Hemingway's Trout
Hemingway's Trout "A pan of fried trout can't be bettered,"
Ernest Hemingway wrote, "But there is a good and bad way of frying
them." The good way, according to the novel 1st, is to coat fresh
trout with corn meal, then cook them slowly in bacon drippings until crispy
outside but still moist inside. We've done that—and added some special
touches of our own.
Combine green onions, parsley, lemon juice, and pepper. Sprinkle trout cavities with salt, then spread each with onion mixture. In a wide frying pan over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and drain. Leave 2 or 3 tablespoons of the drippings in pan and reserve remaining drippings. Combine baking mix and cornmeal on a piece of wax paper. Coat trout on both sides with mixture. Arrange half the trout in pan. Cook, turning once, until Fish is lightly browned and flakes readily when prodded in thickest portion with a fork. For a I-inch-thick Fish (measured in thickest portion), allow 10 minutes total —5 minutes on each side. (Allow same ratio of thickness to time—1 inch: 10 minutes—for fish of all thicknesses.) Cook remaining fish in reserved drippings. Slip a bacon strip into cavity of each fish. Garnish with lemon wedges, if desired. Serves 6.