Steelhead Fish

A friend of mine from school, gave us a  huge steelhead fish  that her husband caught at Lake Eerie.  I am not  particular with the kind of fish around here  but was  grateful to be given such a blessing.  I have never cooked   this kind of fish before but I am willing to give it a try since I  love fish.  But before that, let me share this information I got from National Wildlife Federation.

According to nwf.prg, the scientific name of the steelhead fish or  rainbow trout is  Oncorhynchus mykiss and its previous names include Salmo gairdneriand and Salmo irideus. The rainbow trout and steelhead are ray-finned fishes in the salmon family, and they are one of the top sport fish in North America. Rainbow trout and steelhead are the same species, but they have different lifestyles. Steelhead are anadromous, meaning they spend part of their lives in the sea, while rainbow trout spend their lives mostly or entirely in freshwater. 

Because of their different lifestyles rainbow trout and steelhead are different in appearance, most noticeably in size and color. Rainbow trout derive their name from their beautiful, multi-hued coloration. Their bodies are blue, green or yellowish, shading to silvery white on the underside, with a horizontal pink-red stripe running from the gills to the tail and black spots along their backs. Steelhead are generally more streamlined in shape and silvery or brassy in color as adults, earning them the name steelhead.

 I asked my friend's husband how to cook it and he told me that he usually  broil  it and then deep fry it.  I was going to do that too but the  fish is too big and long and it wouldn't fit into my broiler so I decided to just put it in the new grill that my husband just put together the other day.  

The fish was frozen when it was given to me, I did not thaw it out and just went ahead and stuffed the belly with ginger and lemon grass. I seasoned it and added some onions and tomatoes on top before I wrapped it with foil.

 I steamed it for about an hour and smelled so good.  

 The meat wasn't flaky as  I have imagined it to be.  I don't know if it's because  I  put it in the grill when it wasn't thawed out or it is  just the normal consistency of the fish's meat.  Never the less, I  ate it with rice and it  hit the spot.  

I removed all the bones from  rest of the fish and made it into  fish patties  or fish cakes as my husband  called it, you can check the recipe here.