Trout Farming Weiss

Josef Weiss and Gut Steinbach - an idea that connects. If the fish is good, it tastes even without seasoning!

Josef Wes with his trout farm in Eisenärzt in the Traunstein district is one of our suppliers of freshly caught trout. Josef "Sepp" Weiss has been the owner of the Forellenhof for many decades, a restaurant in which one can eat excellent trout from the in-house breeding of all kinds. He is also the owner of 20 fish ponds that are spread around the Forellenhof. There he breeds completely regionally with hatching fish, which he raises in his ponds in a regulated state with noticeable passion. It is important to Sepp that the ponds are not overcrowded, which unfortunately cannot be taken for granted in a breeding farm. Every year over 20,000 trouts leave his trout farm in the inns in the region and go through his own shop counter.

Of course, Sepp Weiß also supplies our Steinbach estate. Our guests will find his specialties both fresh and smoked on the menu in our parlors. But how long does a trout live in the basin with a view of the Chiemgau Alps and what makes the white trout so special? Their rearing takes significantly longer than we initially thought. A trout needs about 1.5 to 2 years from hatching to plate fish. The trouts are always fed with pellets in the morning. By the way, you have to think of it like a piranha feeding. As soon as the pellets are in the water, the fish can no longer be held and snap in a wild mess at the food. It seems to be all about survival. Which is indeed the case.

The warmer the water, the less oxygen there is in the water and the worse the trouts digest. Therefore, they are fed only every two days in hot summers. Depending on the size of the pond, fresh water flows directly from a spring into the different ponds in which the trouts are kept depending on their age and degree of maturity. The smaller the fish, the higher the water temperature can be. The ponds are staggered according to the age of the trouts and the water temperature. Of course, they would eat more on hot days, but that would not do them any good. This guarantees slow, healthy growth. This means better and firmer meat quality for the end product. This is how the trout tastes best in its natural form, completely natural and the comparison with the white sausage, which tastes particularly good in the best quality even without mustard, is obvious

In addition to pure trout farming, Sepp Weiß is a master at smoking fish. The freshly caught trouts are put in 10% brine with crushed juniper berries in our own smoker and then smoked in beech shavings. If you look around in the slaughterhouse, in the restaurant and around the fishing basin, you can see that everything here is still real manual work. Sepp Weiß stands with the net at the pool, feeds his trouts himself and lays the tributaries of the in-house spring in order to give his breeding the highest possible quality, which we as a hotel and restaurant company more than appreciate and pass on to our guests in full.