To Pickle Sprats Like Anchovies
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Do not wash or wipe the sprats; use them as they come from the water.
Pound the salts and cochineal together in a mortar.
Pack and store
Mix the pounded mixture with the sprats in a stone pot or barrel.
Layer the sprats and salt mixture until the pot is full.
Press down hard, cover tightly, and let stand for six months.
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 ingredient; the salt mixture cures and preserves their flesh over the long standing period.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the fish and preserves it, inhibiting spoilage during the long standing.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the fish and keeps its colour from fading during curing.
- Cochineal
- Adds a red colour to the fish, serving as a colouring agent rather than a preservative.
The step that matters
Press down hard and cover tightly. Packing the layers firmly and sealing the pot keeps air away from the fish and limits spoilage while the salt cures it over six months.
“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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