Toktogul trout with mountain herbs
Whole trout fried crisp in butter with garlic, wild thyme and oregano, the way they do it by the reservoir.
This summer, for the first time in sixteen years, I was home for the Feast of St. Janyl. I took Aruu to Iyık Janyl, and on the way back I did what my chong apa did when I was twelve: I made the driver stop at the Toktogul reservoir. Women still sit by the road with trout from the fish farms laid out on wet grass. We fried two in a borrowed pan on a flat rock, burned our fingers and ate more.
Iradi trout is simple food. Salt, garlic, the thyme and oregano we pick on the slopes for tea, and a pan of hot fat. Back in Talas I made it again in my own kitchen that weekend, with Aruu in charge of the lemon, and wrote it all down on the back of a bazaar receipt. Then school started, the apricots needed jarring, and the receipt lived in my apron pocket until this week. Forgive me, my dear. Summer trout tastes just as good in October.
What you'll need
Good to know
Can I make it ahead?
Rub the fish with the salt and herbs up to 2 hours ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. Flour it only just before frying, or the coating turns gluey.
How long does it keep?
Fried trout is best eaten at once. Leftovers keep 1 day in the fridge; flake the cold fish into a salad rather than reheating it.
Can I freeze it?
Cooked trout doesn’t freeze well. Freeze raw cleaned fish for up to 3 months and thaw it overnight in the fridge.
What can I use instead?
Any small whole fish of about the same size works, such as sea bream or char. Ordinary dried thyme stands in for mountain thyme.
Toktogul trout with mountain herbs
Whole trout fried crisp in butter with garlic, wild thyme and oregano, the way they do it by the reservoir.
Ingredients
servingsInstructions
Method
- Dry the fish. Rinse the trout inside and out, pat them very dry with paper towels, and cut two shallow slashes on each side.
- Season the fish. Mix the salt, pepper, thyme and oregano and rub it over the trout, into the slashes and inside the belly.
- Stuff the bellies. Tuck the sliced garlic and a few sprigs of dill into each one, then leave the fish for 10 minutes while you lay the table.
- Flour the fish. Spread the flour on a plate, dust each trout lightly on both sides and shake off the extra.
- Fry the first side. Heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers, about 180°C. Fry two fish at a time for 5 to 6 minutes without moving them, until the skin is golden and crisp.
- Turn and finish. Turn them carefully with a wide spatula and fry 4 to 5 minutes more, until the flesh at the backbone is opaque and flakes easily (63°C). Keep them warm in a low oven while you fry the rest.
- Make the garlic butter. Pour off most of the oil, lower the heat and melt the butter with the crushed garlic. When it foams and smells nutty, about 1 minute, spoon it over the fish.
- Serve at once. Scatter with the rest of the dill and bring it to the table with lemon, flatbread and a tomato and cucumber salad.
With love from my kitchen in Talas,Jibek
