Smelt!

[agnolottigirl]

That's the whole question over there in the subject line. I hadn't seen them in the store before and I figured what the heck, they're less than two bucks a pound. But now I realize. . . no idea what to do with them.

Frying, I think, right? But heads or no heads? Bones or no bones? Guts or no guts?

Help!

[melkor]

Bury them in the yard. Smelt should have made my axis of evil list

[agnolottigirl]

Bury them in the yard. Smelt should have made my axis of evil list

Oh, man. . . . so what you're telling me is, I can't actually treat them like big sardines. Or are they on the No list too? (That would make me feel better about the smelt, actually.)

[snowangel]

Every spring, countless places that serve pizza and whatever (often a combo of chow mein and pizza )have "smelt fries." My husband, fishing and local fish expert says "you don't want smelt. If you have to have them, head and gut them and deep fry them."

While Paul does not cook (another He That Only Eats, Suzanne), he knows what to do (and what not to do) with game.

Paul's other comment was "$2/pound? That's the clue..."

[agnolottigirl]

Mmhmm. My smelt are starting to sound less like cheap edible protein and more like expensive fertilizer. Thanks. . . . .

[WolfChef]

My dad and older relatives always dusted em in seasoned flour (flour, salt, pepper and whatever else you like) and fried em in butter. Just gutted and headless. Most would peel the cooked skin off and eat the flesh. It's not walleye, but it's better than bullhead.

[dls]

My dad and older relatives always dusted em in seasoned flour (flour, salt, pepper and whatever else you like) and fried em in butter. Just gutted and headless. Most would peel the cooked skin off and eat the flesh. It's not walleye, but it's better than bullhead.

God - I miss the smelt days. A number of years ago, during the seasonal smelt runs in Chicago, a large group of us would go to the rocks or piers off Lake Michigan at night. Besides a great all night party excluding spouses/significant others, we would catch 100s, if not 1,000s of smelt and prepare them as we caught them like your dad did (group rookies [carefully selected] had the cleaning chore). Sort of a male bonding kind of thing.

Reached a point where I had to declare the following day a holiday at my office since nobody showed up anyway. Brought the annual smelt party to a conclusion when we we had to go in limousines due to heightened DUI laws. Just didn't seem right.

[Suzanne F]

God - I miss the smelt days.

Me too. We lived in Detroit for a few years, and among the good things about it I can count on 1 hand is eating smelts. Lop off their heads, gut them, roll them in seasoned flour and/or cornmeal, and fry them. A perfect vehicle for tartar sauce!

[Jeffy Boy]

You should leave the heads on when you cook them. That will become the "handle" for pulling off the backbone after they're cooked!

They're easy to clean - just slit them up the belly, and run your thumb through to gut them. Dip them in some salted milk, then dredge in flour, and cook in about 3/4 inch of oil in a heavy pan. Drain on paper towel, and serve immediately. If you have lots of smelt, just turn it into a cooking/eating production line.

Eat them with your hands - just grab the head and pull it off. The backbone will come with it. Dip in mayonnaise, eat and wash down with cold beer. Repeat until smelts or beer are gone!

[Mottmott]

My mother used to make these when I was a kid, pretty much as described above except that she breaded hers. It was so long ago I can't recall whether they were heads on or off. Probably I would have remembered heads on, though.

[APPS411]

As "Jeff Boy" stated above.

The smaller the better. If they are real small, the backbone actually is edible after frying. We like to hit them w/ a splash of vinegar and fresh lemon and sometime dip in tartar sauce. good stuff

[hathor]

Smelts are really good. Go with head on and gut. We used to deep fry them on Catholic Fridays when I was growing up. My mom would leave the house and my father and I would have a feast. Lots of salt, grease and lemon. What could be better??

[melkor]

Lots of salt, grease and lemon. What could be better??

steak

[agnolottigirl]

OK, so by dinner time the first posters had scared me off the idea of cooking the smelt last night, but today it looks like the pro-smelt lobby is on top. . . almost lunchtime. . . . stay tuned.

Thanks, all!

[melkor]

I wasn't saying you shouldn't cook them - I said you shouldn't eat them. You can't get the full smelt experience if you don't try one before you use the rest of them to fertilize your garden.

[agnolottigirl]

LOL LOL LOL--thanks, melkor!

[FistFullaRoux]

The ideal use for smelt?

Bait. Use them to catch some decent fish.

If it's all you have, you can give them a whirl. But be warned, they are strong, oily lil buggers.

If it were me, I'd try to catch a tuna.

[scottie]

As a kid, I always loved smelt when my mother made them. They were up there with Welsh Rabbit, in terms of cheapness and child approval. She always fried them in a cornmeal coating. I think they were gutted, but I do remember she said you could eat the bones, so we did. Calcium!

I hope you eat them and enjoy them. The one time I have ever made smelt myself, it was as a substitute for some other tiny fish in an Indonesian recipe. And you know what- they were pretty good!

So enjoy, and let us know how they came out.

[AuntieEm]

Wow, I suddenly remembered a recipe I had years ago, saved with care but never made, for whole smelt baked in a rye bread crust with bacon and onions..it was Scandinavian, maybe Finnish...It was baked for a really long time, 4-5 hours and the little bones just "melted" into the pie..

I remember that it sounded like a great winter's day project. I think the name had something to do with rooster.....Now I have to go google just to see if I'm delusional!

Here it is!

(edited to add link)

Edited February 11, 2004 by AuntieEm (log)

[curlywurlyfi]

was leafing through the Alice B Toklas Cook Book last night and whammo, recipe for smelt! was late at night and I wasn't concentrating but seem to remember it involved lemon parsley + garlic (ie all the usual strong-flavoured fish suspects). If they're still good to go, and haven't been turned into garden mulch yet, and you have a copy of the book, it's about 2/3 of the way through.

Please do tell me if this is the least useful post you've ever read...

Fi

[Huevos del Toro]

A quick dip in flour and into the frypan. I dipped them from their river run back in the 50’s. Big dip net on a long pole. Sometimes I’d have to dump some out because the net would be so full I couldn’t pull it in. Our favorite was to simply dust them in seasoned flour and fry ‘em up.

The neighbor converted an old refrigerator into a smoker. Pull the fish guts out, put a hotplate in the bottom of the refrigerator. Add an old aluminum saucepan filled with wood chips. I have no idea what kind of wood! Then hang the smelt from the wires on the racks. Smoke ‘em ‘till their done, then fight over who got to them first!

I’ve eaten a lot of different fish but smelt have to be one of my all time favorites. A classy fish if they’re done right! Nothing beats netting them yourself. The season is short but the riverbank is crowded when they’re running.

It appears the limit is now 20 pounds a day. I used to net that much in 10 minutes from the Cowlitz river at Castle Rock, a tributary of the Columbia.

[budrichard]

First, the fresher the better! Second grab a sharp pair of scissors. Use the scissors to cut off the fins and heads while pushing the guts out of the body, you can use the scissors to open the belly also.

Third, prepare your coating/batter. Fourth, prepare your dipping sauces. Fifth fry in whatever oil you want and eat with dips and beer. There is a palatable difference for smelt fresh from the water to those purchased fresh in a market. -Dick

[mudbug]

I can't believe so many people are bashing smelt! I LOVE smelt, and they're not easily obtainable everywhere.

Quick fry them with a light coating of corn starch and S&P. Heads on or off, however you prefer.

Keep it simple. If you don't like them, send the rest to me!

[Katherine]

My MIL used to dip them in flour and fry them in god knows what grease, yee.

My favorite smelt recipe:

Clean them, remove head, fins, and backbone. Layer in a pan with thinly sliced lemons. After several hours, remove from the lemons, shake off worms , double bread and fry.

[Tracy K.]

dls failed to mention that there is a tradition among some of the smelters here in Chicago--there's a little ceremony that happens when you catch the first one. You must bite it's head off.

(Sorry...just the facts, Ma'am...)