Mr. Bunkycooks has Gone Fishin’ at the Sunburst Trout Farm in Canton, North Carolina!
I wish I had some smoked trout dip to go with my glass of wine right about now!
The Bunkycooks took home some fresh trout fillets and an assortment of other trout products. The dip and the cold smoked trout barely made it home thanks to Mr. Bunkycooks! If any readers are interested, you can order any of the Sunburst Trout products through their website. They will pack your goodies in dry ice and send them your way overnight! You can also find their products at select stores and farmers’ markets. If you have never tried this trout, I suggest you do! It is totally different than any other trout you will ever have!
This is the purtiest fresh fish I have ever seen! I could not wait to prepare it!
The only thing we have not devoured yet is the caviar. Mr. Bunkycooks likes it, but I am on the fence, so we are saving it for a fancy cocktail party with caviar eating friends. Anna Eason says that her two little girls (the 4th generation of Sunburst) devour the stuff and fight over it. Maybe I should invite them over to eat it!
Now if Mr. Bunkycooks would only quit fishing! I have some trout in the cooler!
Below is a recipe for Sunburst Trout that was inspired by a buttermilk salad dressing that I had at The Grove Park Inn. I thought the flavors in it would be a perfect accompaniment to the mild taste of the trout. I was right! It was delicious!
Sunburst Trout with a Buttermilk Vidalia Onion and Chive Sauce
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 Sunburst trout fillets (9 ounces each) or any other nice, fresh trout fillets
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons sour cream (I used low-fat)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon finely chopped Vidalia onion
1/8 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped chives
Fresh lime slices
Directions:
Rinse trout fillets and gently pat dry with paper towels. Place in a large glass pan, flesh side up.
Whisk the first six ingredients together. Drizzle some of this mixture over trout to marinate (just enough to mostly cover the top of the fish). I used about a half of the mixture. Let this sit for thirty minutes.
Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, with just enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the skillet (one or two tablespoons). When the skillet is very hot, add the trout flesh side down. Sear for approximately for to five minutes until it is nicely caramelized. Carefully turn fish over and sear skin side until almost crispy, another two or three minutes. Do not over cook the fish! Remove from the pan and place on a serving dish.
Mix the chives into the remaining buttermilk mixture and drizzle over the fish. Serve with a nice squeeze of fresh lime juice.
Just another great article by Bunkycooks helping farmers in NC show folks how local food and fish are so good for what ails you!
Thank you Martha!
It’s good for what ails me! I actually crave this fish and that is something I have never done before! Lobster maybe, but never trout!
Gwen
Great article! I love how they have managed a sustainable way of fishing. That fish is pretty neat-looking, and trout and vidalia must be such a great match. Thanks for caring and sharing.
Thank you Belinda!
Their way of farming trout will become even more important as we experience the loss of more fish and seafood from the oceans and rivers. This sauce/dressing was perfect and light for the trout. I hope you give it a try!
Gwen
The color of that trout is so pretty! I love that he appeared, fully decked out in his waders.
Hi Dara,
Mr. Bunkycooks has lost his mind, but we are having fun! BTW, the trout is beautiful. I have never seen or tasted anything like it.
Gwen
The things that I have to do…… I work for great food.
Yeah, yeah, yeah…;)
Wow! This sounds like an awesome place, you were so fortunate to get to visit and see all the “behind-the-scenes” action and share it with us! I will defintiely check out their website! Plus, Mr. Bunkycooks looks like a pretty serious fisherman, I am impressed. 🙂
Hi there!
Sunburst Trout was a fun place to visit and the Easons are delightful people! Their trout truly is phenomenal. You should try it if you can!
Mr. Bunkycooks has done a fair amount of fishing over the years, so he has all the gear. However, that was one sorry fish that he caught in that photo! 🙁
Gwen
Another great post! I love trout, and it was exciting to see the process it takes to move it from the water to my plate. ( I love how you focus on so much sustainable food production) And what a tempting dish you featured! I was drooling at first site. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Monet,
Thank you for the comment. There are so many great farmers in this area that are all focused on providing great, local food. It is a pleasure to get to know them and write about it and cook the good stuff! 🙂
Gwen
I have been concerned about farm raised seafood. It is nice to know that there are farms like this that ensure the quality and purity of their product. It just goes to show that you really need to know where your food comes from. Thanks again for showcasing these small, sustainable farms. They are so important to our future.
I agree, David. I think that there definitely is an increase (in this part of the country anyway), to go back to smaller farms and find ways to become sustainable.
I think Sunburst has done a great job of providing a premium trout in a safe and pesticide-free environment. I do think that we will have to rely on these types of farms for much of our fish in the future. Hopefully, others will follow Sunburst’s lead.
What a gloriously perfect North Carolina day you had for that visit. I’m glad that there are folks around that care so much about the environment and fish. It’s also nice to see some in our back yard. Thanks for another wonderful post.
The weather has been glorious, but hot! There are many folks in this part of the country that are really concerned with providing a safe and delicious food product. It is great to be able to get to meet some of them!
What a great and informative post this is! And the recipe… it sounds so delicious and the pics are stunning!
I have been and still am pretty paranoid about farm raised fish- for some reason I decided to research and write a paper on practices of salmon farming when I was in law school- random, I know. What I learned there made me very fearful of farm raised. It looks like there is hope though! Beautiful picture at the top!
I think you will find that this trout is very different. We will never buy farm raised fish, but now that I have seen where this comes from and know the story, I will only buy this trout. Otherwise, we will only buy wild caught fish from the ocean.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bunkycooks:
Please take us with you on your next adventure.
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. RGBistro
P.S. I LOVE reading about your travels!!!
Hi Kim!
I think it would be fun to do a post together! You need to head our way or we can head out West sometime…it would be fun! We all have great food and wine!
Gwen
gosh… bring on more stories. love it
Hi Penny,
We love doing it! Thanks!
I hope we will be able to continue the stories!
Gwen
This was great! Cashiers is on my list of places to visit; I’ve been told it’s beautiful. This farm looks like they’ve got the right idea and that fish looks so fresh and delicious! What a great adventure, thank you for sharing it with us!
Hi Julie,
This farm is actually in Canton, NC. It is not too far from Cashiers. All of Western NC is a pretty place, so you cannot go wrong visiting this part of the country!
Gwen
I ADORE smoked trout and am sure if I were also in the car with you, there would definitely be nothing left but a little fishy smell by the time we got home!
Hi Connor,
I think we should share some smoke trout! If you can party with Mardi, you can party with us! 🙂
Mr. & Mrs. Bunkycooks
I’m so happy the Bunkycooks have been “on the road” so much, and appear to be having a grand time, because these are fabulous posts, taking a look behind the scenes. I didn’t know Mr. Bunkycooks was such a fly fishing fan! I LOVE fly fishing and would have probably been in my waders too if you mentioned trout. The smoked trout, and your creation with the buttermilk sauce, both sound delicious!
Hi Denise,
We are having fun and I am really enjoying meeting some new folks. If you head our way you know the fly fishing will be great…bring your waders!
Gwen
The French Broad river and the Davidson river flow through Western North Carolina and are rated top trout rivers in the United States. The mountains of North Carolina are truly beautiful with lots to do.
what a great company and a great way of farming fish in natural waters – and the trout recipe, I can’t wait to try this one, it sounds incredible
Hi Drick,
I hope you will try this dish…in between the wild NOLA cooking!
Gwen
Great Photos! The Buttermilk Trout looks sounds Great! We may be asking you if we can use it for our recipe of the month in September.
Hi Charles,
I am glad that you enjoyed the photos. You can definitely use the recipe next month! That would be great.
Gwen
The trout dish is superb (and glad you explained about the coloring…I seriously thought it to be a salmon)…Wonderful write up. I must say I am an all wild caught girl, but I am appreciative of them from the information in your post…I like what they are doing from what I have read here. Love the photos, especially Mr. Bunkycooks and his prize catch, adorable 🙂
The color of the fish really is very pretty and their trout has a really nice firm texture. It is not mushy like some other trout I have had. I hope that other fish farms start to operate more like Sunburst. I think we would all have second thoughts about farm raised fish then.
Wow. That is one of the most delicious looking trouts I have ever seen. Love the post too.
Great to learn about Sunburst, what a wonderful experience. The trout is so pretty and you’ve made an excellent dish with it!
Hi @sara
@5starfoodie
Thank you for the comments. This was a lot of fun and I had their trout several times prior to the visit, so I was really excited to see their farm!
Dear Gwen – What a wonderful, educational article – finally the mystery of why some trout look like pink salmon – solved!!!
So wonderful that you are doing these posts and we are all so much more informed becuase of your efforts. The sauce on the fish is lovely and I must try it soon and hooray for farm raised fish 🙂
Hugs, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
PS – Come on now, you can’t deny Mr. Bunky his opportunity to play dress up 🙂
Hi Devaki,
Yes, Mr. Bunkycooks is having fun…it has come to this?! That is what he says, but it still is fun!
This farm raised fish is so different. After seeing this trout farm, we feel more confident in eating this fish than we do in most wild caught fish from unknown sources.
Gwen
Who doesn’t love trout?! such a delicious sounding recipe.. you get to go on some pretty cool adventures and meet some awesome people along the way!
That’s some good looking trout and your photos are great! I’m new here and will be looking at more of your stories! Love your writing!
I am glad that you stopped by Pam and hope you will come back often!
That is a gorgeous trout recipe! Love the presentation and photo 🙂 Mr Bunkycooks looks adorable in his waders ROFL