A new era for smoking trout will commence in 2026 – when Toe Paw Council’s generous contribution of classic mature English “OAK” shavings will have matured and dried out to perfection.
A BIG thank you to Toe Paw Council for arranging the unprofessional pruning of a nearby overgrown shabby, ugly and unquestionably dangerous tree to provide more raw materials for TRM inmates’ smokehouse. Photos below show the army of road management engineers, skilled arborists (butchers?), crane operators, truck drivers, Council staff, and ground crew with chainsaws who all contributed to supplying TRM inmates with their future FREE allocation of rare mature English Oak shavings. There was some technical concern on the day of reckoning that they may not have installed enough orange cones but on the “no exit” end of the street where there was hardly any traffic they somehow managed.
In particular, we should acknowledge the Lines Company executive supervisors (Overhead wires had to be disconnected during pruning) who managed the entire destruction without any warnings to neighbours or communications with other ignorant nearby residents. If the property-owning ratepayers had any knowledge of the likely results they would have undoubtedly complained and could have prevented the carnage. Moreso, if anyone had quickly done their basic sums they might have realised that it would have been far more efficient to simply bury any overhead wires from potential tree damage and all of the above team would have been unemployed.
Before it became a danger to humanity, this majestic ancient so-called “protected” (?) relic had survived the Cyclones earlier in 2023 and 2024 when thousands of hectares of pine forest were lost and several other species of English trees were shredded along Taupahi Road and close by on the reserve bordering SH1. Now the rest of the residents in the original Taupahi village on the eastern side of SH1 are wetting themselves wondering who will be next to be targeted by the Council pruning gang?
We cannot help but feel guilty as only the day before we collected a truckload of Manuka tops for the smokehouse. These are thoughtfully left behind each season by the poachers that sneak in to chop down the Manuka for firewood. They take the trunks and left all the bushy tops to dry out ready for us to collect each spring. Turangi’s version of Murphy’s Law applied! Now TRM have several years supply of wood chips and can offer a choice of pilfered dried-out native organically grown unsprayed Manuka or the latest Toe Paw Council’s windfall of classic English Oak shavings spiced with bark. For smoking trout fillets, be patient as the longer the delay, the more the added Oak chips will enhance the smoky fruity wood flavour when it dries out by 2026.
To indicate the strong demand for Taupo smoked trout some previous TRM reports on smoking trout follow:
TRM smoke-house
SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed manages everything south of Auckland) has just been interviewed by a prospective fisho inmate. It was more like an interrogation.
He did not care about Her hanging baskets of flowers or the accommodation, numbers of beds, full size ovens, fridge-freezer units, didn’t even care about the rod racks. He did not even ask about the room rates. SWMBO really admires such gentlemen with their priorities in order. All he cared about was the TRM smoker. Is it free? How big is it? Can it handle 15 trout? That is why She delegated me to answer.
He has promised to take back to Auckland (where else?) a truck load of smoked trout for his family function. It must have been his passport for special leave to come down fishing – only providing he returned with the dinner for everyone.
So we offered to send him some photo evidence. I hope it is adequate to convince him. Of course he has to catch them first.
I was hesitant to remind him of the Daily Limit of three keepers as I am concerned his “three times daily catch” x three nights accommodation arithmetic to arrive at 15 was suspect and he might have cancelled… I’d better warm the smoker up and make sure we have enough dried Manuka.
Photo above of TRM smokehouse at full capacity with 15 trout – 30 fillets. If you lean forward you can almost smell them…
His concerns have been shared by many other anglers ever since the other commercial smoke houses in Turangi closed. Most anglers (unless they are TRM inmates) now have to take their trout up to Taupo where we recommend Bob Dailey at Farmers Discount Meats butcher shop in the Paetiki Shopping Centre – corner of Rifle Range Road and Taharepa Roads. They can vacuum pack the smoked trout with suitable official looking documentation for export certification.
Perfect precedent for tourists to buy smoked trout?…
Recently we were reminded of just how good Taupo trout are. I was returning across a farm on another river carrying a rainbow trout and stopped to thank the farmer for access. We had saved one good specimen of Rainbow trout for him as a reward. He surprised us when he declined the offer saying he only ever ate “Taupo” trout! He suggested the river trout were rubbish…
So to see if we could detect any difference from a fresh run Tongariro trout in similar condition and smoked exactly the same, we held a blind tasting with friends. You guessed it – the farmer was correct! Comparatively, his trout from this ‘other’ river was tasteless.
Why is that? The ‘other’ river trout feed on aquatic bugs and insects. Taupo trout feed on smelt (whitebait) and koura (small fresh-water crayfish). They are what they eat. So given the choice, which would you prefer?
Which is a sneaky way to introduce today’s tricky subject…
As you all know TRM are often at the receiving end of hard questions from TRM fishy inmates.
Despite their ‘maturity’ (what a nice way of describing argumentative elderly dinosaur anglers?) they really are a very perceptive mob so we have to take notice.
It gets worse when they ask SWMBO as well so then I have to comment on their observations.
Their question, year after year, is how can tourists acquire smoked trout (?) leads us to the Tongariro Trout Centre.
What a wonderful treasure the Trout Centre is!
For many years we have it confirmed from Kiwi and overseas visitors who return full of enthusiasm and admiration for the early work and dedication by so many local volunteers.
It is the perfect environment to introduce young people to trout fishing and to enthuse them and educate them about fresh water issues. But again and again we get asked the same difficult-to-answer question…
Where can they buy smoked trout?.
We confess this might be our fault too as the moorish tangy succulent odours from TRM’s smokehouse waft around the motel enhancing their desires.
Anglers cannot help themselves showing off their catch to curious tourists as they cluster around the fish cleaning station and compare their catch.
So naturally the tourists ask questions as the anglers smoke them and take the fillets away to celebrate with their friends.
TRM are also guilty as we often give away smoked trout to encourage goodwill, etc…
Occasionally an angler might pick the wrong time to visit when the river gets flooded or when it just refuses to yield them a few trout to take home. Other anglers realise this and often leave their surplus trout in the freezer for distribution to other inmates.
At the trout centre on kids days during school holidays they have found a way to get around the law charging the kids one (ten dollars?) fee to pay for their one day licence and hire the gear to catch a trout and then smoke it for kids to take home. So why not do it for tourists?
So tourists ask, over and over, why can’t they buy smoked trout? This continual questioning for many years confirm how antiquated and out-of-date our laws and regulations are. Regretfully we are missing a golden opportunity for promoting local tourism.
Then when other inmates admit to them that the Trout Centre managed to identify a loop-hole to get around the law to farm trout for local Maori, they question and ridicule NZ’s legal ethics.
This ‘Trout Farming’ precedent should be celebrated as it proved the legislation interpretation provides for some flexibility when it suits and can be exploited much further in the wider interests of Turangi tourism…
i.e. In Taupo they can sell cooked prawns from a prawn farm direct to the public. So why not smoked trout in Turangi?
Tourists ask – again and again – if the Trout Centre can farm trout and give them away, why can’t they charge an admission fee to include a delicate juicy fillet of smoked trout in the overall experience.
As the iwi Trout Farming arrangement proved the antiquated fresh water fishery laws are capable of radical re-interpretation, it would be a complete win-win for everyone without opening up the wider demand which DOC are terrified might encourage poaching? Any competent person should be able to navigate their way through the obsolete ‘legalese’.
It is only a matter of someone in authority being positive and to have the initiative to realise it would be a no-brainer commercial success. The Taupo Council and Tourist Department and DOC (Department of Conservation) should demand it.
Just do it.
(Photo above of Austrian angler, Herbert, needing TRM’s wheel barrow to deliver some tasty samples for a guest’s summer birthday bbq…)
Even local cafes already sell smoked trout so suitable precedents are well established for the Trout Centre to use too.
i.e. See Creel Cafe advert today & last weekend...
Baby Pear and Almond Tart
Smoked Fish Pie >>>>>>>>
Everything you ever wanted to know about smoking trout
At this time of the year, during late winter spawning runs of trout fresh from Lake Toe-paw, TRM’s electric commercial smokehouse becomes much more important. I was reminded on Sunday when we discovered the wood chips supply was just about exhausted.
But first we need to remind you just how special “smoked trout” are. You cannot buy smoked trout anywhere in NZ. You cannot buy trout either. You have to catch them yourself. That makes them rather “special” as a delicious ready-to-eat gourmet food. But when you also smoke them yourself it puts you up there with the best gourmet chefs. So when you return from TRM with vacuum packed smoked trout you really have something quite unique and everyone will love you..
They can be prepared and served in so many different ways – the various smoked trout recipes deserve a report all of their own. We have had them made (by Lizzie) in a dip, on toast or on crispbread with many different salads, or fritters, or tartines, or rillettes… My favourite is on crackers with sliced avocadoes or fresh asparagus (accompanied by a cold crisp Felton Road Riesling). Heaven! They are all sooooo delicious.
Full instructions for smoking trout at TRM are posted on the wall beside the trout cleaning bench.
These are a guide only.
Some timing flexibility needs to be considered depending on the following factors.
1 Freshness:
Inside the smokehouse the more observant might have noticed rows of nails across the rafters. This is where they used to hang the trout for a day or two before smoking – a relic from the days before deep freezing was possible. Then the flesh dried out and reduced the time factor considerably. The idea was to make the flesh flaky dry and concentrate the moreish taste. So if your trout is fresh out of the river remember it might still be more ‘soggy’ and may need to smoke longer.
2 Size matters:
Obviously larger fish will take longer. The most common treatment is to gut the trout and cut through the ribs to lie the trout on the skin which some refer to as “butterfly” fillets. The time will reduce if the trout are filleted around the ribs and presented without skin. It should be basically common sense but sometimes the strong cup of revival tea makes fishos forgetful.
3 Number:
Obviously one trout will take less time than twenty. So adjust the time accordingly. If in doubt check the smoker after – say 3 hours? – and if they look like they need more smoke treatment then add some kindling for another hour.
4 Heat:
The old smoker used to have all manner of adjustments but over many years of constantly having to fix it we have now what we call a “man proof” oven. There is one simple switch only. Down is on. Up is off. OK? Those expert chefs who insist on 222 degrees or have to know the exact temperature etc. are sent to Toe-paw – Farmers Discount Meats – the big butcher shop in the Paetiki Shopping Centre on the corner of Rifle Range Road and Taharepa Road. Also if you are planning to take them back to West Island wherever they will vacuum pack it with export certification. TRM oven time factor for smoking is best measured in pints. A quick smoke might take two pints. A longer smoke might take a few more.
5 Trout:
Do not try to smoke trout that are not in absolutely peak condition. Avoid anything marginal or slabby or skinny. Avoid Brown Trout. They are never as good as Rainbow Trout. Younger trout are better than tired old hogs. Firm orange flesh colour is best. Having said that, we have had tastings where the guests could not tell the difference between Lake O and Toe-paw trout. They are all good.
6 Type of wood:
This is more important than most realise. TRM locates tracks where contractors have widened the access by slashing down the tops off all the Manuka. Then we wait several months until it completely dries off. Sometimes it might take over a year. Only the tops of the trees are suitable. Only native Manuka qualifies for TRM. Some more picky inmates arrive with their own hewn chips from Apple, Peach, Plum, Nectarine, whatever. Most hard-woods are fine but some are better than others.
7 Brine?
Some prefer to soak the trout in brine or gently rub on brown sugar and salt mix for about an hour (to absorb the moisture?) before smoking. Others who went to a different school prefer a light dash of single malt whiskey and maple syrup or Manuka honey plus a blend of secret spices and herbs. To everyone their own. Truth is they all taste great. The wood chips selection is arguably more important.
8 Wood treatment:
We are often asked how we manage to mash all the dried out tops into small chips suitable for maximum smoke generation. A full load of bushy Manuka tops is reduced down to about two buckets of chips by charging into them with a standard rotary lawn mower and emptying the catcher into the buckets. So now you know. Amount of chips needed for smoking varies from about one handful for a single fillet to up to about five handfuls plus some thicker stems to generate smoke longer for a full load.
9 Which trout?
Lake Toe-paw Rainbow trout are the best in the world. Why? Look at their 100% pure diet of smelt – aka whitebait, and koura – fresh water crayfish. They are what they eat. Evidence: Last season I was lugging a 6 pound plus perfect fat Rainbow trout across a paddock from a remote river not too far from here (It was so long ago I have forgotten the name) when I met the farmer. In typical TRM generous spirit of kindness, for allowing us access, I offered him this splendid fresh trophy trout. Nah he retorted – we only eat Toe-paw trout. OK?
10 TRM’s procedure:
(SWMBO has just bought another large baking tray for placing on the electric element to burn the chips, as the last expensive cast iron frying pan went missing? If this one goes missing then you had better bring your own… It is also recommended to leave the light on when you are smoking your trout so others realise the smoker is in use and will not open the door for a squiz… And don’t forget to turn it off afterwards.
Last, be flexible as everyone has their own best trout smoking recipe. They are all good and some are better than others.
