Smelt - 12 recipes for preparing delicious fish

Today I have a good day, I bought smelt. The aroma permeates the entire apartment! And this is an occasion to share recipes for cooking smelt with my readers. Smelt is a small but incredibly tasty fish with an unusual feature - it smells like fresh cucumber. Found in the Baltic and North Seas. We, residents of the Kaliningrad Baltic, always look forward to the start of Putin at the end of March. When it begins, there is a holiday in the city. Everyone comes running to the smell of cucumber.

Residents of St. Petersburg enjoy fish a little later, in May, when smelt spawns in the Neva. Many people think that the king fish, as Peter I called it, can only be fried. Meanwhile, there are many cooking options, and you can fry it in different ways.

How to cook delicious smelt

The fish is dried, salted, marinated, baked in the oven, stewed, and simply fried.

I can’t call myself an experienced housewife, modesty doesn’t allow it, but I know a lot about cooking fish. Therefore, keep a few important tips that will help you not to be disappointed:

If you are not lazy and the fish is large enough, clean it. I’m lazy, and I don’t think it’s necessary, since this fact doesn’t affect the taste in any way. Unless the cooking technology requires it. For example, this cannot be avoided when pickling.
Smelt does not require a lot of seasoning, otherwise you will not recognize the real taste of this priceless fish. Place carefully if the dish is complex. When frying, it is better to do without any additions at all.
Fish often sticks to the pan. To prevent this from happening, salt the bottom of the pan rather than the smelt carcasses. As a result, it will easily turn over and not fall apart. This advice will come in handy when frying any fish, even if it has been frozen more than once.

How to fry smelt in a frying pan

It is better to fry small fish without bothering with cleaning.

Take: fish, flour, salt, butter.

Fry:

Rinse the carcasses, let the water drain, and dry with paper towels.
Pour oil into the frying pan and salt it over the entire diameter.
Dip the carcasses in flour and place in hot oil. Don't go far, small fish are fried in a matter of minutes.
Then turn over and fry on the other side. Do not cover with a lid.

In flour

To prepare a delicious dish, you can use wheat flour, salt, and spices. You should take a bag and add the above ingredients into it. Then the prepared smelt is placed in it. After this, the bag is twisted and shaken well for 2-3 minutes. This recipe can be done in another way. You need to pour flour into a plate, then roll the fish.

After the fish is coated in flour, it is fried. The fish are laid out on the surface of a very heated frying pan into which oil has been poured. You need to fry until a beautiful golden brown crust appears. Then the smelt is turned over and fried on the other side.

Recipe for cooking smelt in batter

I advise you to clean the carcasses from the insides, and also get rid of the heads.

We take:

Fish.
Breadcrumbs, flour - as needed.
Egg.
Salt, oil.

How to fry:

Mix crackers and flour in a bowl.
Separately, in another bowl, beat the egg, adding a pinch of salt and splashing a little water.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Quickly dip the carcass in the beaten egg, then transfer to breadcrumbs and roll.
Place in oil and fry on both sides. The time depends on the size of the carcasses, but in any case, the smelt cooks very quickly.

Fried crucian carp recipes

There are many options for cooking crucian carp in a frying pan, but covering the main ones, it’s worth starting with the classic recipe for fried crucian carp.

Classic recipe

Ingredients:

4 crucian carp;
Flour for breading;
Vegetable oil for frying;
Add pepper to taste;
Half a lemon.

Cooking method:

Clean the fish.
On small fish it is worth making cuts, large fish should be cut into pieces.
Rub salt and pepper into the fish.
Add lemon juice and leave for 10-15 minutes.
Place the fish, thoroughly coated in flour, in a preheated frying pan.
Fry over medium heat without a lid until golden brown on each side.

Crucian carp in a frying pan in sour cream

Ingredients:

Crucian carp 4 pieces;
Onion 1 piece;
Sour cream 500 g;
Oil for frying;
Salt and pepper to taste.

Cooking method:

Process the fish.
Make cuts.
Rub salt and pepper on all sides.
Fry in a preheated frying pan with vegetable oil on both sides until golden brown. Once ready, remove from heat.
Fry the onion in the same bowl as the fish until cooked.
Place the crucian carp on an onion bed, pour in sour cream and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes, covering with a lid.
When serving, you can sprinkle with fresh herbs.

Fried crucian carp with crust without flour

The recipe is no different from the classic one, except for the absence of flour as a breading. In this case, you will most likely have to fry each side twice to achieve the required crispiness.

Fried crucian carp in breading

You can use fine breadcrumbs instead of flour. In this version of cooking crucian carp, the crust will be even crispier, and the fish will look even more appetizing.

Note! Regardless of the method of preparing fried crucian carp, the dish will definitely be tasty, nutritious and healthy

It is only important to properly clean the fish and, if necessary, remove the unpleasant odor of algae. Otherwise, cooking crucian carp in a frying pan will not take much time and effort

Fried smelt marinated in soy sauce

Japanese cooking recipe. The products are all available now, but the taste is unusual.

We take:

Fish – 0.5 kg.
Green onions - a few feathers.
Medium sized daikon.
Soy sauce - 3 large spoons.
Vegetable oil - the same amount.
Corn starch - 2 tablespoons.
Salt.

Preparation:

Pour soy sauce over the smelt carcasses and leave to marinate for half an hour.
Finely grate the daikon and add salt. Cut the green onion feathers.
Roll marinated fish in starch and fry on both sides. Place on a paper towel and wait for excess oil to drain.
Serve with a side dish of daikon, sprinkled with onions.

Step-by-step preparation

Step 1:

Prepare the necessary products. It is better to take fresh fish. Vegetable oil for frying fish. Add salt to taste. Prepare a frying pan (good) for frying fish.

Step 2:

It is better to take smelt fresh, not previously frozen. Now such fish are freely available in supermarkets all year round. To feel the taste of real smelt, it is better to buy it in the spring. The fish should be fresh, without an unpleasant odor. It must first be washed and dried. Small fish have barely noticeable scales - they don’t need to be cleaned. Larger fish need to be cleaned.

Step 3:

Clean fish must be cut. Cut off the head of each fish (preferably with a small margin), take out all the entrails (the fish may taste bitter with them). Rinse the fish again under running cold water. If there is caviar in the fish, many people advise leaving it. Whether to leave the caviar or not is up to everyone to decide for themselves.

Step 4:

In a convenient bowl, mix flour and salt. Roll each fish in the flour mixture and place in a frying pan heated with vegetable oil. The fish should be placed in the pan as soon as it is in the flour. There is an option to mix flour and salt in a plastic bag and place each fish there - this way you can roll the fish in flour without dirtying the dishes and table.

Step 5:

The fish should be placed in rows in a frying pan, not very tightly, so that when turning over the fish does not fall apart. You need to fry the smelt over medium heat without covering the pan with a lid. First, fry the fish for 3 - 4 minutes on one side.

Step 6:

Then carefully turn the fish over and fry the fish on the other side until cooked.

Step 7:

Serve hot smelt fried in a frying pan. Rice or boiled potatoes, as well as a salad of fresh vegetables, are perfect as a side dish for this fish.

This recipe is the simplest recipe for preparing this fish. But despite this, the resulting smelt is very tasty. If such fish has not been on the daily menu before, then you can start getting acquainted with it with this simple recipe.

Smelt stewed in cream sauce in a frying pan

Latvians, residents of the Baltic coast, prepare fish in their own way.

You will need:

Fish – 500 gr.
Large onion.
Butter – 50 gr.
White wine – 50 ml.
Water - a glass.
Chopped parsley - 2 large spoons.
Flour - a tablespoon.
Cream – 50 ml.
Pepper, salt.

Cooking:

Place pieces of butter on the bottom of the frying pan and loosen them. Add flour, sauté with constant stirring for several minutes.
Add parsley, pour in wine, pepper and salt. Stir the contents, add water. Wait for it to boil.
Then add the smelt carcasses. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Drain off excess broth. Pour in cream instead.
Cook for another 5 minutes, turn off and serve with side dish.

With white sauce

If you want to add variety, you will like the following original recipe. Ingredients: dry white wine, vegetable oil, parsley, onion. For the sauce: butter, flour, 300 ml milk.

Cut the onion into smaller pieces and fry in vegetable oil. To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in a frying pan. Add flour to it and fry. Pour in the milk, stirring constantly to avoid the formation of lumps. Add salt to the sauce and bring until thickened.

Place the pre-prepared smelt in a saucepan, add the fried onion. Chop the parsley and place in a saucepan. Add 40 ml wine and 500 ml water. Add spices, salt. Place on medium heat.

When the fish is ready, add the broth formed during the cooking process to the white sauce. Bring to a boil, immediately remove from heat. You can strain the finished sauce. Pour the sauce over the fish before serving.

Smelt baked in the oven

Take:

Fish – 500 gr.
Lemon – ½ part.
Sunflower oil, allspice, salt, bay leaf, parsley sprigs (take spices and seasonings by eye).

How to cook:

First, marinate the fish with salt, bay leaf and pepper. Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl. Stir and leave for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190-200 o C.
Place a sheet of foil on a baking sheet and arrange the pieces. Spray with vegetable oil. Then cover with foil and fold the edges tightly, leaving no holes.
Cook for 20 minutes, then remove the top layer of foil. Return to bake for another 10 minutes.

On a frying pan

This small fish is usually consumed fried. How to fry smelt in a frying pan is no secret to anyone. Smelt is often cooked without first dredging it in flour. The washed fish is set aside for some time (2-3 minutes). You should take a frying pan and then put it on the fire, pouring in sunflower oil. After heating, you need to place the fish one at a time on a hot surface. The smelt is fried for 4 minutes.

You should wait until it is golden brown on each side. In a total of 10 minutes you get a simple and delicious dish. During frying, smelt should be salted depending on taste preferences.

How to pickle smelt at home - a simple recipe

Salted fish is a delicacy. It will go on a sandwich and is good with potatoes. If you pickle it in the morning, the appetizer will be ready for dinner. The first method is the simplest, dry method.

You will need:

Smelt.
Coarse salt.

Solim:

Place fish carcasses in a dry bowl. Sprinkle with salt and stir.
Press down with pressure and leave to salt out.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the proportions of salt; I usually put it by eye. If you want the fish to be salted as quickly as possible, take a 1:1 ratio, then the fish will be ready after a couple of hours.
For gentle, long-term salting, just pour in the smelt, not too much, as in the first case. Press down with pressure and leave for a day, placing it in the refrigerator.

Spiced smelt

The recipe is suitable for salting any small fish - sprat, capelin.

We take:

Fish - kilogram.
Black and allspice pepper – 0.5 small spoons each.
Clove sticks, coriander seeds - a teaspoon each.
Bay leaf – 5 leaves.
Sugar - a teaspoon.
Salt – 2 large spoons.

How to pickle:

Prepare the fish: wash, place in a bowl.
Place all the necessary spices from the recipe list in a bowl. Grind them in a mortar. Do not grind into dust, you should get coarse crumbs.
Mix salt and granulated sugar separately.
Place the carcass on the bottom, sprinkle with sugar salt and seasonings.
Make the next layer, pour again. Proceed in this manner until the prepared smelt runs out.
Cover with a plate, set pressure. Leave for 8-10 hours (overnight). Store the finished fish in the cold for no more than 2 weeks.

How to dry smelt correctly

Before hanging the fish to dry, it is salted. Spicy salting is not suitable, use any of the first recipes.

The carcasses are strung on a strong thread or wire through the eyes or gills.
Hang the bundle over the basin so that the liquid drains completely. Take your time to move on to the next step; at least 12 hours must pass. The room should be well ventilated.
Stretch the thread and leave the fish to dry for 2 days.

Cold marinated smelt

Deliciously marinated fresh smelt will give a head start to any red fish. I love butter sandwiches topped with fish fillets. And if you add a cucumber, then the sandwich will not be worth the price. Incredibly delicious with potatoes. And here you will have to tinker a little and clean the fish. This dish is made from fresh fish, preferably never frozen.

Necessary:

Fish – 1 kg.
Lemon.
Garlic cloves – 3 pcs.
Bulb.
Salt – 2 teaspoons.
Olive oil – 4 large spoons.
Dill, parsley, red chili pepper.

How to pickle smelt:

Chop the garlic cloves with a knife. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon. Finely chop the greens. Divide the onion into half rings.
Place a piece of chopped garlic into the belly of each cleaned fish.
Place the stuffed smelt carcasses in a bowl, sprinkle with coarse salt, and stir until well distributed.
Sprinkle with lemon juice and sprinkle with red pepper. Mix the contents of the bowl thoroughly with your hand again.
Take a break for one hour so that the smelt has time to marinate.
Then drain off the released juice. Remove the garlic from the belly.
Throw onion rings into a bowl, sprinkle with herbs, pour over oil.
Hide under film and place on the refrigerator shelf. The appetizer will be ready in exactly one day. Keep in mind that it is advisable to eat the dish quickly, it will not spoil for a long time, but after a week the taste will not be the same.

What do you eat smelt with?

Fried smelt is good on its own. But if for some reason it is inconvenient to serve “empty” fish, then you can make a number of simple salads or side dishes. Cucumber fish goes well with all vegetables, so chopped tomatoes and cucumbers will come in handy. And other vegetable snacks will only highlight the taste of the St. Petersburg delicacy.

Potatoes in any design can be an excellent side dish for smelt. True, it is believed that the best option would be baked root vegetables or puree from them.

Rice with its neutral taste is also a good addition to fried smelt. It can be served either simply boiled or fried with finely chopped onions.

Marinated fried smelt

St. Petersburg residents are also lucky, they catch delicious fish, which the city residents adore, they even have their own holiday - Smelt Day. As usual, there are also local recipes, one of which I will introduce you to.

Take:

Fish - kilogram.
Carrots - a couple.
Onion – 4 heads.
For marinade per 1 liter of water:
Table vinegar – 2 large spoons (original recipe calls for 3 spoons).
Salt - a teaspoon.
Granulated sugar - 2 large spoons.

How to marinate:

Fry the fish as described in the first recipe.
Divide the onion into half rings. Throw into a frying pan and fry a little. Next add the coarsely grated carrots. Fry the vegetables a little until they turn golden.
Place the fried carcasses in a bowl, interspersing them with fried vegetables.
Pour in marinade. To make it, add all the spices specified in the recipe to boiling water. Let it boil, remove from heat and cool. The original recipe calls for 3 large spoons of vinegar. I reduced it to two, the marinade is too spicy for me. You decide for yourself how much to pour, but I must warn you. Be sure to taste the marinade; it should be a little spicier than you would like, since some of it will go into the fish.
Cover the smelt in a bowl with a plate and place pressure on top. Be patient for 6-8 hours, then try and have fun.

Add to the collection of recipes: Cooking grenadier - recipes.

Fried hake.

Whole baked flounder.