Like many fish that we consider to be our own, smelt, all the Michigan salmons, rainbow trout, and carp, to name a few, aren’t really natives. Our smelt originally came from hatcheries in Maine. They were first introduced into the St. Marys River back in 1909 to hopefully become feed for Lake Michigan salmon, but after repeated failures the stocks never survived. Smelt was stocked in Crystal Lake in 1912 as feed for land locked salmon and they not only survived but also flourished. They made their way into Lake Michigan and by the spring of 1920 so many fish were running into Cold Creek, flowing through the town of Beulah at the head of Crystal Lake, that they were overflowing the banks! Fisherman flooded into Beulah in such numbers that the state police had to be called in to control the crowds. The tradition of ” smelt dipping” had begun.

There were so many fish; they were caught simply by dipping a net for them. The Michigan spring ritual of making a bonfire stream side and filling buckets, garbage cans and even pick up trucks full of smelt, then staying up all night cleaning them with a pair of scissors and frying ‘em up continued on for years. By 1936 these little fish were in all of the Great Lakes and there was a huge sport and commercial fishery for them with fresh and frozen smelt being shipped all over the country and as far away as Japan.

Here’s Tony in our courtyard about to enjoy a plate of Michigan smelt on a gorgeous spring day.

If you’ve ever experienced the sweet crunch of a fried smelt, salted and eaten whole you’d know what all the fuss is about! When Anthony Bourdain was at the store in April 2010 to film a promo for his book Medium Raw, we asked him what he’d like us to cook up for him. He eyed the pile of fresh smelt and asked “Are those the little guys you eat whole? I’m all over that.”

The days of truck loads of smelt are, at least for now, over. Populations have gone down over the years, partially the work of invasive species like zebra mussels competing with them for food, and there is even a 2 gallon limit for sports fishermen now. Fortunately, there is still a pretty fair commercial catch.

As far as cooking methods, in my opinion, there’s only one way to properly cook smelt and that’s to fry them. Lightly dusted and hot pan or deep fried. Here’s our recipe for fried smelt at the Market and here’s another great way to serve them after they’ve been fried, smelt nanbanzuke.

• 3/4-1 lb. Dressed lake smelt
• Milk
• Drake’s batter mix or fine corn meal
• Salt and pepper
• Canola or peanut oil

Heat a heavy pan or iron skillet over med high heat and add about 1/2 inch of oil. Dip smelt in milk and dredge in Drake’s. When oil is sizzling hot (370 degrees if you have a thermometer), add smelt one at a time and fry for about a minute a side for small smelt, longer for big ones or until a crunchy golden brown.

Drain on paper bag or paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with lemon & tartar sauce or hot sauce.

Here’s Tony Bourdain in our courtyard about to enjoy a plate of Michigan smelt on a gorgeous spring day.

I’m a lucky guy to know a fine Thai cook who lives in East Lansing, MI. She happens to be my sister Kathy’s dear friend and her name is Rachel Nimsombun. Rachel came to the US in 1991. She received a MBA in finance from Seattle University in Washington and she’s been here ever since. While in E. Lansing, she’s studied hotel & restaurant food management at Lansing Community College.

It wasn’t long before Rachel started to really miss the fresh from scratch flavors of home. She tells me stories of cooking with her mom back in Bangkok; peeling shrimp, cutting veggies, getting the milk from coconuts and scraping the meat out. Even making curry paste from scratch! Man I would have loved to smell that kitchen!

A true foodie, Rachel now manages the Oriental Mart in East Lansing. She has her own blog called Edible Obsession. Today’s recipe is Rachel’s Thai basil shrimp. This dish is everything a good Thai dish should be: simple, lots of fresh flavors with tangy Thai basil and peppers. The flavors are subtle, a little oyster sauce, garlic, lots of onions and peppers. The taste of the shrimp really shines. Rachel (one of the sweetest people you’d ever meet) was kind enough to share this recipe with us.

Check it out and enjoy!

Serves 2

• 1 lb. fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 7-8 garlic cloves
• 7-8 Thai red chili pepper (or adjust to your preference)- (Rachel likes it spicy! You may want to use less.)
• 1 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup carrot, cut in matchstick pieces
• 1/2 cup green/red/yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tsp light soy sauce (or fish sauce)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• ground white (or black) pepper

Pound garlic cloves and chili peppers together using mortar and pestle. Or you can mince them together using a knife.

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chili garlic mixture and stir until lightly browned and fragrant.

Add prepared shrimps and stir well to evenly mix everything together. Once the shrimps start to turn pink – but still translucent in the middle, add onions, carrots, and bell peppers. Stir to get vegetables cooked real quickly, you want them to be a bit crisp, not soft.

Then, add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and ground white/black pepper.

Stir quickly to mix the seasonings into ingredients. Then add water, and stir to get everything coated with sauce.

Turn off the heat, add the basil leaves and give it a good stir. Transfer to serving dish. Great over rice!

We received some super fresh skate at the market so I brought some home to try and come up with a Mexican style dish using them. The fillets with their beautiful fan like shape when put together side by side made a circle shape that (with a little stretch) kind of resembled a tortilla. What if I made a nice shrimp stuffing and made tacos using the skate fillets as the tortilla? Well the dish didn’t turn out to be finger food like tacos, but this shrimp stuffed skate over tomato and chilies in adobo turned out great! ¡Buen provecho!

Here’s last years Cinco de Mayo article. 

1 1/4 lb. skate fillets (4- 6 oz. fillets as similar in size as possible)

Drake’s batter mix or seasoned flour

3T olive oil

2 t mayonnaise

1/2 lb. large wild gulf shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails off

1 egg

3 T onion, chopped

1 t garlic, minced

1/2 t chili powder

1/2 t cumin

1T lime juice

1/2 cup panko crumbs

2 T fresh chopped cilantro, for garnish

For Sauce:

1 cup canned imported San Marzano tomatoes, cubed

2 T lime juice

2 T olive oil

1 T onion, chopped

Dry white wine, splash

1 t garlic, minced

1 T canned chipotle chilies in adobo, chopped with some sauce

1/2 t brown sugar

1 T tomato paste

Make the sauce. Over med. high, heat olive oil in a sauce pan and add onion and garlic, sauté until onions soften then add tomatoes, chipotles, lime juice, tomato paste, brown sugar and a splash of white wine. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce blends, continue simmering at lowest heat setting.

Pre heat oven to 375º

Next make your shrimp stuffing. Chop shrimp into 1/2 inch chunks. In a med. sauce pan, heat olive oil over med high heat and sauté onion and garlic till onion softens then add shrimp, lime juice, cumin, chili powder and sauté until shrimp is barely opaque in the center (about 2 min.). In a mixing bowl, combine shrimp mixture with egg, mayonnaise and panko crumbs and stir to mix ingredients

Lay skate wings out on a cutting board with the more ribbed looking sides down. Top 2 of the wings with equal amounts of the shrimp stiffing then lay matching wings over the tops of each one. Shape and firm up with your hands both stuffed skate wings, then liberally dust both sides with Drake’s batter mix or seasoned flour. Heat a heavy-duty ovenproof pan or skillet over med high heat, add olive oil and when hot carefully add the stuffed skate.  When skate browns nicely (about 2 min.) carefully flip, pop in the oven and bake long enough for stuffing to come up to temperature (about 8 min.)

While skate is baking, check your sauce, it may need to be thinned down. Turn heat up to med. and add a splash of wine if needed. Stir to a smooth consistency. Carefully slice each stuffed skate wing in two. Divide sauce equally on 4 plates and place stuffed skate over each one. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

¡Buen Provecho!

The amazing story of the love life of Callinectes, Greek for beautiful swimmer, Sapidus, Latin for savory, is a noble and romantic tale…
A male, called a Jimmy, will approach a female, or Sook, after molting, knowing that she is about to peel (molt). While trying to entice her with a sexy dance on the tips of his legs, he sways tall, waving his claws around, even flipping backwards and kicking up sand! If she thinks he’s worthy she’ll sway to and fro and wave her claws around. After displaying the love dance for a bit she’ll decide whether or not to succumb. If she is taken by him she will turn around and back up under his body where they will click claws for a time until things settle down a bit. He then clasps his legs around her, cradling and carrying her, while searching for a safe place for her to molt for up to a week. He stays with her not only to protect her during this very vulnerable time but also to make sure that he is with her at the moment she peels—and it’s time for some lovin’. Gently he flips her over to begin mating followed by another 48 hours or so of cradling and carrying until her shell hardens. What a crab will go through for a little romance!

As you can see there is a very short window of opportunity to harvest soft crabs. Watermen know how to read for coloration or a reddish line on the paddle fins when crabs are getting ready to peel. Stored in holding tanks they must be monitored 24 hours a day until they peel. After which they are taken out of the water where they cease to harden and are shipped off to market. An incredible process from molting to market and an incredible spring/summer treat!

If you would like to read the most comprehensive blue crab book ever, check out William W. Warners, Beautiful Swimmers, Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a classic.

Cooking soft crabs is easy. As far as I’m concerned the best way to prepare them is either pan fried, deep fried, or grilled. We often grill them and here’s a simple recipe. Enjoy!

Grilled Soft Shell Crab

Pan Fried Soft Shell Crab

VIDEO: How to Clean a Soft Shell Crab

Drake’s batter mix (dry) or seasoned flour

milk for dipping

peanut or vegetable oil

Heat oil (1/8 – 1/4 inch deep in skillet) over medium heat. Pat the crab dry with paper towel, dip in milk, then dredge in Drake’s or flour. Place crabs in hot skillet, and partially cover with lid (to prevent explosions and splatter) or use a screen. Cook for approximately 4 minutes a side (for jumbos or whales) or 3 minutes (for primes or smaller crabs). Drain on paper towel or paper bag.

Serve with lemon and any sauce you want. Monahan’s rémoulade, cocktail, or tartar are great options, or just a good hot sauce!

VIDEO: How to Cook a Soft Shell Crab

VIDEO: How to Clean a Soft Shell Crab

Richard with Torry kiln

Richard learned his trade while working in Shetland, Scotland in the 80s from old masters who were still using an old Torry kiln to smoke kippers and finnan haddie. The Torry kiln was the first mechanized kiln ever built. The first one was produced at the Torry research center in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1939. Richard shipped an exact replica of the kiln to Stonington in 2001. He brines then smokes his haddock over white hickory in the traditional Scottish style. He even uses an antique brass brinometer to ensure a perfect salt content. The balance of salt and smoke with the sweet flaky haddock is perfect.

Today’s recipe is, to me, the ultimate breakfast: finnan haddie and poached eggs with smoky béchamel sauce. There are lots of great recipes for finnan haddie that would make a great lunch or dinner too. The famous Scottish soup, Cullen Skink, made with onions, milk and finnan haddie is one we’ve got to make soon (now that we have an amazing finnan haddie). Creamed finnan haddie on toast, fish pie or the fantastic Indian/ English dish, Kedgeree, a rice curry dish, is one we’ve already posted.

Fish for breakfast? Oh yeah. Plan on it this weekend, you’ll be glad you did!

1/2 lb. finnan haddie fillet

1 bay leaf

1-1/4 cups of milk (or enough to cover fillets in small pan)

2 T butter

2 T flour

2 large or 4 small eggs, poached

Chives, for garnish, finely chopped

English muffins

Lightly poach fillets in milk for 7- 10 min. (or until they are just opaque in the center)

When fish is cooked, transfer to a plate and cover, saving milk

Make your béchamel by melting the butter in a saucepan and whisking in the flour to make a smooth roux (2-3 min.)

Use the smoky milk from pan and slowly whisk into the roux to make a smooth creamy consistency

Place finnan haddie portions on top of toasted English muffins

Top with poached eggs, then spoon the béchamel over the top

Garnish with chives