Are my trout good to eat?

Medz

Ok, so it's time for my first fish harvest, but I'm an amateur and looking for some advice...

Thursday night, I pulled 12 nice big and healthy looking trout from my tank. Wasn't sure of the best method of dispatching them, so I dropped them straight into an ice slurry in the esky. Seemed to work fine.

Didn't have a chance to gut/clean them on the night, but figured they would be fine sitting in tbe ice slurry which would be a good bit colder than the fridge in any case.

Inevitably, wound up working late last night and didn't get a chance to gut and clean them until this morning (saturday). They all smelled fine and flesh was quite firm, but they had a pretty good coating of clear slime all over.

Question is.... is this normal? And are they still good to eat???

Gabe

Trout has a natural oily skin - very slippery to handle. Have been the cause of a few knife injuries over the years! I suspect that is what you are feeling. As long as they have been on ice they should be fine in my view.

Charlie

Yea, trout have a thick protein coating which is very slimey. They will be fine.

Medz

Brilliant! Thanks guys.

Mr Damage

Yep!... if they've been in an ice slurry or refrigerated for that entire period then they should be fine... probably not taste very nice though I would imagine... let us now!

jayendra

Yeah gutting after catching is best - I've been reading up. (my first year too). Apparently the kidneys and such will foul the flesh after awhile.

Mr Damage

After discussing fish cleaning with a number of customers at the end of this Trout season I was amazed at how many didn't actually remove the kidneys, even when they gut the fish. For the uninitiated, the kidneys don't actually come out with the rest of the fish's innards when you gut them, you have to physically remove the kidneys after you've gutted the fish... and yes, if left in they do taint the flesh with a very strong, not so pleasant flavour.

faye

Mr Damage wrote:

After discussing fish cleaning with a number of customers at the end of this Trout season I was amazed at how many didn't actually remove the kidneys, even when they gut the fish. For the uninitiated, the kidneys don't actually come out with the rest of the fish's innards when you gut them, you have to physically remove the kidneys after you've gutted the fish... and yes, if left in they do taint the flesh with a very strong, not so pleasant flavour.

Really?? (Apologies in advance for the graphic details).
When I catch them I put two fingers in the gills and snap their necks back. Pointy end of the knife in their anus and run it up under their chin. That makes one big opening. Then I grab the gills and pull out all the innards, it comes away cleanly. Then I run my thumb nail along the back bone from the tail end up to their throat under running water to remove the blood from the skeleton/back bone. The more you do the quicker you get. I've had a bit of practice lately harvesting earlier than anticipated due to the onset of our hot spell.

Mr Damage

faye wrote:

Then I grab the gills and pull out all the innards, it comes away cleanly. Then I run my thumb nail along the back bone from the tail end up to their throat under running water to remove the blood from the skeleton/back bone.

Yep... that's actually the kidneys. The rest does come away cleanly in one motion, I reckon Trout are the easiest of all fish to clean.

Medz

I was a bit unsure at first, but after a little bit of practice and a couple of youtube videos, the trout were pretty quick and easy to clean.

Stuffed one with some lemon wedges and butter, wrapped in foil and baked it in the oven for about 20 minutes. Pulled it out and ate it with a little bit of yellow mustard. Seems I got it cleaned and gutted in time because it tasted pretty good!

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