicken lightly, not become gravy.
- YieldDepends on the catch; the recipe does not say how many trout, only that one lesser fish is sacrificed for the broth. Serve straight from the dish with bread to take up the sauce.