Lake Trout: Who Knew?

My wife and I just finished watching the full run of the HBO series The Wire on DVD from Netflix.  Absolutely brilliant, gripping, and for me, at least, proof positive that television shows--yes, television--will be considered the high literature of our day fifty years in the future.

Part of the reason is that the show captures the city of Baltimore in the way that no one has captured a city since Raymond Chandler portrayed L.A. in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.  There's a throw-away line somewhere in season 3 or 4 where someone mentions "lake trout" and notes that it's neither a trout nor from a lake.

And I had no idea what they were talking about until I saw John T. Edge's United Tastes piece on it in the New York Times.  As it turns out, Atlantic whiting is the most commonly used fish for "lake trout".  It's a great piece, and makes me want to learn more about Baltimore.  A fascinating city.