Rainbow Trout.....In Mexico

[gulfporter]

Recently a few Ajijic restaurants have offered trout (trucha in Spanish).  I asked our waiter where it came from.  Mazamitla, he replied, which is a small Sierra Madre mountain town (2500 meters or 8000 feet altitude) to which we once did a day trip (it's a 90 minute drive each way).  

 

Senor Google confirms there is a rainbow trout hatchery there (we did not know it when we visited).  

 

A few days ago I was rooting around in the freezer section of a local grocer and found these trout.   The price on all the packages (no matter their weight) is 74 pesos, or $3.75 USD.  

 

 

[eugenep]

I like how the fish was butchered. I'd like to try that style sometime - depending on the method of cooking I guess 

[gulfporter]

They leave the head on so you know it's not a cat (that is a joke that refers to my purchase of rabbit at a meat market).   

 

I grilled it for exactly 5 minutes skin-side down since it is thin fleshed and boneless.  Before grilling I slathered with a bit of a homemade quasi-zarandeado schmear with a Mediterranean bent....mayo. dijon and capers.  Another thing I love about it is that it thaws in an hour on the counter (for those days when life gets ahead of my meal plan).  

Edited October 8, 2019 by gulfporter (log)

[heidih]

We talked bout the fisheries a bit ago - gotta see how raised. We are doing better,

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

In Uruapan, about an hour downhill from Pátzcuaro, is a magnificent national park. It's a tropical oasis in the middle of a city that is famous for being the heart of the avocado business in México--they ship millions of tons of fruit every year. There is an astonishing amount of water in the park, either as the Rio Cupatitzio or man-made fountains, some of them very impressive. The origin of the water is a spring at the upper end called La Rodilla del Diablo, the Devil's Knee, where the devil knelt and created the spring. However, there are many more springs popping out of the ground to account for the volume of water flowing through the park. Flowering plants abound, vines are everywhere, and there are many orchids and bromeliads in the trees. A group of young men dive into the stream for tips, a sort of miniature version of Acapulco cliff divers.

 

And in the middle of this lush landscape is a trout hatchery. One of my favorite things to do is to buy a bag of trout food and toss handfuls to the fish in the raceways, but I also find myself hypnotized by the slow movements of the fish, the reflection of the trees and the sun on the water. They're segregated by size, of course, because the big fish tend to snack on the little ones. You can buy whole fish or fillets. Can't get much fresher than that. I take comfort that the volume of water flowing through the raceways keeps the water clean--it's certainly clear enough. And probably the fish poop helps fertilize the downstream foliage. I'm pretty sure that all the "trucha" sold in local restaurants comes from the park.

 

Here's a link to a pretty good description of the park, with photos: https://www.zocalotx.com/TheNationalUruapan.htm

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

[IowaDee]

What an enchanting place that is!  All it needs is a "pick your own avocados" at the end.