Trout Marguery

Trout Marguery is New Orleans royalty, honey. This is the dish that put Louisiana trout on the map, and one bite tells you why it’s survived generations of Creole kitchens.

Three pounds of trout tenderloin get rubbed with olive oil and baked until flaky. While the fish is in the oven, you build the sauce: egg yolks, lemon juice, and melted butter form a rich, hollandaise-style base, then chopped shrimp, crab meat, sliced mushrooms, and oyster liqueur get stirred in.

Pour that lavish sauce right over the baked trout and serve immediately. It’s indulgent, it’s unapologetic, and it tastes like a Friday night on Magazine Street.

Pro Tips

• The sauce is essentially a hollandaise loaded with seafood. Keep the heat gentle when combining the egg yolks and butter so it emulsifies rather than scrambles.
• Use real lump crab meat, not imitation. You can taste the difference in a sauce this simple.
• Oyster liqueur (the briny liquid from shucked oysters) adds a deep, briny backbone. If you can’t find it, a splash of clam juice works in a pinch.