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Oregano

Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Add the chili powder and tomato paste. Place the fish on a well-oiled baking dish or pan; season to taste with salt, pepper, and oregano. Cover with the sauce and bake at 450° according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 8).

POACHED SUCKER

Poach suckers in a court bouillon (page 18) according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 12). Serve them with a Hollandaise sauce (pages 25–26), or with a shrimp or lobster sauce (page 21), or with sauce velouté (page 21) made with the reduced court bouillon.

COLD POACHED SUCKER

Mask the cold poached sucker in mayonnaise (page 34) or rémoulade (page 35). This is a nice change for a hot summer day when the neighborhood fisherman brings you part of his catch.

Trout

Trout is the glamour fish. They are beautiful, they are perfectly meated, and in many places they are scarce.

Since I am not an ichthyologist, I am not going into a discussion of all the different varieties of trout. I recommend all of them indiscriminately. I do remember particularly, however, a mess of tiny mountain trout caught in a cold Oregon stream, cooked with bacon over a campfire, and served up for breakfast less than an hour after they have been taken from the water. The combined flavors of wood smoke, bacon, and delicate trout cannot be duplicated in a modern kitchen by even the most experienced chef. But if outdoor simplicity can work miracles with trout, so can sophistication. I recall with drooling tastebuds the incomparable truite en chemise at the station restaurant in the Gare de l’Est in Paris.

The recipes here are for the small trout — mountain trout, Dolly Vardens, small-sized brook or speckled trout, all those running from 8 to 12 inches. These are usually served whole with head and tail intact. Simply wash and clean them. As for the amount of trout per serving, that depends on individual taste.

Certainly at least one per person, and of the smaller fish, two or three. But suit yourselves.

If the trout you intend to cook is one of the larger varieties, try the salmon recipes (pages 178–192). You’ll find that they apply perfectly.

TROUT SAUTÉ MEUNIÈRE

This, of course, is the classic preparation for trout. See directions for sauté meunière, page 10.

VARIATION

Sauté the trout, and just before removing it from the pan add 1/2 to 1 cup of heavy cream. Let it come to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the trout to a hot platter. Correct the seasoning, reduce the cream a bit, and pour it over the fish. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

TROUT AMANDINE, IN THE MANNER OF RESTAURANT CASENAVE IN PARIS

1/2 pound shelled almonds

6 tablespoons butter

4 trout

Flour

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Chopped parsley

Blanch the almonds. Leave half of them whole and cut the rest into slivers. Melt the butter in a skillet. Dip the trout in flour, and when the butter is bubbly but not burning add the trout and almonds. Spoon the nuts around in the butter so that they will brown well. Cook according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 10), turning the trout once. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove the trout to a hot platter and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Pour the golden-colored almonds and the butter from the pan over the fish. With this serve new potatoes in their jackets, and some lemon butter (page 31) or lemon wedges.

BROOK TROUT, OUTDOORS METHOD

If you catch trout early and can have them for breakfast that same morning, you are the most fortunate of people. To cook 6 trout:

Try out 6 to 12 rashers of bacon, depending on your appetite. When the bacon is crisp, remove it to a paper or plate. Dip the trout in flour or corn meal and sauté them quickly in the bacon fat. Do not add salt until the fish are cooked and you have tasted them; the bacon fat may add enough seasoning. Serve the trout with the bacon rashers and toast made over the fire. Steaming campfire coffee is a must, of course.

TRUITE EN CHEMISE

This delightful way to serve trout and other small fish will always bring cheers