Trout soaks in brine for a day before grilling in this recipe from the delightful but sadly out-of-print Crabtree & Evelyn Cookbook: A Book of Light Meals and Small Feasts (Stewart, Tabori & Chang Inc. 1989). The cookbook's menu "for the armchair camper" includes potato pancakes with pepper relish and strawberries with strawberry vinegar.
Makes 4 breakfast or 2 dinner servings
2 whole trout (each 8 to 10 ounces), cleaned
1/4 cup coarse salt
Hickory chips or other wood chips for barbecuing
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Rosemary butter (see recipe below)
Rinse trout thoroughly in water, place in a 3-quart enamel or other nonreactive pan and add salt and 2 quarts water. The fish should be completely covered with brine. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
Place 2 to 3 handfuls of hickory chips in a basin of cold water and soak 30 minutes. About an hour before serving the fish, build an indirect barbecue fire by placing charcoal on one side of the kettle of a barbecue grill. When charcoal becomes gray-white, drain hickory chips and toss them onto fire. Oil grill, cover the kettle and leave the fire for 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove trout from brine, drain and rinse under cold water. Using a sharp knife, remove heads — slicing behind gills — and slit down center along backbone on inside to butterfly each trout (or have your fishmonger do this ahead of time).
Place trout, skin side down, on grill away from hot coals so they cook over indirect heat. Lay fresh rosemary sprigs on fish. Cover barbecue grill and let trout smoke for about 40 minutes (check periodically) or until flesh is cooked through and flakes easily when probed with a fork.
Meanwhile, prepare rosemary butter.
Remove trout from the grill. Cut each in half lengthwise and serve topped with dollops of rosemary butter.
Rosemary Butter
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
In a small bowl, combine butter and minced rosemary. Beat until blended.
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