r/AskCulinary • u/Ok-Technician-2905 • 2d ago
Trout Almondine - how do you get a crispy skin?
I had trout almondine in a French restaurant and the skin was wonderfully crispy. I’ve tried at home but the skin side always comes out soft/soggy. I’ve been lightly flouring the trout fillets (both sides), and then putting them skin-side down in very hot oil for about 2-3 minutes before flipping them. Any ideas?
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u/Ok-Hair7205 1d ago
Don’t forget to dry the fish thoroughly with paper towels. If you add flour to a fish with moisture inside or on the surface, the coating turns to mush and no amount of frying will fix that. (Are you using thawed fish? There’s often a lot of hidden ice crystals inside which will exude water when heated)
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u/Throwyourtoothbrush 2d ago
Corn starch. Check out this recipe. It's method works really well for me https://www.seriouseats.com/trout-almondine-recipe-8728416
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u/dRagTheLaKe1692 1d ago
Pat skin side with paper towel. Add a couple shallow slits and some salt. Put it on a rack in the fridge with more paper towels on it. Hot pan with fat. Cook it almost entirely on skin side and when it's crispy flip It and turn the fire off. That's how I do it anyways
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u/Cryatos1 2d ago
The way to get it crispy is to do 90% of the cooking on the skin side.
Get your pan screaming hot before adding the fish and just leave it alone. No need to dredge it otherwise.
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u/DrOddcat 2d ago
I cook what my dad calls American fries in the skillet first. Par cook a potato in the microwave or oven so it’s about halfway to baked potato. Cut into rings then toss into the skillet with just enough oil to keep everything slippy and the potatoes lightly frying. This builds up starch in the pan and oil, which I then cook the trout in.
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u/Mitch_Darklighter 2d ago
A lot of people dredge with Wondra flour or cornstarch, which certainly helps. However it's entirely possible to get super crispy skin without adding any starch.
First, scrape the skin with the edge of your knife a couple times, tail to head. This coaxes some moisture out, and moisture is the enemy of crispy. Then wipe or pat the skin down thoroughly with paper towels, and salt it.
When you're frying the trout you want to add it to a medium hot pan with a small amount of oil, shake slightly to distribute the oil, and press it down so the whole of the skin is in contact with the pan. It'll want to curl up, and you need to keep it from doing that. It's best to use a hand but a thin flexible fish spatula works well too. After a few seconds it will stick flat, which believe it or not, is a good thing. I prefer to pop the whole pan in a 425 degree oven at this point, that way the skin remains in contact with the pan through the whole cooking process. After about 5 minutes it should be done, use your judgement here. Remove from the oven, slide that thin flexible spatula under the skin, wiggle and lift, and it will pop free from the pan.
Same technique for salmon.