D went to Dallas today to visit with her mom and deliver her mom's tax
return (don't ask), so I asked her (D not her mom) to take a cooler
along to schlep some fish home for dinner. Here in Cow Hill, I know
people who raise steers for food, people who raise chickens for eggs
and for food (not the same chickens, in case you were wondering),
people who raise all manner of terrestrial critters for food, in fact.
But I assure one and all that nobody hereabouts raises fish. They
just don't do it. Well... there are catfish, but guck (quoting a
toddler I once knew who is now a young woman I know who is living in
Austin).

D arrived around 5 p.m. with a fine rainbow trout she'd scored at a
market in Rockwall. I took the bait and cooked the fish. First I
sweated some sliced mushrooms and minced shallots in olive oil in a
stainless steel skillet; then I added some much reduced smoked chicken
stock and reduced it some more. I added some thyme and salt and
pepper, too.

(The smoked chicken stock was the result of having smoked six chickens
last weekend in preparation for the fall shindig at our house. I
boned the birds and simmered the bones in gallons of water for a few
days, setting the pot in a low oven overnight and re-simmering it the
next day as time allowed. It is powerful concentrated stuff.
Incidentally the smoked chicken was well received by numerous faculty,
spouses and graduate students Friday night when I served it with
cilantro pesto and roasted garlic.)

When the stock had reduced to almost a syrup, I dumped stock,
mushrooms and all into a bowl and let it cool off. Then I stuffed the
smoky mushrooms into the cavity of the trout and set it into the
(washed) skillet. I put it onto the stove and sizzled it on high till
it just started smoking. Then I set it into the hot oven -- 400
convection.

After about 15 minutes, I pulled it from the heat, set it on a cutting
board, chopped it in half, and asked D "Which end you want -- eyeball
or asshole?"

I had the eyeball end.
--
modom

"Southern barbecue is a proud thoroughbred whose bloodlines are easily traced.
Texas Barbecue is a feisty mutt with a whole lot of crazy relatives."

--Robb Walsh, Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook