Trout Part Two

Ok so what do you do after the first trout experiment. Ah you refine it
and work it again. So after try two worked pretty well I keep thinking
its OK but it is still not extraordinary. And that is what we want with
this. So I have been eating trout. And I have allowed the palette to
wander aimlessly and found I am trying to find a way to cure the trout
and emphasize the "spring water" taste that is fresh trout. Now with
that signature trout taste I am reworking the trout cure in my head. In
my mind the ingredients have to mix and nothing I am putting in can
cover the "spring water" taste that is trout on my palette.



I find this the best part of my job as recipe designer. Going further
getting closer, getting it to where everyone is telling you its great.
But knowing in your minds eye you have not hit it yet. Then the break
through, the "spring water" signature that needs to survive and be
emphasized and suddenly you can run hundreds of spice profiles through
you head and in your mind test whether they mask or complement or do
nothing for the signature taste that you are trying for!



What to do after two weeks of running this in your head? Order up 40
pounds of golden trout and try it again. And what a test run, 500 people
will try it for the first time Thursday night.



My final answer is to strip it down to cure, salt, lemon oil, slight
dill and a few select herbs. What will it do? In my mind this will be a
very nice slightly salty "spring water" protein.



check back tomorrow it all goes in the smoker tomorrow at 7 AM and will
probably be cooling by 10 or 11 AM. After the proper period in the
cooler we should be tasting around 5 PM. Then the next night real people
of all types will also try it. And they do not hold back in telling you
what they think!

Chef Bob Ballantyne

The Cowboy and The Rose Catering

Grand Junction, Colorado, USA