Many people in the U.S. regularly eat smoked salmon, where you can easily find this product sold in most grocery stores. Outside of the more traditional salmon, there are many additional types of smoked fish in the U.S. that are incredibly delicious. As a general rule of thumb, fish species with higher fat content are going to more readily take on the flavor and aroma of smoke, compared to leaner fish. Trout, for instance, are a wonderful type of fish to try smoking at home.
This dip recipe incorporates smoked trout, caramelized smoked pickled onions, cream cheese, sour cream, and some fresh herbs like dill and parsley to create a mouth-watering dip to serve with some chips or spread on warm, toasted slices of bread before dinner.
Smoky Trout Dip with Smoked Pickled Onions
Many people in the U.S. regularly eat smoked salmon, where you can easily find this product sold in most grocery stores. Outside of the more traditional salmon, there are many additional types of smoked fish in the U.S. that are incredibly delicious. As a general rule of thumb, fish species with higher fat content are going to more readily take on the flavor and aroma of smoke, compared to leaner fish. Trout, for instance, are a wonderful type of fish to try smoking at home. This dip recipe incorporates smoked trout, caramelized smoked pickled onions, cream cheese, sour cream, and some fresh herbs like dill and parsley to create a mouth-watering dip to serve with some chips or spread on warm, toasted slices of bread before dinner.
Ingredients
- 2 yellow onions, cut into 1/8” uniform slices
- 1 Tbsp sunflower seed or vegetable oil
- 3 Tbsp salted butter
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp water
- 4 skin-on trout fillets, roughly 16oz total
- 1 cup cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 Zest of lemon
- ½ Juice oflemon
- ½ tsp freshly-ground black pepper
- ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional, but recommended)
- ¼ cup fresh dill, finely minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely minced
Instructions
- Start your smoker and regulate the temperature to maintain the heat at roughly 200-225F.
- Coat the sliced onions lightly in the sunflower seed or vegetable oil and place in a grill box.
- Place grill box in smoker and smoke onions for roughly 25 minutes.
- Remove onions from the smoker and place in a medium sauce pot with the 3 Tbsp salted butter.
- Cook on medium heat, stirring every few minutes, until the onions are lightly caramelized.
- *This process should take about 15 minutes.
- Add the 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar, and the 2 Tbsp water to the pot with the onions.
- Cook on medium-low heat until the liquid has cooked down and become incorporated with the onions.
- Remove from heat, and set this onion mixture aside for later.
- Clean the grates on your smoker, and spray them lightly with vegetable cooking spray.
- Add your skin-on trout fillets to the smoker, skin-side-down, and cook for roughly 45-60 minutes at 200-225.
- Remove from the smoker and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
- Peel the skins off of the trout fillets.
- Carefully pull apart the trout flesh into small-sized chunks, making sure that all bones have been removed.
- Combine the smoked trout meat with the smoked pickled onion mixture you made earlier.
- Mix in the softened cream cheese, the ½ cup sour cream, the lemon zest and lemon juice, the freshly-ground black pepper and ground cayenne pepper, and the ¼ cup fresh dill, and 2 Tbsp fresh parsley.
- Taste the combined mixture, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Add the remaining ½ lemon if you feel that the dip needs more acidity.
- Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
If you have a smoker at home and are looking to explore this idea further, try smoking whitefish, bluefish, anchovies, haddock, eel, or mackerel.
This dip can be kept in the fridge for a few days.