THanks - I will have to give that a try.
My father used to like smelts, but my mother would never cook anything that required any kind of “cleaning.” She wouldn’t even cut up a chicken. It would make her cry.
Cleaning smelt amounts to about 10-15 seconds per fish. My gran got it down to 5-7 seconds. Easiest cleaning on the planet except for seafood that one eats whole. Shouldn’t be a problem, your mom’s experience notwithstanding.