SALON

Friday, Nov 14, 1997 1:42 PM UTC

The Surreal Gourmet

This simple trout recipe is the perfect accompaniment to a night at home, watching 'A River Runs Through It.'

By

Topics: Beer, Food,

Now that the price of a movie ticket has eclipsed the number of seats in
most Cineplex theaters, and the lag time from the big screen to video
is shorter than a Julia Roberts romance, it’s more tempting than ever to stay
home and rent a video. The only downside is that this option opens up a
Pandora’s box of rental choices, and food to cook. In my never-ending quest
to help you with such day-to-day quandaries, I am pleased to debut Dinner and
a Video, an occasional feature of this column that will match a movie rental
with a thematically linked recipe and beverage. Think of it as a low-tech
virtual cinematic experience.

My first pick is “A River Runs Through It,” an engaging period piece directed by Robert Redford. The white waters of a Montana river become the backdrop and common bond for the members of a minister’s family as they grow up and apart. There’s something for everyone: glorious cinematography, good old-fashioned fistfights, sport fishing and big-time sex symbols. And Brad Pitt does for fly fishing what Sharon Stone did for leg crossing in Basic Instinct.

My search for an authentic angler’s recipe led me to Nick Lyons, a trout
aficionado and author of 13 books on fly fishing. Nick says the key to
cooking trout is not to overwhelm its natural sweetness with too many
flavors. His favorite way to prepare the catch is so quick and simple that
dinner will be done before the coming attractions are over.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

PAN FRIED RAINBOW TROUT WITH FRESH DIL

(Serves 2)
If you can’t find your hip waders, farm-raised rainbow trout (occasionally
referred to as brook trout) are available in most grocery stores.
Ingredients

2 8-ounce trout, heads and tails intact, gutted and cleaned

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup fresh dill, large stems discarded, chopped finely

1/2 cup flour

3 tablespoons butter

1 lemon

1. Rub fish on the inside and outside with salt.

2. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl.

3. On a large plate, mix bread crumbs and dill.

4. In your biggest pan, over medium-high heat, melt butter.

5. Pat down fish with flour, then shake off excess.

6. Dip fish in egg mixture, until thoroughly coated, then roll in bread crumb mixture.

7. When butter is melted and bubbling, place fish in pan, cover and cook for approximately 4 minutes per side, or until skin is crispy and meat is an opaque white throughout. Squeeze lemon juice over top and serve immediately.

Le Secret: Do not overcook the fish.

The Adventure Club: Stuff trout with crab meat. This traditional twist trades simplicity for additional flavoring. (Sorry, Nick.) Mix 1/4 pound of fresh crab meat with 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs and a tablespoon of chopped Italian parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Stuff fish and cook per original directions.

Note: Contrary to my recent dissertation on the benefits of freshly made
coarse bread crumbs, the finer store-bought variety are best suited for this
more delicate dish.

The Cocktail Scene: If you choose not to cook, a Boilermaker (a shot glass full of bourbon dropped into a glass of beer) will help get you into the spirit of the film.

Got a clever video/dinner pairing? Mail your suggestion to sgbytethis@aol.com. Selected ideas will be rewarded with a Surreal Gourmet apron.

Bob Blumer (aka the Surreal Gourmet) hosts his own program on the Food Channel.
The Surreal Gourmet's Web Site is located at http://surrealgourmet.com. More Bob Blumer.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
194 points195 points | 7 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the persecuted late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
145 points146 points | comment
vote
Obstruction will ruin the GOP: Playing politics and abusing the system can excite the extremes, but it's a recipe for long-term political disaster
45 points46 points | 8 comments
vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
42 points43 points | 22 comments
vote
With the help of Photoshop, artist Yao Lu has made shanshui — traditional ink paintings — of China's landfills
20 points21 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations