These delicious lake trout burgers are the perfect thing to make with some of your big catch. 

By creating chopped trout, and trout paste, then combining them with some breadcrumbs, you can achieve a wonderful burger texture without the use of other binders like egg, which create a strange texture. If you find it very hard to form patties, mix in some more breadcrumbs and try again.*

Since the colour of flesh changes from lake trout to lake trout, your burgers may be pinker or paler than mine. 

If you don’t have access to lake trout, these could be made with any salmonid, like steelhead, rainbow trout, lake whitefish, char, or any salmon.

Harissa can be found in most grocery stores these days. Make sure you try some before adding it to the sauce to evaluate how spicy it is. I’ve found the heat levels of different brands of harissa vary wildly. 

Preserved lemons may be harder to find. You’ll be able to find them at any Middle Eastern or North African grocer, or you could follow an online recipe to make your own. Just keep in mind that they do take several weeks to make. If using, scrape off the inside flesh of the lemon and only use the peels. Though they are an optional ingredient in this recipe, I find they add so much amazing flavour, they’re well worth searching for! 

I made two very large burgers with this recipe to match the large buns I happened to have kicking around, but you could make 4 smaller patties and serve them on normal sized hamburger buns too.