Sous Vide River Trout | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

River Trout Cured in Whisky With Herb Crust, Salad of Crab and Pickled Cucumber

COOK TIME: 1 Hour
PREP TIME: 8 Hours
DIFFICULTY: Medium

Ingredients

1 x Batch of Whisky Cure Recipe
6 x 200g River Trout Fillets, pin boned and scaled
250g Hand Picked White Crab Meat
2 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp. Finely Chopped Dill
2 tbsp. Finely Chopped Chervil
Zest of Lemon Plus Juice
4 tbsp. Homemade Mayonnaise
75mls White Wine Vinegar
50g Sugar
6 Pepper Corns
½ Cinnamon Stick
Sea Salt
White Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Olive Oil

Brine Ingredients

150mls whisky
150mls Water
Zest of 2 Oranges
1 Tsp Coriander Seeds
1 Star Anise
½ Cinnamon Stick
½ Bunch Dill
½ Bunch Chervil
½ Small Bunch Chives
1 Bay Leaf
70 G Salt
80g Sugar

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Vacuum Sealer
Vacuum Sealer Bags
Chopping Boards
Sauté Pans
Char Grill Plate
Sous Vide Water Bath
Bowls

Method

River trout are in abundance within our rivers and have a delicious texture when prepared the sous vide way.

METHOD

Stage 1

Begin by making the brine
In a sauce pan add all the ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes
Set the pan aside to cool. When cool refrigerate until required

Stage 2

Place the fillets of trout into the pre-made brine and refrigerate for 8 hours
After 8 hours, wash the brine from the trout in cold running water
Place the trout in a vacuum bag and seal. Cook in a preheated water bath at 45 degrees and cook sous vide for 40 minutes. Then, chill in iced water
Place the hand-picked crab in a bowl and check for any shell. Season the crab with salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon zest and a little lemon juice to taste
Add the mayonnaise and fold together then add half the chopped herbs, retaining some for garnish
Peel the cucumber along its length with a peeler, season with salt and set aside to cure
In a small saucepan add the wine vinegar, sugar, cinnamon and peppercorns. Simmer to dissolve the sugar and cool
Rinse the salt from the cucumber and place in a sealer bag. Add the vinegar solution and vacuum on full. Retain to serve
Carefully take the trout from the bag and place on a board, peel off the skin, brush the flesh with mustard and cover with the remaining chopped herb
Cut the trout into desired portion size
To serve, place the trout onto a plate and form a quenelle with the crab mayonnaise. Open the bag of cucumber and serve with the fish

Chef’s Tip –

River trout is also delicious pickled or smoked. Cook the fish with a little of the above pickling liquor or cure then smoke before cooking.

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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