After a successful little fishing trip down in the Gulf I ended up with a pile of speckled trout filets. I grilled them on my Weber gas grill a couple of different ways and both turned out pretty tasty.
The next time I grill these I am going to do a hybrid approach between the two methods and that is what I will put in the recipe card.
Grilled Speckled Trout
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Speckled Trout Filets
- 3 lemons
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp Seafood Magic Seasoning Blend Substitute Old Bay or other seafood seasoning blend.
Instructions
- Rinse the trout and pat dry with paper towels.
- Season the trout liberally with the seafood seasoning
- Slice two of the lemons into thin rounds.
- Juice the third lemon and mix the lemon juice with the melted butter.
- Place a large sheet of aluminum foil on the grill.
- Arrange the lemon rounds all across the surface of the foil.
- Place the trout on top of the bed of lemons.
- Grill on high heat for 15 minutes and baste with butter and lemon juice every five minutes.
- The trout is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 145F and flakes easily.
Notes
I started by coating the specs liberally with Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic seasoning. There isn’t anything remarkable about this blend, it was available and I like it.
If you want to make your own rub then here is a nice blend:
Speckled Trout Seasoning
- 1 tbls seasoned salt (Morton’s or Lawry’s)
- 1 tbls smoked paprika
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp granulated onion
How I Grilled Spec Trout on my Weber
For “Batch A” I sliced a couple of lemons into thin rounds and used them to line the bottom of a disposable aluminum foil pan.
I placed the seasoned trout on top of the lemons, added a few pats of butter and sealed the pan with a piece of aluminum foil.
For “Batch B” I tore off a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil and gave one side a quick spray with some Pam.
I had pre-heated my Weber Genesis on High for fifteen minutes. I placed the foil covered pan on the left side of the grill and the aluminum sheet on the right side of the grill (oiled side up). I placed the rest of the seasoned trout directly on the oiled aluminum and shut the lid.
After 10 minutes I opened the lid and basted the fish on the foil sheet with a 50:50 mix of melted butter and lemon juice. I closed the lid and let the fish cook thee minutes longer. 
After 13 minutes of grilling I took both batches off the grill. The fish was flaking easily and was a little past the ideal temperature of 145F.
The fish that was on the foil did not cleanly release. I had to gently work a spatula under them and give them a little encouragement. No big deal.
The fish in the foil pan was a little difficult to get out; the filets wanted to fall apart. No big deal; just work slow and pay attention.
Here the two batches are side by side. The fish from the pan is on the right; the fish from the foil sheet is on the left.
There were some differences in the final product between the two methods. The fish from the pan had a more intense lemon and butter flavor; not surprising since it was cooked on a bed of steaming lemons. The fish that was grilled on the foil sheet had a more intense “grilled” appearance.
In my opinion, “Batch A” tasted better and “Batch B” looked better. There is no right and wrong here; whatever floats your boat.
You can serve these straight up with some standard side dishes or use them as a starting point for some killer fish tacos.
