NOOJEE | Trout is one of my favourite fish. It’s versatile, affordable, sustainable, and delicious. Driving along the Baw Baw highway in Noojee, on the first day of my Gippsland road trip, I saw a sign for Alpine Trout Farm, and popped in to pick up some fish.
Alpine Trout Farm has been operating for 45 years, but had become quite run down when current owners Mate and David Batarilo, and their nephew Michael bought it in 2009. The family set about revamping the farm using a low stocking, low stress philosophy, and word class cleanliness and biosecurity processes.
Today, their trout is found whole, in fillets, smoked and as caviar at Melbourne and Sydney’s fish markets, as well as other retailers, and even abroad. But there’s nothing like buying your fish from the source.
You can fish for your own trout (all equipment is provided) at the farm. I usually oven bake my fresh trout with a bit of lemon, salt, and olive oil, but on this occasion I decided to grab some of the smoked trout, which had been hot smoked on the morning of my visit.
I found a nearby park to stop at, and enjoy my fish, and yeah, it’s great. Flaky, flavoursome, with a beautiful balance between fresh caught and subtle smoke in each bite. Exactly what I look for in hit smoked trout.
The smoked trout lasts about a week if you buy it unsealed (perfect for my road trip) and keep it cold, and about three weeks kept cold if you go for the vac sealed option.
Alpine Trout Farm
115 Mt Baw Baw Tourist Road
Noojee
Victoria 3833
Australia
Telephone: (03) 5628 9584
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Sun – Sat: 10:30am to 4:00pm