Poached Whole Trout

The most famous version of poached trout is truite au bleu— blue trout—named after the blue tint it takes on when it is poached. Blue trout can only be made with a trout that has recently been caught (or pulled out of a tank) and carefully handled (wrap it in waxed paper if you buy it from a fish-market tank). What turns the trout blue is the shiny layer of slime (but good slime) that covers only truly fresh trout. Most of us will have to be content with trout that doesn’t turn blue. But if