Can you eat trout raw? You will get the exact answers to this question through this article. So, read to the end of this article to avoid missing valuable information.
Trout is considered one of the most nutritious fish, often included in the menu of most restaurants. With that in mind, you might be wondering, “Can you eat trout raw?”
Trout is quite nutritious, and if you cook them properly, the flavor is good. Raw Trout is an excellent source of protein. If you like to eat it then you should try to calculate intake protein regularly to maintain your fitness. However, whether to eat it raw depends on one’s personal choice, and we do not recommend eating it raw. Keep reading to get the correct answer and more helpful information!
Can You Eat Trout Raw?
The quick answer is yes. You can eat raw salmon as needed. However, this is not recommended as eating raw salmon is not good for your health.
Freshwater fish have a higher prevalence of parasites than saltwater fish, and salmon is no exception. So, of course, eating any raw fish carries a risk of illness, but saltwater fish is a safer choice.
You can use salmon in ceviche because it utilizes citric acid to “cook” the meat. Yet, even this method is not guaranteed to kill all bacteria and parasites in your raw salmon.
With any raw fish, you run the risk of catching any parasites that may live in its flesh, such as lung flukes, tapeworms, etc. They will cause you serious harm if they get into your digestive system.
In general, if you want to eat raw fish that can be guaranteed to be free of parasites, it’s best to freeze them first to kill the parasites. Then defrost them and cook them raw.
But simply leaving your trout in the fridge may not be the most effective method for killing off those parasites or bacteria. According to FDA recommendations, you should freeze and store fish at -35°C or below for at least 15 hours.
On the other hand, the best solution for serving raw salmon or other raw fish is ceviche. It is the method of soaking or treating this raw fish in lime juice containing citric acid, which can break down proteins similar to cooking.
This method was born in Latin America and is popular in Peru and Mexico. There is no denying that ceviche is a great way to enjoy salmon raw and many other saltwater fishes, sea bass, sea bream safely.
However, it’s still best to freeze and defrost fish if you want to serve raw salmon or other saltwater fish. This effort is to ensure that any parasites in the fish are killed.
Finally, if you want to eat raw salmon on a camping trip without a refrigerator, it is essential to eat it as quickly as possible. The fact is that the longer you wait after your fish dies, the more time bacteria have to grow on it.
Can Trout Be Eaten as Sashimi?
The short answer is yes. Sashimi is small pieces of raw fish. So you can eat sashimi in necessity or in a particular situation. Eating salmon as sashimi is no different from eating regular raw salmon!
However, we do not recommend this as it is not good for your health. The reality is that all fish are more likely to carry parasites that can harm you, and salmon is no exception.
Japan has a solid history of eating fish raw as sashimi and sushi. So, sashimi is one of the popular dishes for Japanese families, and they also love to eat trout raw in this way.
Sashimi is different from eating raw trout because it has been through rigorous processes for raw preparations while preserving their delicious taste.
In our opinion, you should try fresh wild salmon as sashimi with some soy sauce at least once in your life as it definitely has a delicious taste that you can’t find in cooked dishes. So, any risk of eating raw salmon in this situation is tolerable.
On the contrary, we do not recommend eating commercially purchased salmon as sashimi because we do not know if they are really safe or not.
In addition to saltwater salmon, many other types of saltwater fish can be eaten as sashimi in sushi restaurants, such as bonito, yellowfin tuna, flounder, snapper, and many more. If you catch these fish in the wild after fishing trips, you can eat them raw.
How to Clean a Trout
This is the most accurate way to clean salmon. This process can be applied to all salmon species, including cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, or lake trout.
Step 1: Prepare your knife
Let’s start by preparing a sharp knife. A pocket knife would also work well for this project. If you don’t have a knife, it is okay to use a sharp rock and, of course, you will need more effort.
Step 2: Cutting down the trout’s belly
Using a knife, cut the salmon belly, starting from the anal fin up to the pelvic fins and the beginning of the collar. More experienced people will prefer to place the fish on a large rock to gain leverage, making the process easier.
Step 3: Remove organs and head
Reach inside the salmon and pull out its internal organs. Then wash off the blood and extra gut on the rocks, followed by cutting through the collar and removing its head. It is necessary to perform this step properly when bleeding tuna or salmon.
Step 4: Make a cut
Next, you need to cut out the fillets. Then cut across the end of the tail on both sides. After that, connect the cut you have made on the belly to the end of the tail.
Now, you have to cut from the top of the backbone, starting at the collar and going all the way down to the tail. Then move the blade down the spine while cutting through the skeletal bones.
You can then use the knife to cut away the fillet from the collar of your trout.
Step 5: Remove pin bones
Use your fingernails to remove as much of the pin bone as possible. You can spend a lot of time on this step, but it is necessary to give you bone-free fish.
Step 6: Remove visible parasites and worms
Last but not least, you should check your fish for visible worms and parasites and remove them.
How to Cook Trout Properly
Step 1: Clean trout and add seasoning
Start by sticking to our guide above for proper salmon cleaning. If you want to add any seasonings (pepper, salt, etc.), it is time to add them.
Step 2: Create the skewer
Create a long thin stick with a tip. It will be the skewer used to hold the trout fillets over the campfire.
Step 3: Create the filet skewer
Slide each trout filet onto your stick and make sure this skewer holds the trout filet flat and maximizes the surface area.
Step 4: Build your fire
Once your fire is built, the best thing is to wait until the big fire goes out. We recommend not to cook trout over open flames. Otherwise, your food will have a bad-tasting charcoal flavor from the smoke.
Step 5: Cooking trout
Once your big fire has gone out, you’ll need to push the logs away from each other to expose the coals. That will be where you cook the trout.
Pay attention to the smell and surface of the trout, as you won’t want your fish to turn black from burning.
What Kind of Trout Tastes Best?
The answer depends on your personal preference.
Larger species like lake trout are usually oilier and tender. The main reason is that this species does not have to struggle too much in foraging, resulting in a higher percentage of fat in the meat.
Smaller species like brook trout and rainbow trout tend to have firmer meat, similar to pike and bass. These salmon also tend to taste the same as perch or other small predatory fish.
For our taste, we’ll want to eat steelhead trout and rainbow trout. We believe these species have the best texter and a mild flavor that tastes amazing with a bit of seasoning.
Conclusion
So, can you eat trout raw? Yes, you can.
Eating any type of raw fish carries a risk of illness. Thus, eating raw or undercooked trout can put you at risk of becoming a host to parasites like tapeworms.
Saltwater fish is a safer choice. The high salt content in the water will kill most of the parasites in the fish that can cause illness if you serve them. Saltwater can also help preserve the fish so it won’t rot as quickly.
According to scientists, you should freeze any fresh fish for at least a week to kill all bacteria and parasites living in them.
Thank you for your interest in the article!