Smelt

Common Name:

Rainbow smelt, spirling, saltwater smelt, freshwater smelt, icefish

Product Information:

Market-sized rainbow smelts are generally around 6 inches long, with olive-green skin that has a silvery sheen. Smelts have soft bones; small, cooked, H&G smelts can be eaten bones and all. With larger smelts, the cooked meat flakes readily off the bones. The delicate skin is also eaten.Smelts have lean, white flesh that becomes white, soft and fine-flaked when cooked. It has a fresh, sweet flavor.

Cooking Tips:

Larger smelts can be butterflied or filleted for broiling or grilling or left whole and baked. But 6-inch smelts are most common and are cooked and eaten whole (with or without head and viscera). Traditional preparations call for dipping smelts in batter and deep-frying or dredging them in flour or bread crumbs and then pan-frying.

Cooking Methods: