Smoked trout

Usually not: smoked trout is ready to eat, so you can flake it straight into salads, sandwiches or pasta. If you add it to a hot dish, stir it in near the end so it warms without drying out.

Flake it over buttered or olive-oil-dressed boiled potatoes with dill, lemon and a spoonful of crème fraîche. It also works well folded into scrambled eggs just before they set.

Keep it covered in the fridge and follow the pack’s use-by date; once opened, eat it within two days. Freeze portions you will not use in that time, wrapped tightly, and thaw them in the fridge.

Its smoky, savoury flavour suits lemon, horseradish, dill, capers and crisp cucumber. Try it in a potato salad, pâté or a kedgeree, adding it near the end so it does not break up too much.

Yes: smoked salmon works in the same salads, sandwiches and creamy pasta dishes, though its flavour is often more pronounced. Smoked salmon has 184 kcal and 10.5 g fat per 100 g, compared with 177 kcal and 9.3 g fat in smoked trout.

Smoked trout is salty from the curing and smoking process: a 50 g serving contains 635 mg sodium. Taste it before adding salt to a dish.

It is usually sold as fillets, but small pin bones can remain. Run your fingers gently along the flesh and pull out any bones with clean fingers or tweezers before serving.