Cooking and Eating Invasive Species on the middle Green River

By Karrigan S. Börk

Our ecogeomorphology class sampled five invasive species during our float down the middle Green River. We started with whitefish fried in taco sauce, followed with brown trout steamed with , , and , then sampled a simple catfish preparation with salt, pepper, and butter. We also steamed rainbow trout in the same manner as the browns, and finished with Indian smallmouth bass in garlic butter. Recipes are presented below.

Fillet the whitefish and cut fillets lengthwise into two pieces to Whitefish in Taco Sauce remove the row of bones running perpendicular to the spine 1 large whitefish above the ribcage. Chunk the fillets and add to a hot saucepan Olive oil doused in olive oil and powdered with the taco seasoning. Cook Taco seasoning whitefish until the chunked fish begins to flake, ~ 10 minutes, Salt and pepper to taste turning throughout. Fresh whitefish tastes better than fresh trout,

and the taco flavorings complement the light fish flavor.

Steamed Brown or Rainbow Trout Remove the head from the trout. Slit the belly and with Onion and Garlic remove the entrails, making sure to remove dark the 1 large trout kidney line along the underside of the spine. Stuff the Aluminum foil sufficient to enclose body cavity with 3/4 of the onion, 3 cloves garlic, 2 T the trout butter, and salt 1 coarsely chopped and pepper to 4 T butter taste. Place 4 cloves garlic the trout in the salt and pepper to taste aluminum foil and lay the remaining butter, onion, garlic, and additional salt and pepper along the top of the trout. Wrap the trout in the aluminum foil and place the trout directly on the hot embers of a campfire, cooking roughly ten minutes per side. Unwrap the fish and check for doneness after 20 minutes; the flesh should flake away from the spine in the thickest part of the fish. When the fish is done, remove the aluminum foil and peel back the skin from the top side of the trout. Flake all the meat off the top side of the fish, leaving the backbone exposed. Lift backbone, fins, and tail from remaining meat, and then return flaked meat from the top side of the fish, leaving a bone-free trout. Serve with the butter, garlic, and Buttered Catfish onion sauce. Almost as good as 2 catfish fillets Whitefish in Taco Sauce. Figure 1 . Pre-dinner gut analysis on butter a large rainbow trout. salt and pepper Use catfish from clean, coldwater streams for best flavor. Slather the catfish fillets in butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Wrap fillets in foil and cook directly on the campfire embers, flipping after 5 minutes. Check doneness after 10 total minutes; done catfish should flake easily. Serve immediately, with the butter as a . Simple but elegant, this preparation allows the clean catfish taste to shine.

Indian Smallmouth Bass Prepare in the same manner as steamed trout above, but scale the in Garlic Butter smallmouth before cleaning. Also replace onion with curry, and 1 very large smallmouth distribute the curry powder evenly inside and outside the fish. 4 T curry powder Cooking proceeds in the same manner as above. This meal’s 4 T crushed garlic strength lies in the combination of the sweet smallmouth meat 4 T butter with the unexpected curry powder. salt and pepper to taste