Fried Smelt 'Spring in the City'

⏳ Time

40 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

Believe it or not, but in the city, spring doesn't begin until smelt starts being sold on the streets! The fish is not very large, but it's practically boneless and very tasty, with its own special aroma. As locals usually claim, it smells like fresh cucumbers! However, I think it doesn't really resemble cucumbers; it just smells like fresh smelt all over the city every spring.

Ingredients

Smelt - 2 lbs
Salt - to taste
Wheat Flour - 3.5 oz
Vegetable Oil - 3 fl oz
Fish Oil - to taste

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Wash the smelt and lay it out to dry. My grandmother used a regular newspaper for this purpose, while I use either paper towels or a colander. Why dry it? So that during frying, the fish doesn't fall apart but actually fries.

Step 2

Cleaning is perhaps the most tedious and unpleasant task when it comes to any fresh fish, but not with smelt. For each fish, cut off the head and very carefully, so the roe doesn't fall out, pull out the entrails. That's it, the cleaning process is done. If the smelt is small, many cooks simply leave it uncleaned and fry it whole, head included.

Step 3

Next comes the flour and salt. Previously, each smelt was individually coated in flour and placed in the frying pan. Nowadays, it's simpler — we pour flour into a plastic bag, add salt and spices. Shake the bag well to mix the coating. Add the smelt to the bag. Shake it a couple of times — that's it, ready to fry.

Step 4

Take a larger frying pan, heat it with oil, and lay the fish in a single layer so that in about 10–15 minutes, you can flip them all at once, rather than one by one. Fry on high heat, flipping only once!