This coming summer I'm going to be taking a trip from horseshoe meadows to Whitney and I plan on fishing along the way. From what I can tell, wood gathering and fires in most areas is prohibited. I need some ideas on how to cook fish without a fire and still make it tasty. Any ideas on how? Normally I just boil water for meals but I'm not opposed to taking extra gear for the fish.

Google Ceveche recipies

Ceviche is cooking seafood with lime or lemon juice. Takes a bit of time, but very tasty. Don't do it if the fish may have parasites.

Will you have a stove? then fry, bake, poach, etc. Stoves work fine for all those.

Eat the fish raw! Bear and Les do it all the time!

Be wary of fish from fresh lakes for eating raw. They can have some real nasties!!

You can though make a "frypan" of sorts out of heavy duty foil, multiple layers, and do a simple fry. Pretty easy! If you have even an alchy stove you can do this....

Presumably you take a stove of some sort? And a cooking pot of some sort?

You can take a lightweight frying pan (that's what I do) or you can poach or steam (with the help of some foil) the fish in your cooking pot. I personally take a non-stick Ti frying pan, although, frankly, I haven't been able to christen it yet. Warning--in a trial at home, I found out, as I figured, that you have to keep moving the pan around so the heat gets to all parts. Otherwise you'll have cremated fish in the middle and raw fish on the outside. Even with an aluminum pan (I tried both kinds) you'll have to do this. Make sure your stove is stable first!

Edited by hikinggranny on 11/17/2011 09:13:08 MST.

Seviche is as safe as cooked - if smothered in lemon juice for six or seven hours. Not practical for the backcountry. Foil inside a cooking pot is your best bet, and this works best with some olive oil for flavor and to get a bit of steam cooking inside the foil. Yes, you do have to jiggle the pan constantly to get the fish cooked evenly

Everything I've read says that the acid in ceviche does not kill parasites such as freshwater tapeworms.

no, it won't kill the parasites. Seriously just take a lemon and some herbs. Stuff the cavity with lemon slices and the herbs... wrap in foil, add a little water to the bottom of your pot and steam-bake the fish. Another alternative - if you have an Outback Oven Ultralite model, is to wrap the fish and parchment and bake that way.

Generally our fishing is done on paddle trips where one of the group usually has brought a coated aluminium frypan along. Titanium, like another poster mentioned, is not as conductive so you'll have to move the fish around to avoid overcooking/burning with the hotspots.

I agree. Eating fresh water fish is real dangerous. Like pork, make sure it is fully cooked, however you want it cooked.

Another thing is cube the fish up - easier to cook and it can be done in batches that way if need be!

Has anyone ever tried roasting a trout with a stick through it over an alcohol stove? How do you think that would work?

It takes a long time to cook fish over an open flame. I would think that cooking the fish would consume alot of fuel. I have personally never tried this over an alcohol stove, but i have cooked many things over an open fire with my cast iron "Squirrel Sticks". (primitive/historical trekking) and it takes a good long time to do it right and not burn the meat. Steaming is a great option, a little lemon pepper and some foil and about 1/2" of water in the bottom of the pan and a bit in the foil works great! I also like to catch crawdads and boil them, but thats pretty straight forward.

Will post some pics of my fish frying setup as soon as i can figure out how -

-Thomas

Heres a few pictures of some brook trout my friend and i caught and cooked up. Lemon pepper and some sliced deer and elk salami stuffed inside. fried with a squeeze of olive oil and water in the pan to keep from sticking.





Those little brookies were delicious!

-Thomas

Edited by ThomasK702 on 01/13/2012 14:07:03 MST.

Sqirrel Sticks work pretty well. When I was a kid we would do that out on fishing trips. The best for light weight camping is to drop a few stones, about 3/4" high in the bottm and put just enough water to cover the stones. Then simply cut the fish in half, and drop him in the pot with the lid on. Steam Baking it is refered to as. Poaching is boiled fish just till he is cooked to 160F or so. Kinda hard to judge so I usually let it go longer. Aluminum foil works, over a fire. Season with whatever you like. Lemmon, salt, pepper, a bit of oregeno, and, terragon. Wild wintergreen in small ammounts works pretty good.

Pics are jpg or CGI format.