Monday Menu: Fish Fry

Fried Smelt

 It's that time of year again - smelt season.   The usual on-top-of-everything attendant was not behind the fish counter at the Hannaford, and the stand-in didn't know where these fish had come from.  We determined they were from the U.S., but no more specific than that.  (And that's not an artsy drip of sauce, it just plopped there.)

The fish were headless and already cleaned, except for one that I had to do myself.  I also removed all the fins with a pair of shears, except for the tails.

Fried Smelt

They smelled absolutely neutral and tasted that way, too; pan-fried coated in sweet rice flour and spices - but no salt.  I should have added salt prior to cooking.

In order to jazz them up, I made my own tartar sauce from chopped Wickles Pickles, capers, mayo, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.  Dan ate almost the whole pound of fish by himself.

I would have eaten more, but having to do the whole cleaning fish thing when I wasn't expecting it put me right off them. (I need to mentally prepare for that, kind of like when I have to kill lobsters.)