Pan-Fried Whole Trout with Lemon Butter

The last calf arrived Tuesday. Twenty-three in total, twenty-two surviving, one lost on the third day to a scours infection that the vet said was not preventable given the circumstances. That's calving — you do everything right and sometimes it doesn't hold. Patrick said, "Ninety-six percent is a good year." He said it matter-of-factly, not to comfort me, because he doesn't do comfort, he does accuracy. Ninety-six percent is a good year. I filed it and moved on.

Tom Whelan called Thursday and told me about a property outside Roundup that's looking for a farrier after their previous one retired. Four horses, quarterly. I called the owner, a man named Hanson, and set up the appointment for the last week of April. I now have: Debbie's twelve in Billings, the Yellowstone County ranch, and Hanson's four in Roundup, plus the Gallagher horses. Four accounts. That's the beginning of something real.

I've been cooking more experimental things in the evenings. Last fall and winter it was all the classics — the elk chili, the biscuits, the cowboy beans, the basics. This spring I've been pushing slightly outside the edges. This week I made a whole trout from the Musselshell — caught it on Tuesday after the afternoon cattle check, cleaned it in the yard, cooked it in the cast iron with butter and a lemon I had no business having in Montana in April but that I'd bought on impulse in Billings. Ten minutes in the pan. Ate it at the kitchen table. It was perfect in the direct, undeniable way that fresh fish cooked simply is perfect.

Ninety-two days. Spring is here and the calf crop is good and the farrier business is growing and the trout was perfect.

That trout from the Musselshell deserved to be written down. Not because the recipe is complicated—it’s the opposite of complicated—but because sometimes you catch a fish on a Tuesday afternoon after checking cattle, and you cook it simply, and it becomes the thing you remember about the whole week. More than the calving numbers, more than the new farrier account. The fish in the pan. Here’s how I did it.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

2 whole trout (about 10–12 oz each), gutted and cleaned, head on or off
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 lemon, halved
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
1 tablespoon neutral oil (canola or vegetable)

Instructions

Prep the trout. Pat the trout completely dry inside and out with paper towels. Season the cavity and both sides with kosher salt and black pepper. Lightly dust the outside of each fish with flour, shaking off the excess.
Heat the pan. Set a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. When the butter foams and the foam begins to subside, the pan is ready.
Sear the first side. Lay the trout in the pan, leaving space between them. Cook without moving for 4 to 5 minutes, until the skin is golden and crisp and releases easily from the pan.
Flip and finish. Carefully flip each trout. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the thyme sprigs to the pan. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, spooning the melting butter over the fish as it browns. The trout is done when the flesh near the backbone flakes easily with a fork.
Add the lemon. In the last minute of cooking, place the lemon halves cut-side down in the pan to caramelize. Remove the trout to plates and squeeze the charred lemon over each fish. Spoon any remaining brown butter from the pan on top.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pan-Fried Whole Trout with Lemon Butter — The Kind of Perfect You Don’t Argue With