Now, knowing all the secrets, you can start the cooking process.
How to dry salt sprat correctly?
This method does not imply long-term storage and after salting, the fish should be eaten soon.
So, we need:
- 1kg sprat;
- 2.5-3 tbsp salt;
- 1 tsp Sahara.
Stir all the ingredients thoroughly so that the salt and sugar are equally distributed. Pour into prepared dishes, cover with a lid (you can use a plate) and put the load. We send it to the refrigerator. If the sprat is salted without oppression, it must be stirred periodically. After 12 hours, the fish can be served on the table.
If you are going to salt a large amount of sprat, then you need to put it in a bowl in layers, alternating with salt, and cover with oppression on top. After 12-15 hours, we will have a lightly salted fish, and after a day, salted.
How to properly salt a sprat in brine?
To salt the fish in brine, we take ingredients similar to those for dry salting (sprat, salt and sugar). The only difference is that you need to prepare the brine. To do this, dissolve in hot water sugar and salt and cool. Then fill in the sprat and leave it under pressure. After 2-3 hours, the product can be tasted. If it seems a little salt, then add and put in a cold place.
How to salt sprat sprat correctly?
There are many options for spiced sprat, consider 2 of them.
For the first method, we need:
- sprat (preferably fresh) - 1 kg;
- black allspice - 10 g;
- peppercorns - 5-6 pcs;
- salt - 2.5 tablespoons;
- bay leaf - 4-5 leaves;
- sugar - 1 tsp;
- cloves - 3-5 pcs.;
- ginger - 1 pinch;
- coriander - 1-2 pinches.
We wash the sprat well and leave it to drain in a colander. Grind the spices and mix thoroughly. On the bottom of the dishes (preferably enameled or wooden), pour mute spices, then lay out a layer of fish. We alternate until the ingredients run out. We cover, put oppression and send to a cold place.
If you need to salt a small amount of fish, you can simply mix it thoroughly with spices, cover and press down with something heavy. After 12-15 hours, the spiced sprat will be ready.
For the second recipe, in addition to salt and sugar, you need to take ground red pepper to taste and dill (or white mustard) seeds. Gut sprat and rub with spices. Then we cook, as in the first recipe.
How to salt a sprat quickly?
To speed up the salting process, it is better to gut the fish and use the wet salting method. It is imperative to put oppression so that the whole sprat is evenly covered with brine.
It is well known that fish should be included in your diet as it contains many nutrients. In Soviet times, Thursday was considered a fish day. Then in all canteens you could try different fish dishes... In the shops, the selection of fish was quite rich. Wealthy citizens could buy herring or mackerel, but pensioners and students most often took a sprat of spicy salting. Many housewives make it at home.
Useful properties of sprat
Sprat is a small fish that can be found in the seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is distinguished by its small body and small scales. Some people confuse this fish with bleak and sprat as they are very similar. Sprat, like other types of fish, contains a lot of protein and little fat. The calorie content of 100 grams of salted fish is less than 140 calories. Accordingly, it is suitable for people who are watching their weight.
Meat contains vitamins of group B, PP, A, K and E. All of them are necessary for normal functioning of the whole organism. Sprat meat is rich in the following minerals:
- sodium;
- magnesium;
- calcium;
- phosphorus;
- chlorine;
- iron.
Salted sprat does not lose its useful properties and can be recommended to healthy people. But for persons who suffer from seafood intolerance, it is better to refuse this fish. Salted sprat is not recommended for people who suffer from kidney disease. Spicy brine can be harmful during an exacerbation of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
Little cooking tricks
Almost any housewife can deliciously salt sprat at home. If you buy fresh fish, then there should be no problems with salting. Of course, it is best to salt fresh, but it can only be purchased in coastal cities. To people who live far from the seas, you have to be content with frozen raw materials. You need to carefully examine the fish before buying. The scales of fresh fish should be silvery, without rusty spots. Carcasses must be whole and level. If there is a large percentage of broken fish, then it is better to refuse the purchase.
You need to salt the sprat in a glass or enamel bowl, but it is better to refuse plastic. Before salting, the fish should be thawed in the refrigerator. The longer it thaws, the more firm and elastic it will be after curing. There will be no benefit from a fish thawed in a microwave oven.
To prepare salted sprat at home, you need to use coarse rock salt. But it is better to refuse salt of the "Extra" or "Iodized" varieties.
Most popular recipes
Spicy salted sprat can be prepared from common products that any housewife has:
- 2 kilograms of fresh fish;
- a pinch of black pepper;
- 400 grams of coarse salt;
- 4 buds of dried cloves;
- 4 allspice peas;
- 4 bay leaves;
- 2 grams of coriander;
- 2 grams of ground ginger.
First you need to defrost the carcasses and rinse under cold water... Some housewives put them in a colander, while others dry them with a paper towel. Mix the spices well. Put the fish in a wide bowl and mix with spices. If the bowl has a lid, you can close it and shake the bowl several times.
Place the fish bowl on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Put a small board on the sprat and put a jar of water on it. Time cooking delicious treats ranges from 12 to 14 hours. Then it can be eaten. It is necessary to store lightly salted sprat in the refrigerator at a temperature of about 0 degrees. The same recipe can be used to make spiced herring.
At home, recipes can be upgraded by adding your favorite spices. Some housewives, on the contrary, refuse spices that their family members do not like. Nowadays, the recipe for pickled sprat is very popular. It is very simple to prepare it, as it consists of simple products:
- 500 grams of fresh or frozen fish;
- 750 milliliters of water;
- 100 grams of sea salt;
- 50 grams of granulated sugar;
- 5 bay leaves;
- 5 peas of allspice;
- 2 grams of cloves;
- 2 grams of coriander.
The fish must be prepared for salting. First it is washed and then dried with a paper towel. The head and entrails do not need to be removed. A pot of water is put on fire. After boiling, turn off the fire and add all the spices. The brine should cool down to a temperature of 30-40 degrees. Only then can they fill in the fish. It should be marinated for 24 hours.
A simple recipe for dry salting is popular among young housewives. As a rule, it is used to prepare large fish. To salt sprat fast way , you need not only to wash the carcasses, but also to divide them into fillets. Typically, the following products are used:
Prepare first fish fillet... The head and entrails must be removed and each fish cut lengthwise. Then all the spices are mixed. The peppercorns must be crushed with a knife so that they give their aroma to the fish. To the bottom of an enamel pot sprinkle a little spice mixture and spread a layer of fish. Then alternate layers until the ingredients run out. On the last layer of the fish, you need to put a small wooden plank. Any oppression is put on it, weighing 500-700 grams. The fish will be salted very quickly, and after 4-6 hours it can be put on the table.
Attention, only TODAY!
Fish is an important product for the body, because it is a source of useful acids, vitamins and minerals. Nowadays, you can find a large assortment of fish on store shelves. I would like, of course, to pamper myself with a red fish, and not everyone will pay attention to the sprat.
What is this sprat fish?
Sprat is a small fish with an oblong body, from the herring family, which is divided into 2 types. The fish is smooth to the touch with small silvery scales. The fish got its name because of the similarity in appearance with a ship's keel. The sprat lives in salt and fresh water. Is found delicious seafood in the Mediterranean and North Seas.
Useful properties of the silvery inhabitant of the seas
The fish itself is quite low in calories, but the cooking method can significantly increase the calorie content and destroy the beneficial properties of any seafood. It is also worth treating with caution food additives, spices and sauces, they can aggravate taste qualities product and significantly increase the calorie content of lean fish.
As you know, fish is quite a healthy and dietary product, but, despite this, it can harm the body. It is worth giving up the use of people who are prone to allergies. And also those who suffer from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
This is especially true for spicy ambassadors. After all, an ambassador with spices contains vinegar, preservatives that can irritate the mucous membrane of the intestines, stomach, as a result of which the body experiences discomfort.
Is salted fish good for you?
Salted fish is a self-contained dish that everyone has tried. The fish can be used for making sandwiches or used as an addition to a side dish.
The advantage of fish is that it does not lose useful qualities... The benefits of salted fish lie in its composition, as it contains sulfur, fluoride, a little zinc and other useful substances that have a beneficial effect on the body's work.
How to deliciously salt sprat at home
How can you cook a marine life from the herring family? There are many ways. It can be stewed, fried, salted, baked, cutlets and, of course, salted. You can salt it in several ways: dry salting, spicy and in brine.
Essential seasonings for salting
How to catch more fish?
In my 13 years of active fishing, I have found many ways to improve my bite. And here are the most effective ones:- Bite activator. Attracts fish in cold and warm water with the help of pheromones and stimulates their appetite. Pity that Rosprirodnadzor wants to ban its sale.
- More sensitive gear. Read the appropriate guides for your specific tackle type on the pages of my site.
- Bait based pheromones.
As for the seasoning for pickling, the main ingredient is salt. You can use mustard (powder or grains), coriander, provencal herbs, pepper different types, bay leaf, rosemary, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, red pepper, cinnamon, dill.
It is worth noting that the amount of spices is conditional. It is worth noting that every time a fish is salted, it turns out to be slightly salted, sometimes oversalted. Remember that the longer it stands, the saltier it gets.
If you don't know what spices to add, a store can help ease your efforts. Now the store is already on sale ready mix seasonings for salting fish. You can use them.
Only rock salt is suitable for salting. Other types of salt (iodized, extra) salt only the top layer of the fish.
Cut large fish into fillets, for more quick salting, but it is not necessary to clean the small ones from the insides. This can be done after preparation.
For salting, use only fresh fish, frozen fish is not suitable, as it has a specific taste. For long-term storage of salted fish, use more salt than indicated in the recipe, and also do not rinse the sprat before salting.
Do not forget about sugar, thanks to it the fish will become more elastic. Frozen sprat can be salted if fresh is not available for sale. Defrost such fish only in a natural way.
Plastic dishes are not suitable for salting. This is due to the fact that it is very difficult for her to wash off the fishy smell, and she can give the product a specific plastic smell.
Quick salting of frozen fish
Frozen fish is not very good at salting, but if there is no other choice, but you really want to cook it yourself, then let's start. For cooking, you need salt, peppercorns, bay leaves. Grind the spices well in a mortar. Bring the water to a boil, add a few drops of vinegar to it.
Place the fish in a colander and put it in boiling water for a minute. Then quickly salt the product. After a few hours, you can serve it to the table. This salting method is only suitable for fresh frozen seafood and not for long-term storage.
Spicy salted sprat recipes at home
Many of us are accustomed to the fact that sprat is mostly small, but you can also find large specimens in supermarkets. If you come across one, then you need to buy it and pickle it. Prepare all the products, and now you can start the process of pickling.
Recipe for a large fish
You will need the following ingredients:
- Fresh sprat - 1 kg.
- Allspice - 10 pcs.
- Rock salt - 2 tbsp l.
- Bay leaf - several pieces.
- Sugar - 1 tbsp. l.
- Carnation - 3 pcs.
- Coriander, cinnamon - a small pinch.
Wash and dry the fish well. Stir the spices well, they should only be prepared with your own hands. Ground spices or store-bought spice mixes do not have the same rich aroma as homemade ones only cooked. Mix sprat with spices and put under pressure. The product will be ready for use in 12 hours.
Spicy sprat recipe
- You will need the following spices:
- Fresh sprat - 1 kg.
- Black pepper - 50 g.
- Sea salt - 75 grams.
- Dried cloves - 2 pcs.
- Coriander - 30 grams.
- Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
- Ground ginger - a pinch.
The cooking method is the same as in the first recipe.
There is usually a very steep salted sprat on sale, and therefore I salt it myself. The sprat is salted very quickly. Sprat is ready the next day.
The sprat must be defrosted and washed before the ambassador. It is not necessary to clean it, as it is always salted with heads and entrails. For the brine, various spices are taken in sufficient quantities: rock salt, black peppercorns and ground, allspice, bay leaf, you can also take 1-2 pieces. carnations.
How to pickle sprat sprat
I choose the sprat of the same, even size. So it will be salted evenly. Glass jar mine and pour over boiling water. I put the washed fish in the jar upside down. And I fill it with cooled brine.
Sprat brine
For a liter of water, you need to take 2 - 2.5 tablespoons of salt.
Here I have given the rate of salt per liter, provided that the sprat turns out to be weak salt. When salting sprat, it is necessary to take into account that it is small, and it takes in more salt than large fish. And so the water for the brine must be boiled, add spices, salt, bay leaf and cook for 5-7 minutes. Then the brine must be cooled. Sprinkle the fish in the jar with ground black pepper. More spicy pepper is obtained by grinding black peppercorns directly during cooking. This is how I sprinkle the sprat with pepper. And pour cold brine.
The sprat is placed in the refrigerator. In a day, the fish is ready. Served sprat sprat with.
Salting sprat dry salting
You can also salt the sprat with dry salting. For this, 3 tbsp is taken per kilogram of fish. spoons of rock salt. The spices are all pounded together in a ceramic or porcelain mortar until they are not very fine. The fish is washed, but not cleaned, folded into an enamel dish. Then sprinkle with salt and ground spices and mixes properly with your hands.
Sprat is a small fish that has been familiar to us since post-Soviet times. At that time, there was no problem to buy spiced sprat in any store. In this recipe I will try to tell you in detail how to pickle sprat at home. The result will delight all salted fish lovers. Sprat is especially good with boiled potatoes or with black bread. There are several methods of pickling that you can use at home to make sprat: dry, spicy, and wet pickling. For dry salting, salt and sugar are used; for spicy salting, coriander, black and allspice and other spices, for the wet method, prepare a saline solution and keep the sprat for about 12 hours. I propose to salt the sprat using brine. In these ways, you can salt anchovy or any small sea fish.
How to pickle sprat sprat at home
Ingredients:
- Fresh defrosted sprat - 500 g,
- Table vinegar - 1.5 tablespoons,
- Water - 500 ml,
- Salt - 1.5 tablespoons,
- Sugar - 0.5 tablespoons,
- Ground coriander - 0.5 tsp
Cooking process:
The first step is to prepare the saline solution, as it should cool down to room temperature. Pour water into a saucepan, add sugar, salt, ground coriander. Stir and bring to a boil. Turn off the fire immediately. After the spice solution boils, pour in the vinegar and stir. Cool it down. You can speed up the cooling process by placing the saucepan on crushed ice or in a container of cold water.
Until then, prepare the sprat for pickling. Place it in a colander and rinse thoroughly in running cold water. If the sprat is large, you can remove the head and clean it from the entrails. Small fish are conveniently salted as a whole. Leave for a while to drain all the liquid.
Place the sprat in a salting container. Do not use plastic containers. Pour in the cooled marinade. Cover the top with a clean cloth, place a flat plate over the diameter of the saucepan and place a small weight so that all the sprat is in the brine. Leave it at room temperature for a few hours. Then put it in the refrigerator for 10 hours.
Now you know a good proven recipe homemade salty sprat! Ready-made fish, lightly salted. If you like highly salty seafood, add a little more salt, about half a tablespoon, when making the brine.
Enjoy your meal!
Sprat salty recipe with a photo from Svetlana.
How to cook sprat in tomato sauce in the next issue:
