ZERO WASTE WARRIOR
  • Home
  • About
  • Food Gallery
    • Meatloaf Creations
    • Meatloaf Hybrids
    • Exotic Meats & Offal
    • Insect Creations
    • Cereal Creations
    • Bread & Filled Pastry Creations
    • Fried Creations
    • Dessert & Frozen Creations
    • Stews and Soups
    • Pasta & Pizza Creations
    • Gelatins & Drink Creations
    • Other Creations
  • Recipes & Blog Posts
  • Contact

Recipes & blog posts

Learn how to make recipes and not waste food

chocolate fried smelt

2/7/2016

0 Comments

 
It's storytime!

The Meatloaf Princess was abducted by aliens who decided to coat her in panko breadcrumbs and cocoa powder, fry her, and then eat her! All that was left of her was her skeleton. The end.

THE FOOD THEME OF THE MONTH IS CHOCOLATE, BTW.

This story obviously never happened since I am here to tell the tale, but it was my dad's failed attempt to turn me into a vegetarian after I kept feeling so smug about frying these little fish from the North Atlantic with their heads decapitated(that's the way I bought them at the supermarket that used to be a PathMark but is no longer.

I asked the lady at the fish counter why the smelts' heads were cut off and she looked at me like I was crazy(or like my mom used to say, as if I had 10 heads). She then retorted, "Why would you want to eat the heads!?" I didn't respond but fact: fish heads are a culinary delicacy in many Asian cuisines. When it comes to meat and fish, I'm game to try anything once, even fish heads.

The only fish my dad eats are tuna, fish fillets, and fish sticks, so I guess he isn't used to seeing an almost whole fish with the skeleton intact being fried. The fish may look thick, but they fry pretty quickly, like under 2 minutes on each side. I didn't mention this in the video but the fish tasted like cod or flounder. I only realized this after I stopped recording.

It isn't possible to remove the skeletons of the smelts before frying them. I tried. But after frying the fish, it is possible, as the meat falls off the bone. I wish I had tartar sauce but I didn't. Regardless, fried smelt tastes great when dipped in ketchup or ranch dressing, which is the closest thing i had to tartar sauce.

But what makes the fish chocolate? I mixed panko breadcrumbs with cocoa powder to get a breading that looks like Cocoa Krispies. Due to the length of the fish, they couldn't be dredged in egg in a small bowl, so I used a large plate, though it may look weird seeing beaten and whisked eggs on a plate and not a bowl.

It's important to use unseasoned breadcrumbs so that none of the extra seasoning in seasoned breadcrumbs doesn't overpower the cocoa powder.

You will need:

For the cooking equipment:

3 large plates
A large bowl
A frying pan
A fork

For the fried smelts:

1 pound of smelt, decapitated and gutted
2 beaten and whisked eggs
3 cups of all-purpose flour
3 cups of unseasoned panko breadcrumbs
2-3 tbsp. of cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
Canola oil for frying
Ketchup, ranch dressing, or tartar sauce for dipping(optional)

1. Pour the beaten and whisked eggs onto a large plate.
2. Put the flour onto a second large plate.
3. Put the unseasoned panko breadcrumbs into a large bowl.
4. Mix the cocoa powder and salt with the breadcrumbs until you get a breading that looks like Cocoa Krispies.
5. Dredge the smelt in the flour, then egg, then cocoa breading.
6. Put the breaded fish onto a large plate.
7. Pour canola oil into a frying pan and heat the oil up.
8. Once the oil is heated up, drop the breaded smelts into the frying pan. You'll probably need to make several batches. I needed three batches myself to fry all the smelts.
9. Let the smelts cook for 1-2 minutes before turning them over with a fork.
10. Let the smelts cook for another 1-2 minutes on the other side. Note: for each new batch, you should add a tiny bit of more canola oil into the frying pan so that all the remaining fish can be fully fried.
11. Serve with ketchup, ranch dressing, or tartar sauce for dipping(optional). Bon appetit!

How to eat the smelts:

Every part of the smelt except for the bones(which are primarily on the skeleton) is edible, even the fish skins. When the fish is done frying, you should be able to easily separate the bones from the rest of the fish. My dad thought fish skins were inedible but with such a tiny fish like a smelt, it's impossible to remove the meat from the skin, so you might as well eat the skins.



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All
    Cereal
    Dessert
    Drinks
    Exotic Meats
    Fried Foods
    Gelatin
    Insects
    Meatloaf
    Meatloaf Hybrids
    Other Recipes
    Pasta
    Sandwich
    Stews And Soups
    Vegan

    RSS Feed

Social Media

TikTok
Instagram
YouTube
​Pinterest

About

Food Gallery
Recipes & Blogs

Contact

  


  • Home
  • About
  • Food Gallery
    • Meatloaf Creations
    • Meatloaf Hybrids
    • Exotic Meats & Offal
    • Insect Creations
    • Cereal Creations
    • Bread & Filled Pastry Creations
    • Fried Creations
    • Dessert & Frozen Creations
    • Stews and Soups
    • Pasta & Pizza Creations
    • Gelatins & Drink Creations
    • Other Creations
  • Recipes & Blog Posts
  • Contact