Winter steelhead season is here. While fishing for the migrating anadromous fish is a great sport, unless you plan to stuff your trophy fish, it has to be cooked. Below are four cooking methods gleaned from local aficionados — a professional chef, a backyard barbecue enthusiast and a professional fishing guide. Their recipes and methods range from quick and simple to sophisticated.
Laurel Khan is owner and chef of Mackinaw’s Restaurant on North Market Boulevard in downtown Chehalis.
“Steelhead has a wonderful flavor,” Khan said. “It’s so much more than whitefish.”
She fillets the fish and cuts a six-inch piece, which she covers with her pre-prepared Mackinaws Lemon Dill Sauce. Fish pieces can be cut smaller, she said, making it “easier to judge doneness.”
Mackinaw’s dill sauce has a deliciously sweet dill flavor with a hint of lemon and a pleasant punch provided by Sriracha hot chili sauce that in no way suppresses the flavor of the steelhead, but definitely gives the taste buds something to ponder. The sauce is seasoned with fresh pepper and salt. But not any salt — the recipe calls for kosher salt, and Khan means it.
“Nobody can do one of my recipes using that ‘Morton salt,’” she said.
Khan admitted to withholding an ingredient or two from the dill sauce recipe published here. Like any good chef, she isn’t giving away all of her trade secrets.
Sear the skin-side of the sauce-covered fish in a pan of olive oil before placing it in the oven. Searing releases the skin from the meat when removing it from the pan once the fish is fully cooked. Place the seared fish in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees until done.
Which begs the question: what constitutes “done?”
Ronnie Waller of Evaline is an “avid fisherman” and a great non-professional cooker of fish. He considers his fish done when the meat starts to “flake.”
“When it starts to flake on the outside, but doesn’t look done, it’s done,” Waller said.
The fish will continue to cook in its own internal heat and juices, Waller said, just enough to keep the fish moist, but not let it get overcooked.
Khan disagreed with Waller’s method of determining if the fish is fully cooked, however.
“Press to feel some firmness in the fish, but with some bounce-back,” Khan said.
Unlike Waller’s method, “if the fish looks like it’s flaking, it’s overdone,” she said.
When ready, remove the fish from the oven and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving. Like Waller’s method, Khan said the fish will continue to cook where it sits.
Khan often serves fish entree’s with her Mackinaw Potatoes, her own special brand of au gratin potatoes. For this dish she served the steelhead with Spanakopita, a Greek spinach filo dish with dill and feta cheese. French baby green beans completed the meal. To complement the fish, Khan recommends a Pinot Gris or Chenin Blanc wine.
On the Barbecue
Waller works as deckhand for Raleigh Stone Guide Service. He uses his recipe “every time I cook fish,” he said. Like Khan, Waller prefers to fillet his catch.
First, coat the fillet with mayonnaise and season it with lemon, Johnny’s Seasoning Salt and pepper. Wrap the fish in tin foil and slowly barbecue for 20 to 30 minutes. Cook bacon and onions on the side in pan with butter and olive oil, then pour onto the fish when its about half-way done.
In the Oven
Clancy Holt is a full-time fishing guide who generally likes to keep cooking simple. Unlike Khan and Waller, Holt prefers to cut his steelhead into steaks perpendicular to the backbone.
Dip the steelhead steaks into a bowl of whipped eggs and lemon juice, then roll them through flour. Cook the steaks in a pan of olive oil with butter, Johnny’s Seasoning Salt and pepper.
A fancier recipe Holt recommended involves a whole steelhead. Removing the head, tail and fins, cut slices into the fish perpendicular to the backbone from front to back. Squirt lemon juice on the fish, then wedge orange and apple slices into the cut slots. Top everything with butter, Johnny’s Seasoning Salt and pepper. Place the fish into a foil-lined baking pan and into an oven preheated to 350F. The fish is done once the bone begins to protrude from the cut ends of the fish.
“Very, very tasty,” Holt said.
Mackinaw’s Lemon Dill Sauce
1 cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
Juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon Sriracha hot chili sauce
1 to 2 tablespoon capers
⅓ cup chopped fresh dill
Fresh ground pepper and Kosher salt to taste
Prepare and combine sauce ingredients. The sauce should be thin enough to pour, but stiff enough to stay on top of the fillet. Pour the sauce over a six-inch cut from the fish fillet and sear in a pan of olive oil. Place in a preheated, 350F oven until done.
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Lee Hughes: (360) 807-8239
