Jumpin' Trout Jerky

There is nothing like trout fishing in the mountains of Colorado. Maybe turn that trout into great tasting fish jerky and you have the perfect day! Didn't get a chance to go fishing, that's okay, just get some at the supermarket. Let's make some fish jerky!!!

Jump to:

• Preparing the Fish
• Making the marinade
• Drying the fish jerky
• FAQ
• Old pro tips
• Other jerky you might like
• Jumpin' Trout Jerky

I have been making a bunch of fish jerky lately and decided to make some trout jerky instead of my go to salmon jerky. You can make this out of any kind of salt or fresh water trout; silver, brown, cutthroat, speckled...

Preparing the Fish

De-scale the trout

The first thing you want to do is scale (or de-scale) the trout. This is the process of scraping off all the little scales that cover it's body. These trout are gutted, but it is not necessary to gut it first. You can use a whole trout, scale it, and then fillet it without gutting.

To scale the trout start by placing it on butcher paper or a cutting board (this will get kinda messy)! I did this in my kitchen with my wife looking over my shoulder making sure none of those little scales were flying on the floor... Sorry L....

Start with a butter knife and scrape the fish from the tail end towards the head. As you can see above, this will scrape off all the little scales. You want to get these off now that way your fish jerky isn't covered with scales after you take it out of the marinade. Spend some time here and make sure to get off as much as you can from both sides of the fish.

Filleting the trout

After you have scaled the trout, fillet it so you have two fillets from each fish. Do not cut the skin off after you have filleted the fish, you are going to want to keep the skin on so that the meat stays together during the marinading and drying process.

Cut away the rib bones after filleting leaving only a clean trout fillet. Run your finger from the tail end of the fillet to the head and check for any pin bones. They will be white bones that will feel hard on your fingers.

Pluck any pin bones out with needle nose plyers and discard. This might not be a problem when filleting salt water trout, I have never had to remove pin bones from speckled or silver trout.

Using a very sharp knife, slice the trout fillets into 1/4" - 1/2" wide strips lengthwise making long skinny strips. Notice that the skin is still on the fish preventing the meat from falling apart. The skin will be kept on throughout the marinating and drying process but can easily be removed right before eating.

Making the marinade

After the fillets have been sliced into strips, you are going to marinate it in the refrigerator for 6-24 hours. The marinade I used for this recipe is listed below. It's a simple recipe with some great flavors including cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Extremely TASTY!

After the trout strips have marinated, strain them in a colander and then pat dry on paper towels to remove any excess marinade.

Drying the fish jerky

Place the jerky strips in your dehydrator or on a baking rack if you are going to dry in your oven. I used my Excalibur Dehydrator when making this fish jerky. After setting my dehydrator to 150°F and drying for 4 hours, this jerky turned out perfect.

The Jumpin' trout fish jerky had a little bit of a kick to it from the cayenne pepper and chipotle chili powder. It had a nice salty flavor from the kosher salt and that a decent fish flavor you would expect from trout.

FAQ

Old pro tips

• Silver, brown, cutthroat, & speckled trout will taste great with this marinade. Salmon will turn out great as well using this recipe.
• If using salmon, needle nose plyers work the best for removing bones from the fillet
• Use a VERY sharp knife to easily slice through the skin when cutting into strips

Other jerky you might like