Fry the smelt for 5 minutes in a frying pan with oil. Small smelt does not need to be cleaned, but very large smelt should be gutted and washed inside and out.
How to fry smelt
Products
Smelt – 500 grams, preferably small (up to 15 cm), if large, then it must be scraped off the scales and gutted
Sunflower oil – 7 tablespoons
Flour or crackers crushed into crumbs – half a glass
Water – 3 tablespoons
Breadcrumbs – 2 tablespoons
How fry smelt
1. Rinse the fish, put in a colander to dry slightly.
2. Sprinkle the smelt with salt, grind the fish between each other, and leave for half an hour.
3. Break the egg into a deep bowl, pour in water and beat with a fork.
4. Heat the pan, pour in the oil.
5. Dip each smelt in the egg mixture, then roll in the breadcrumbs and place in the skillet.
6. Fry the smelt for 5 minutes, then turn over and fry for another 5 minutes.
How to serve : a slide on parchment so that excess fat drains and the fish remains crispy. The most delicious smelt is immediately after frying, as a rule, smelt is fried on the spot and during the meal.
How to eat smelt : Tear off the tail, mash the fish slightly and pull the spine along with the head. Everything but the backbone is eaten.
Tasty Facts
– Before cleaning, the smelt should be sorted out – small smelt does not need to be cleaned and gutted. Large smelt should be cleaned of scales, remove the head and entrails without touching the bladder (otherwise the fish will taste bitter).
– The price of smelt in the season is 100 rubles / 1 kilogram, in the off-season – from 400 rubles / 1 kilogram of frozen fish (on average in Moscow as of May 2019).
– Calorie content of fried smelt – 195 kcal / 100 grams.
– High-quality smelt smells like pickled cucumbers or watermelon.
– Fresh smelt can be bought from mid-spring to early summer, depending on the onset of heat. In Russia, smelt lives in St. Petersburg in the Neva, it is sold fresh in season at local markets. It also lives in the lakes of the Volga, Onega, Pechora and Baltic Sea basins.
– Serve smelt immediately after frying on a hot plate so that the fish does not have time to cool. The classic serving of fried smelt includes a side dish of boiled potatoes with butter and herbs, as well as a vegetable salad.
– The most delicious smelt for frying is medium in size, 12-15 centimeters long.
– Smelt In Russia, smelt lives on Sakhalin and in St. Petersburg in the Neva, it is sold fresh in season at local markets. It is in May that the Smelt Festival takes place in St. Petersburg. 2019 has been declared the International Year of the Salmon, and since smelt is a salmon fish, the holiday is almost of federal importance.