Aldborougit Smoked Sprats
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select the largest sprats from a bushel in November.
Layer coarse sea salt in the bottom of a salting tub, then add a layer of sprats; repeat until all are layered.
Let the sprats sit for four hours, mixing them two or three times.
Wash the sprats quickly in strong saltwater.
Dry and smoke
Place the sprats on spits and dry them in a strong current of air.
Smoke the sprats with oak wood until they turn a dark red color.
Pack
Once cooled, pack the sprats in shallow kits with heads all facing the same way.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Sprats
- The main fish, which is salted, dried and smoked to become the finished product.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the fish and seasons it, preserving it before smoking.
- Oak wood
- Produces the smoke that flavours the fish and turns its surface dark red.
The step that matters
Smoking until dark red. Smoke colours and flavours the surface, but the fish must be dried first so smoke adheres evenly. Smoking too early, or too briefly, leaves the surface pale and wet, while overcooking can dry the flesh too much.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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