To Make Sprats Taste Like Anchovies
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the sprats
Salt the sprats well and let the salt drain from them.
After 24 hours, wipe the sprats dry without washing them.
Pack and store
Mix the common salt, coarse sea salt, saltpetre, sal-prunel, and cochineal into a fine powder.
Sprinkle the mixture among the sprats and pack them into two stone jars.
Store the jars in a cold place, sealed with a bladder.
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 cured in salt and gains its flavor and firm texture from the process.
- Common salt
- Draws moisture out of the fish and preserves it through curing.
- Coarse sea salt
- Adds salt for curing and helps draw moisture from the fish.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the fish and gives it a characteristic cured colour and flavor.
- Cochineal
- Adds red colouring to the cured fish.
The step that matters
Wiping the sprats dry without washing them. Washing would reintroduce water and dissolve the surface cure. Wiping keeps the salt on the fish, which helps preserve it and prevents spoilage in storage.
“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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