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Salad

To Make Sprats Taste Like Anchovies

Sprats are salted, seasoned with salt, saltpetre, sal-prunel, cochineal, and packed in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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To Make Sprats Taste Like Anchovies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sprats

  1. Salt the sprats well and let the salt drain for 24 hours.

  2. Wipe the sprats dry without washing them.

Cure and store

  1. Mix the common salt, coarse sea salt, saltpetre, sal-prunel, and cochineal in a fine powder.

  2. Sprinkle the mixture among the sprats and pack them in two stone jars.

  3. Keep the jars in a cold place, sealed with a bladder.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 and cured to become firm and preserved.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the fish while preserving it against spoilage.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the fish and contributes to the colour of the cured flesh.
Cochineal
Adds a red colouring to the finished fish.

The step that matters

Wiping the sprats dry without washing them. Washing would add water back after salting, and surface moisture left on the fish can dilute the cure and encourage spoilage. Wiping removes salt-drawn liquid while keeping the salt that has already penetrated the flesh.

“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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