Species sheet · The Edible River
Lake trout
The big grey char haunting the deep water.
- Grilled or roasted fillets, skin crisped
- Hot-smoked and flaked into a spread
- In a creamy chowder with potatoes
- In French
- Cristivomer
- Scientific name
- Salvelinus namaycush
- In the water
- A char of the large, cold, deep lakes of North America, introduced to a few high Alpine lakes, hunting near the bottom where the water stays icy all summer.
- Season & buying
- Fished from spring to autumn on open lakes and through the ice in Canada in winter; its slow growth calls for strict quotas.
- Common length
- ~50 cm
- How to identify it
- Grey-green coat scattered with pale spots
Clearly forked tail, unusual among chars
Large toothy mouth and elongated head
On the plate
White to orange flesh, fairly fatty, with a pronounced lake flavour that grows stronger in big fish.
Avoid: Picking the biggest: they are fatty and strong, while mid-sized fish have the finest flesh.
It grows slowly and can live for decades: the metre-long giants are often older than the anglers who land them.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
