Trout, Sea Trout & Salmon

When spoon and chopping board are not close to me, the river and rod invariably are; here I must remember that this is a cookery book, not a fishing book. All parts of finding the breakfast tiddler or wily hook-jaw, then catching them, offer as much pleasure to me as their preparation and eating. When fishing I am under the same spell as I am in the kitchen. All becomes guided by curious hunches, instinct and rule-breaking.

Britain is home to indigenous brown trout (closest to my heart) and the rainbow trout. The latter arrived here from the United States and, although mainly farmed now, also secretively breeds in a few particularly pretty rivers. Both are good, with firm and delicate-tasting flesh, except when taken from silted or muddy waters.