How to pickle raw sprat. How to pickle sprat at home

Long gone are the times when in our country only sprat and gobies were caught, and only zucchini were spawned - judging by the shelves of our stores at that time. Modern supermarkets have a huge selection of different fish, and the once super-popular small fish is by no means a hit in fish sales today.

But, salted with your own hands, it can become a real sensation at a picnic with friends - provided that you know exactly how to salt sprat.

Choosing a salting method

There are only 2 ways in which you can salt sprat at home: dry method or in brine. The salting method should be chosen depending on how long you plan to store the salted fish. If the fish is served on the table after a day or two, then salt it using the dry method. If you need to preserve it longer, then it is better to salt the sprat in brine.

When salting, keep in mind that the longer the fish is in the brine, the saltier it becomes.

Therefore, be sure to adjust the amount of salt according to the time the fish is stored: the longer it is stored, the less seasoning you need to put in the brine.

In addition to salt, to give the fish a special, spicy taste, you can use some spices and seasonings:

• mustard (can be either in grains or powder);
• coriander;
• powdered red pepper;
• black pepper;
• white pepper;
• allspice (both grains and powder);
• Bay leaf;
• carnation;
• Dill seeds.

What’s good about salting sprat is the opportunity to experiment, combining the amount of different seasonings and spices to your liking. As a result, the taste of salted fish always turns out different and unique.

If instead of sprat you are offered sprat or sprats for salting, feel free to take it. Tulka and sprats are two subspecies of sprat, so you can salt them according to the same recipe.

Even if you use one recipe, the taste of fish salted fresh and frozen and then thawed according to it will be different - fresh salted kale is much tastier.

Sprat intended for long-term storage should not be washed before salting: washed sprat cannot be stored for a long time. This fish should be washed immediately before eating.

If you are salting large sprat, it is better to salt the fillet by first removing the entrails. When salting small and medium-sized fish, you do not need to remove the entrails - get rid of them immediately before serving.

For salting sprat, medium-fraction rock salt is used. Fine salt will not salt the insides of the fish, but when using coarse salt, it is easy to over-salt the fish.

In order for the sprat to remain tight for a long time and not “fall apart”, you need to add a little sugar to the brine, even if it is not mentioned in the pickling recipe.

To salt sprat (or any fish), it is better not to use a plastic container: the salt can “corrode” it, and then instead of the taste of the fish you will “enjoy” the taste of plastic.

If you have to salt frozen sprat, then you need to defrost it at room temperature, otherwise the salted fish will not be stored for a long time. But, if you are expecting guests and want to please them with lightly salted fish, then dip the frozen sprat for a minute in just boiling water, after adding a few drops of vinegar to it, and then salt it. About two hours after salting, such fish can already be served.

Dry method of salting sprat

Measure out 2.5-3 tbsp. spoons of salt, add 1 teaspoon of sugar to them, mix thoroughly and pour into a large plate or other container, the size of which allows you to add 1 kg of sprat to the mixture. If desired, you can add ground pepper or mustard powder to the mixture - from a quarter to half a teaspoon. Pour the fish into this container, mix it thoroughly so that the mixture gets onto each fish as evenly as possible, and place it in a cool place.

Cover the top of the freshly salted sprat with a lid or flat plate and press down with pressure. You can do without pressure, but in this case you will have to stir the sprat every hour for the first 3-4 hours so that it is salted evenly. After 12 hours, you will have ready-made lightly salted sprat, which can be served, and a day later it will be completely salted.

Salting sprat in brine

Salting fish in brine can also be done quickly and easily if you know how to do it correctly. First, the same mixture is prepared as with the dry method, but it is not poured into a container, but dissolved in hot water. Bring the resulting brine to a boil and immediately remove from heat.

Cool it, pour it over the fish, pressing it on top with pressure. Let it brew for 2-3 hours, then taste the brine. If you think that it is not salty enough, add salt to it and send the fish to a cool place to infuse and wait for its finest hour.

Popular recipes for spiced sprat

Do-it-yourself spicy salting of this small fish has long been popular among housewives: storage of the fish can vary from 2-3 days to a month, and the choice of ingredients for salting is large. To prepare spiced sprat, take:

• 1 kg sprat;
• 2.5 tbsp. spoons of salt;
• 1 teaspoon sugar;
• 10 g black allspice;
• 5-6 pcs. peppercorns;
• 4-5 bay leaves;
• 1-2 pinches of coriander;
• a pinch of ginger;
• 3-5 pcs. carnations.

Rinse the fish thoroughly, place it in a colander and leave it in it to drain off excess water. While the water is draining, chop and thoroughly mix all the listed spices into a homogeneous dry mixture. Sprinkle the bottom of the enamel pan with the prepared mixture, place a ball of fish, sprinkle this ball with the mixture, again a ball of fish, sprinkle again, and so on, continue laying until there are enough prepared ingredients. Cover with a plate on top, press down with pressure and place for permanent storage in a cold place. After 12 hours, the salted fish will be ready to serve.

Another version of this recipe: for 1 kg of fish, in addition to salt and sugar, which you need to take the same amount as in the first option, you need to take a pinch of powdered red pepper and a little dill seeds or white mustard (your choice). As in the first option, everything needs to be mixed thoroughly, but that’s where the similarities end.

The second option is more labor-intensive, since it requires first cleaning the sprat by removing its insides.

Then rub the prepared mixture onto the cleaned fish, trying to distribute it evenly on each fish. Then everything follows the pattern; cover with a plate, press down with pressure and send to a cold place for 12 hours.

Knowing what ingredients are needed and how much you will need, you can easily prepare delicious salted sprat. And even if she is not destined to become the highlight of a chic holiday table, be sure that your loved ones and friends will appreciate her taste in close friendly company.

Sprat is one of the favorite delicacies in the post-Soviet space. And while in the USSR it can easily be found on the shelves of any store, today lovers of this fish have to try hard to buy it. However, why buy? We can pickle sprat at home, and the product will be much tastier and, most importantly, more natural.

Before telling you several recipes for salting sprat, we should reveal a couple of secrets, without which the cooking result may be unsatisfactory.

First of all, For salting fish, you should use only coarse rock salt, small, and especially iodized ones will spoil or completely negate all efforts.

As for fish, you can gut it before salting, or, if desired, salt it with its entrails.

Now it’s time to bring to your attention several options for how to pickle sprat at home.

Spicy salted sprat

You will need:

• sprat – 1 kg,
• freshly ground black pepper – 50 g,
• salt – 200 g,
• dried cloves – 2-4 pcs.,
• black peppercorns – 3-5 pcs.,
• coriander – 50 g,
• bay leaf – 2-3 pcs.,
• ground ginger - a pinch.

Cooking method

• Rinse the fish thoroughly and allow all excess water to drain.
• Grind cloves, black pepper, coriander and bay leaf not too finely in a mortar.
• Add salt and ginger to the spices. Mix well.
• Pour all the spices into the fish and mix thoroughly.
• Now you need to put the sprat under a press and put it in the refrigerator for 12 hours. After which the fish is ready to eat, bon appetit!

Recipe No. 2

You will need:

• sprat – 1 kg,
• salt – 200 g,
• black peppercorns – 100 g,
• dried cloves – 4 pcs.,
• bay leaf – 5-6 pcs.,
• cardamom - to taste.

Cooking method

• The sprat should be washed thoroughly and the water should be allowed to drain.
• Take a wooden or enamel bowl and place some of the seasonings on its bottom.
• You need to put a layer of sprat on the spices and cover them with seasoning again. Alternate the seasoning mixture and fish until the container is full.
• Now the sprat with seasonings needs to be put under a press and put in the refrigerator for about 12 hours. After this time, the fish is ready for consumption, the press can be removed.

Salting large sprat

We are accustomed to understand sprat as small-sized fish, but specimens in this family are often larger than average. What to do with them? It’s natural to pickle, especially since we have a suitable recipe for this.

You will need:

• fish – 1 kg,
• freshly ground black pepper – 10 g,
• black peppercorns – 4-5 pcs.,
• salt – 100 g,
• white pepper – 50 g,
• dried cloves – 5 pcs.,
• coriander – 1 g,
• cinnamon – 0.1 g,
• ginger – 0.3 g,
• nutmeg - to taste,
• rosemary - to taste,
• sodium benzoate – 2 g,
• sugar – 200 g.

Cooking method

Salting fish according to this recipe is somewhat similar to what we presented above.

• Mix all the spices. Peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves, coriander and nutmeg should first be ground in a mortar.
• Take an enamel pan or wooden barrel and pour some spices into its bottom.
• Place a layer of fish on top of the spices. Sprinkle more spices on top and place the fish again. It is necessary to alternate until the dishes are full.
• You need to place a weight on top and put the dishes in a cold place (cellar or refrigerator).
• A few hours of patience and you can enjoy delicious fish on the table. Bon appetit!

As you can see, salting sprat at home is quite easy and quick, the main thing is the desire!

Sprat, anchovy, sprat, anchovy... All these types of silvery small fish are called by one common word - sprat, a small fish (no more than 18 centimeters long and weighing about 50 grams) with silvery scales, belonging to the herring family.

The name "sprat" most likely comes from the German word "keel" or the Estonian "kilu", since the scales on the fish's abdomen make it invisible and streamlined from below, as if forming a "keel".

Sprat is a commercial fish. The main catch occurs in the spring-summer period, it is at this time that it is most tasty and fatty.

Small fish are salted, dried, frozen, pickled, and canned. Spicy salted sprat at home and smoked sprats in oil have become especially popular.

Why is it useful?

Sprat, like other small fish, contains a large amount of substances beneficial to humans.

Calcium is especially important in combination with phosphorus. These microelements are contained in huge quantities (calculated by weight) in the tail, ridge and scales of the sprat. If you consider that dishes are often prepared from whole fish, then it is healthier to eat it with bones and fins.

Small fish contains omega-3 acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids; they slow down the aging process of the human body, reduce the risk of heart and vascular diseases, and prevent sclerosis.

• vitamins B1, B2, B9;
• vitamin A, C, D, PP;
• calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, nickel, chromium, iodine, sodium, fluorine and other trace elements.

Energy value of sprat

100 grams of fresh fish contains:

• 138.8 kilocalories;
• proteins - 50 percent;
• fat - 50 percent;
• carbohydrates - 0 percent.

Due to its composition, sprat helps strengthen bones; it is often included in the diet of patients with injuries, heart and vascular diseases during the rehabilitation period. It contains easily digestible proteins, microelements and vitamins, which allows you to include dishes from it in your diet.

Put water with spices on the fire, boil and cook for five minutes. Remove the brine from the heat and cool.

Rinse the sprat in cold running water, put it in a container, pour cold brine, close the top and put a light pressure on it, leave for a day.

Spicy-salted sprat, the preparation photo of which is presented above, is perfect as a cold appetizer with boiled, baked or fried potatoes. Before serving, season the dish with sunflower oil and sprinkle with onions.

Spicy salted sprat without brine

Fish prepared according to the recipe without brine is ready to serve within 12 hours, and preparing it is as easy as shelling pears.

Required Products:

• sprat (you can take fresh frozen) - 1 kilogram;
• salt - 80-100 grams;
• granulated sugar - 1/2 teaspoon;
• bay leaf - 3 or 4 leaves;
• cloves - 5 pieces;
• ground black pepper - to taste;
• coriander (seeds) - to taste;
• cinnamon (powder) - to taste.

Defrost the sprat, rinse and dry.

Mix salt with granulated sugar.

Pour a mixture of salt and sugar into the bottom of the pickling bowl, put a bay leaf, and then a layer of sprat. Sprinkle pepper, coriander, cloves, cinnamon on top of the fish, and put a bay leaf. Then sprinkle with salt and sugar, add the next layer of sprat, sprinkle with spices and so on.

Cover the last layer of fish with seasonings with a plate or lid smaller than the container itself. Place oppression on top. Leave overnight. In the morning, spiced sprat salted at home is ready to serve. Fish should be stored in the refrigerator.

Spicy marinated sprat with vinegar

Another recipe for preparing small sea fish involves marinating them using vinegar.

Spicy-cured sprat should be marinated and salted in a ceramic or glass container. It is very convenient to use a plastic bottle with a cut off neck.

Required Products:

• sprat - 800 grams;
• granulated sugar - 2 tablespoons;
• coarse table salt - 4 tablespoons;
• vinegar 9 percent - 1 tablespoon;
• water - 0.5 liters;
• black peppercorns - to taste;
• bay leaf - 5-6 pieces.

Defrost the sprat, rinse thoroughly under running cold water, and dry.

Place the fish in a marinating container in layers, sprinkle each layer with pepper and bay leaf.

Add salt and granulated sugar to the water. Boil, cool. Add vinegar to the cold brine and mix everything.

Pour the prepared marinade over the fish sprinkled with spices. Cover with a lid and leave in a cool place for 12 hours.

The marinated fish is ready to serve.

Dry salting recipe

To prepare spicy sprat using the dry method you need:

• fish - 1 kilogram;
• table salt - 3 tablespoons;
• coriander (seeds) - 1/4 teaspoon;
• black peppercorns - 1 teaspoon;
• bay leaf - 5 leaves;
• cloves - 5 cloves;
• allspice - 5 pieces;
• ground ginger - 1/4 teaspoon.

Rinse the sprat under running cool water and dry on a paper towel.

Crush pepper, cloves, coriander in a container, chop bay leaf, add ginger, add salt. Mix everything well.

Pour the prepared mixture over the sprat and mix gently. To salt fish, it is preferable to use a wide enamel bowl or saucepan.

Lay out the sprat evenly, cover with a plate or lid, and press down on top with a heavy weight. Place the container in a cool place for ten or twelve hours.

After this, the sprat is ready to serve. It is good with boiled potatoes or for a sandwich with butter.

Conclusion

Even an inexperienced housewife can salt small fish at home. But we must remember that tips and recipes on how to make spicy-salted sprat are quite conventional. Each housewife usually has her own signature cooking method. As for the amount of salt, here you need to navigate the salting process.

Fish takes different amounts of salt, so with the same recipe, sprat can turn out lightly salted or oversalted. It depends on the fat content and size of the fish, the quality of the salt and other factors.

In any case, homemade spicy pickled sprat turns out much tastier and healthier than factory-made sprat.

Cook with love.

Bon appetit!

In Soviet times, pickled sprat was a special delicacy. However, even now there are many who like to try this fish with boiled potatoes and black bread. And sprat prepared at home, in your own kitchen, will be much tastier than purchased in a fish pavilion. Moreover, in addition to the low cost, high availability of the product and ease of preparation of fish, there are more than enough recipes for marinating it.

Marinated sprat at home: recipes

In spicy brine

For this recipe you will need regular coarse rock salt. It is better to leave fine salt, and especially iodized salt, for preparing other dishes. It is not necessary to gut the sprat - if desired, you can marinate it with the insides.

You will need:

• sprat – 1 kg;
• ground black pepper - to taste;
• coarse salt – 1 glass;
• dry cloves - several buds;
• black peppercorns - several pieces;
• coriander - a pinch;
• bay leaf - three pieces;
• ground ginger - one pinch.

It is important that the sprat used is dense, without unspecified stains.

Preparation

1. First, the fish must be defrosted, and this must be done correctly - in cold water, wrapped in several plastic bags. This way, all the fish juices will remain in the bag and not mix with the water. But it’s better to defrost the sprat at above-zero temperatures on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator. In this case, one night will be enough.
2. Next, the fish should be washed and the carcasses dried. Peppercorns and cloves need to be chopped (not very finely), and then mixed with the rest of the seasonings and salt. The resulting mixture is mixed with the fish in a bowl, and a small kitchen board and pressure are placed on top (this can be a stone or a jar of water).
3. Place a bowl of pickled sprat on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for about a day, then you need to remove excess spices.

Spicy salted sprat is ready! The recipe is simple, but it turns out very tasty. During the marinating process, the fish releases juice, and it should be stored in a glass jar or plastic container, adding a couple of tablespoons of salt.

With vinegar

The next equally simple and tasty recipe is pickled sprat with vinegar. It is ideal as an appetizer if you place the fish on slices of bread.

You will need:

• fresh sprat – 1.3 kg;
• water – 300 ml;
• coarse salt - 1.5 tablespoons;
• sugar – 0.5 tablespoons;
• 20 ml 30% vinegar;
• carnation;
• black peppercorns;
• Bay leaf.

Preparation

Preparing sprat is very simple: the heads, entrails and tails of fresh fish must be removed, poured marinade over it and put in the refrigerator for a day. The marinade is incredibly easy to prepare: just boil water with salt, sugar and spices, cool it and add 20 ml of 30% vinegar. Then it remains to drain the marinade and remove the spices. If desired, after marinating, you can arrange the fish in layers with onions and pour in sunflower oil.

With onions and sweet peppers

The following recipe differs from the previous one in that the sprat has an increased shelf life, since the portion of vinegar has been increased.

You will need:

• sprat – 0.5 kg;
• onions – 3 pcs.;
• sweet green pepper – 3 pcs.;
• parsley;
• salt – 1 tablespoon;
• vinegar - 3 tablespoons;
• sunflower oil – 3 tablespoons.

Preparation

For this method of marinating sprat, you will need to remove the heads and gut the fish, rinse it, mix it with salt, put it in a bowl and refrigerate for twelve hours. Then you need to remove the ridges and lay out the halves of the carcasses in one layer.

The second layer is half rings of green pepper, the third is onion rings and chopped parsley, then sprat again and the previous layers are repeated until there is fish left. Finally, the sprat is filled with vinegar mixed with sunflower oil, so that the fish is covered with the filling. 24 hours in the refrigerator will be enough to taste the fish.

With lemon

An interesting way to marinate sprat with lemon is a useful alternative to marinades with vinegar. In addition, it is not necessary to salt the fish due to the fact that lemon juice saturates it sufficiently.

You will need:

• juice of 2 lemons;
• lemon zest – 1/2;
• coarse salt - 2 tablespoons;
• honey – 4 teaspoons;
• black and white pepper - to taste;
• bay leaf – 2 pieces;
• dill - a small bunch;
• coriander - to taste.

Preparation

All you need is to buy fresh sprat, gut it, remove the tails, heads and fins, rinse, place on a plate and pour over the marinade. All components of the marinade (salt, honey, lemon juice and zest, pepper, coriander, bay leaf) should be combined, mixed with the marinade and left in the refrigerator for two days.

After this, all that remains is to pour oil on the fish, for example olive oil, sprinkle with pepper and chopped dill.

Not everyone knows that, among other things, sprat can be marinated with vegetables - the result is a fairly easy to prepare and inexpensive dish, which will also delight you with its taste.

You will need:

• defrosted, peeled and washed sprat without heads – 2 kg;
• tomatoes – 2 kg;
• peeled carrots and onions – 0.8 kg and 0.5 kg, respectively;
• sunflower oil – 2 tablespoons;
• salt – 1.5 tablespoons;
• sugar – 200 g;
• vinegar 9% - 5 tablespoons;
• bay leaf – 5 pieces;
• black peppercorns – 20 pcs.;
• chili pepper – 1 pod.

Preparation

Onions and carrots must be chopped and fried in sunflower oil. Tomatoes should be minced or chopped using a food processor. Combine fish and vegetables, add bay leaf, black peppercorns and chili.

In this composition, the sprat is stewed for 1.5 hours. Vinegar is added 10 minutes before the end of cooking. Then the fish needs to be cooled, transferred to a glass container and refrigerated. This way it is possible.

This fish, due to its prevalence, is probably one of the most popular fish delicacies in the post-Soviet space. Previously, during the years of the USSR, it could be freely found on the shelves of fish stores. Even now it is fresh frozen, it is often found in the relevant departments of supermarkets and is relatively inexpensive. So it’s time to prepare such a delicious dish as spicy salted sprat at home. Moreover, to do it, no special wisdom is required. You just need to observe a few nuances, and the dish, familiar from childhood, is ready. So let's try it!

Little tricks and secrets

Spicy salted sprat at home will turn out especially tasty if you use “grandmother’s” secrets, formed on the basis of the experience of more than one generation. Nothing complicated, in principle. What are these subtleties that are recommended to be heeded in order for spicy salted sprat to turn out well at home?

Spicy salted sprat. Recipe No. 1

And now, having prepared the products, you can proceed directly to the salting process. We believe in our abilities and remember that there is nothing complicated in preparing fish this way. And our mothers and grandmothers prepared such a delicacy more than once. So, of course, you should also be able to get spicy salted sprat at home.

Ingredients

• Sprat in the amount of kilograms.
• Freshly ground black pepper.
• A glass of coarse salt.
• A couple of dry clove buds.
• Black peppercorns (several pieces).
• A pinch of coriander.
• Three laurel trees.
• A pinch of ground ginger.

Cooking spicy fish step by step

Recipe for spicy salted sprat at home No. 2

Everyone is accustomed to the fact that sprat is a fairly small fish. However, sometimes in today's supermarkets you can find a fairly large variety of fish, which you can also happily salt (and quite quickly), without being afraid of the unusual size. So, here is a recipe for salting fish, if you are lucky and bought large enough specimens.

Ingredients

• Large sprat - 1 kilogram.
• Freshly ground black pepper - 10 grams.
• Half a glass of salt.
• Carnation buds - 5 pieces.
• A bag of white peppercorns.
• Coriander, rosemary, nutmeg and cinnamon with ginger - all on the tip of a knife.
• A glass of sugar.
• Some people add sodium benzoate just for good measure - literally a couple of grams.

The salting process itself

In brine

Spiced sprat salted in brine is also prepared quickly and quite simply. But first we will need to prepare the marinade itself. This is not difficult to do.