Smelts

Filed in archive Ingredient Spotlight on January 9, 2007

Isn't my fish guy wonderful? I ordered a pound of smelts, I come home to cook them, and find that he has cleaned EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. THEM. Now tell me he's not awesome. I sometimes avoid buying them even when they look so fresh, because I kinda dread having to pick through every single one, remove heads, remove innards, etc., etc. But for some reason (maybe they weren't busy) Mr. Fish Guy (I really should ask his name) took it upon himself to clean them thoroughly. So all I had to do was dip them in cornstarch (you could marinate them too, but my kids often like them simple, as long as they're crisp) and fry them up. Yum!

Here are two recipes you can try:

Deep Fried Smelts from The Recipe Box
Deep Fried, AND served with Anchovy spaghetti!, from Up Island Eggs

Smelts are much loved, everywhere, from Japan to Russia to Spain. Look, Estonian Fried Smelts! Italian tradition calls for seven kinds of fish on Christmas Eve -- Jon de Lucia shows us on his blog. In Japan, they are soaked in milk to get rid of any fishy smells or flavors, then marinated in a vinegar-soy sauce mixture before deep-frying. You can remove the heads and tails if you wish, but when deep-fried properly they are crunchy and oh-so-good. They are also delicious when grilled -- skewered into S's, or not. M.F.K. Fisher loved them pickled. And Anya Von Bremzen especially recommends using them for making stock for the Russian ukha.