Fry Dry Fish

My father would go fishing with a bucketful of jacks or herring. If he didn't catch any fish, he would clean the rest of the bait fish, season them and fry them dry. How delicious these little fish were! We would munch them up bones and all. At Charlotteville, fishermen would cast small nets from the beach or a boat near to shore to catch bucketsful of jacks.

Finger length herring - perfect to fry dry!

These sardine sized fish simply need to be cleaned in running water with some lime juice. Season with salt and a spoonful of hot pepper sauce. (When we were growing up, the heads were not removed, they were cooked whole!)

Then, mix half cup of all purpose flour with some fine corn meal in a plastic bag. Drop the fish in the flour mixture and shake well to coat.

Coat in flour and fry in hot oil, turning once to brown

Fry in hot oil, turning once to brown both sides. Drain on paper towels and eat with your fingers. Hmmm, so good! Great breakfast or supper snack!

Sardine sized herring fried dry! Yummy, bones and all.