Smelt - Deep Frying with a Beer and Dry Batter Mix

Walmart sells one pound bags of frozen, cleaned smelt.

Keep frozen until ready to use, then quick thaw in cold water for 30 minutes. Good to use as soon as ice out.

I thawed the smelt in a tub of cold water. The thawing takes about 30 minutes.

I used a small colander to transition the smelt from water to beer. I pulled about 10 smelt from the thawing water, briefly into colander, then a 20 second soak in a bowl of beer.

Then, coat them with a powdered coating mix.

Deep fry for at least 2-4 minutes. Internal temperature has to be at least 145 degrees. My coating was dark golden brown which the internal temp was 177.

I chose Busch light for my beer wash. We tried three different coating mixes.

We tried three coatings. The lemon pepper breading did not get as brown as the other two. The other two mixes were equally as tasty; the Red Lobster mix is less salty.

Using an immersion fryer. The heating element is in the oil and seems to heat better than bowl type heaters. Our temperature is set at approximately 360 degrees.

I used a gallon zip lock bag to hold the coating mix and placed the fish directly into the bags with the coating mix. You can see the fish as it gets coated.

Dip. Coat. Deep fry. Repeat.

Once in fryer, gently shake basket occasionally to separate fish from sticking. Sometimes, I use a fork to turn the fish over.

Cook at least 2 minutes.