Comments on: Yummy Fresh Smelt

By: Elise

Elise — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:41:40 +0000

Gorgeous photo Hank, love the back lighting and the dark plating and background.

Fried whole smelt sound pretty darn tasty too!

By: maria v

maria v — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:11:14 +0000

atherina is what we call little fish in greece – they are my husband’s favorite – we eat them fried, it’s like eating fishy french fries

By: Great White Hunter

Great White Hunter — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:19:23 +0000

I love smelt! When I was in college I cooked at a seafood restaurant in Austin, Texas called Harpoon Henry’s. What an experience that was! We would dredge smelt in an egg wash and cornmeal, then fry them and serve as appetizers at happy hour. They were extremely popular.

By: Sam Sotiropoulos

Sam Sotiropoulos — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:02:34 +0000

Hank, as you know, we Greeks are fans of eating small fish whole… That said, I had an opportunity to go up to the Manitoulin for the smelt run this season and could not get away, so I am green with envy!

By: hank

hank — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:09:52 +0000

I’m up for a Columbia River smelt dip — when would it be? And no, the smelt do not run up the Sacramento, although shad are here now and you can dip net them…

By: Finspot

Finspot — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:10:54 +0000

I hear Spain is a good place to eat little fish…’tho I’m not sure if that’s b/c they like little plates over there or b/c all the big fish are gone. Sigh.

How about a Columbia River smelt-dipping adventure? Can you dip the Sac?

By: lanesvillelady

lanesvillelady — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:47:49 +0000

I remember eating the fried smelts that my mother made when I was a kid! We did eat all of them whole and they were crunchy!

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 25 May 2008 19:33:16 +0000

Hank, I eat’em much like fried anchovies or fries…bone and all, crunch-crunch!

By: adele

adele — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:52:49 +0000

Mmm. I love fried whole fish, and those look delicious.

Are you familiar with Japanese dried fish snacks? They’re made from some variety of anchovy, I believe. They’re dried and seasoned and they go crunch – like fishy potato chips. (Sadly, I don’t get many takers when I offer them to people. They get rather put off by the eyes.)