fried vendace, paistetut muikut

where do i begin...these tiny fish (muikku in finnish, vendace or european cisco in english, coregonus albula in latin) are so good, provided they are fried in plenty of butter, like these here...







while hunting for the butane for my torch, mom and i found vendace in one of the grocery stores. we bought one kilo, which was a lot of work before we could eat them. mom was kind enough to behead and clean (rip the guts out), rinse and flour (in barley flour) them...







...and taking out the big pan, lots of butter and frying the lot. 40 fish will fit the pan, it took 3 panfulls to fry them all, and that woodburninn stove is hot...







a tiny amount of salt was sprinkled on the hot fish. they were the best very, very hot straight from the pan...







...but i did enjoy them piled on rye crisp bread. my stomach was screaming after this meal, so not something someone with reflux disease should eat, let alone gobble!