Trout smoked over pine needles

Name: Trout smoked over pine needles
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 trout fillets with skin (± 150 g each); 1 litre water and 50 g salt, for the brine; 2 handfuls of fresh pine needles (± 40 g); 2 tablespoons uncooked rice; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 1 lemon, to serve

Updated on 9 October 2026

Makes: 4 servings
Time: 20 min + 30 min brining
From: Black pine

Ingredients

4 trout fillets with skin (± 150 g each)
1 litre water and 50 g salt, for the brine
2 handfuls of fresh pine needles (± 40 g)
2 tablespoons uncooked rice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 lemon, to serve

Method

Dissolve the salt in the water and leave the fillets in the brine in the fridge for 30 minutes. Rinse them and pat them very dry.
Line the base of a wide pan with a lid with a double layer of aluminium foil, as the pan will get dirty. Scatter the rice, sugar and needles over it.
Stand a metal rack or steamer rack 2 cm above the needles and lay the fillets on it, skin side down.
Put the pan on a medium heat until smoke rises (3–5 minutes). Put the lid on and turn the heat down low. Switch on the extractor hood and open a window. If the mixture catches fire, cover it at once and turn off the heat.
Smoke for 10–12 minutes, until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily.
Turn off the heat, wait 2 minutes and only then lift the lid. Serve warm or cold with lemon.

Storing: 2 days in a covered container in the fridge. Only use needles from a pine you can identify with certainty (never yew), picked well away from busy roads.