Rainbow Trout Cooked in Newspaper

I love when I find out about an unusual way of cooking familiar ingredients, it often gives me a whole new appreciation for the food. This recipe is originally for salmon and is adapted from Darina Allen's book "Forgotten Skills of Cooking". She got the recipe from a fisherman in the west of Ireland while on a trip and uses her local newspaper The Examiner to wrap the salmon.

I caught a fish recently for the very first time at Garryhill Lakes. After standing in the rain for hours my hook eventually produced a massive rainbow trout which I was extremely proud of :) I decided that I wanted to give the food the respect it deserves and cook it in this special way. 

Cooking the fish this way gives a tender succulent result. It is best to cook the fish whole as it does tend to fall apart easily when cooked this way. However, you can cook just a portion of the fish if it is too large to fit whole on your barbecue.

Gut the fish as soon as you can after it is caught to help maintain the freshness of your catch. Carefully scrape out the line of blood along the backbone and wash out meticulously with water.

Season the cavity well with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Wrap the trout tightly in at least 7 or 8 sheets of newspaper, making sure the ends are well tucked in to create a neat package. Using cotton string, tie in 3 or 4 places to secure. Dip the entire parcel in water - using sea water if you're near the coast gives a delicious flavour. Cook in the embers of an open fire or on a barbecue until the package is charred on both sides. Cute off the charred paper with a strong scissors. Lift off the skin and eat the fish warm. I served mine with homemade mayonnaise, herbs from my garden and new potatoes.