How To Cook Herring Sprats At Home

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Herring sprats at home: we cook in different ways

Until recently, sprats were an obligatory attribute on our tables both on holidays and on weekdays. But now this canned fish is rarely seen. The production technology raises some doubts about the benefits of ingredients, and in the manufacturing process itself. The price is often higher than the quality. Therefore, we suggest you learn how to cook sprats yourself, at home, from quite affordable fish - herring.

Content

• 1 A few words about herring
• 2 Ingredients

• 3 Recipes for making sprat at home

  • 3.1 The classic recipe

    3.1.1 Video recipe: herring sprats

  • 3.2 Recipe from Julia Vysotskaya
  • 3.3 In a multicooker

  • 3.4 Option without preliminary extinguishing

    3.4.1 Video: oven-baked herring sprats

  • 3.5 In the pressure cooker

    3.5.1 Video recipe: herring sprats in a pressure cooker

  • 3.6 With prunes
  • 3.7 With soy sauce
• 4 A few more recipes from the forums

A few words about herring

Baltic herring is a small fish, and how much can you cook from it!

We are accustomed to perceiving the Baltic herring as an ordinary small fish suitable for food for cats. In fact, this fish is a subspecies of the Atlantic herring. Its main habitat is the Baltic Sea, the Curonian and Kaliningrad Lagoon, less often some freshwater lakes in Switzerland.

Since herring is not much different from Baltic sprats both in taste and in appearance, manufacturers often pass it off as this delicacy, without even changing the inscription on the cans. One can only guess how much resources were saved in such production. It's better to buy fresh or frozen herring (fortunately, its catch lasts year-round) and cook something from it yourself. For example, the same sprats that we get are much tastier, and most importantly, healthier than purchased ones. It is not at all difficult and not costly, both in terms of money and time.

Ingredients

As we have already said, cooking sprat from small fish (in our case herring) is an easy and inexpensive business. The basic recipe set is simple:

• herring;
• strong brewing of black tea;
• sunflower oil for frying;
• salt.

Choose a strong, medium-sized herring. You have to clear it from the head and intestines, it is difficult to do this with a small fish. And too large one needs to cook longer, and it is not a fact that it will be stewed evenly.

To determine the strength of the brew used, use this simple formula: 4 tea bags or 2 tablespoons of dry fine-leaved tea in 200 g of water. This amount of liquid is enough for 1 kg of herring.

Herring sprats are a great addition to the festive and everyday table

In the preparation of sprat, sunflower oil is needed not only for frying, but also for the fish to be saturated with it. Therefore, you will need a lot of oil: about ½ cup per 1 kg of fish.

In addition to salt, lovers of spicy aromas can add various spices to the dish to their liking: pepper, bay leaf, fennel, cloves. Even additional foods and sauces will not be superfluous!

Often housewives use onion peel in the preparation of sprat, which gives a pleasant golden color to the fish. Some even use liquid smoke.

Sprat recipes at home

Traditionally, herring sprats are fried in a pan, but the modern kitchen is equipped with both suitable utensils and auxiliary appliances. In our recipes, we will tell you about the different ways of making sprat.

Classic recipe

Although sprats take a long time to prepare, you will have to tinker with them no more than half an hour. The rest of the time they calmly languish at the right temperature, and you go about your business.

For classic sprats you will need:

• 1 kg of fresh herring;
• 2 tablespoons (4 bags) of black tea;
• 80-100 g of sunflower oil;
• salt, peppercorns, bay leaf.

1. Be sure to clean the fish by removing the entrails and head. Rinse thoroughly.

   

   Peel the Baltic herring thoroughly

2. Take a deep skillet. Can be replaced with other thick-bottomed dishes such as ducklings. Cover the bottom of the dish with foil and place the first layer of herring on it. Place the fish tightly to each other, be sure to tumble down, so that the carcasses do not fall apart during cooking. Add lavrushka leaves and pepper. Lay the second layer of herring on top in the same way. In total, the layers of fish should occupy no more than 2/3 of the dishes so that the oil does not boil away during cooking.

   

   Arrange herring tightly in rows, add spices

3. Make a strong brew of tea and 1 cup boiling water. Strain so that the liquid is clear, without tea leaves. Dissolve the salt in it. For this amount of fish, you will need about 2 teaspoons of topless salt, but this is a matter of taste. The amount you need can only be determined empirically.

   

   Pour in the tea leaves with salt

4. Pour in the sunflower oil so that it completely covers the fish.

5. Without covering the skillet or rooster with a lid, cook the fish over medium heat for 20 minutes.

   

   Add sunflower oil and simmer herring over low heat for 20 minutes

6. After that, put the dishes with fish in an oven preheated to 160 degrees, cover with a lid and simmer for 4 hours. If you decide to use liquid smoke, at this stage, pour 2 teaspoons into the fish, cover again and bake for 1.5 hours until tender. Without using liquid smoke, the herring should be kept in the oven for about 6 hours without taking it out.

   

   Cover the dish with a lid and place in the oven, you can add liquid smoke

7. After the time has passed, remove the fish from the oven. It will turn golden, and the bones will be soft, completely invisible. Serve with herbs, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes or boiled potatoes.

   

   Remove the golden oily sprats from the oven

Video recipe: herring sprats

Recipe from Julia Vysotskaya

Our hostesses have long been familiar with the culinary creativity of this energetic young woman who does not get tired of revealing for us the secrets of the dishes of the peoples of the whole world.

For sprat from herring according to the method of Julia Vysotskaya, you will need:

• 1.2 kg of herring;
• 2 teaspoons of tea;
• 1.5 cups of water;
• 200 g of sunflower oil;
• 3 bay leaves;
• 1 handful of onion skins
• 1 teaspoon salt
• peppercorns.

1. Prepare the fill first. To do this, add clean onion peels, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns and tea leaves to a saucepan. Pour in 1.5 cups of water, place on the stove. After boiling, boil for 15 minutes and leave to infuse under a closed lid.

   

   Prepare the onion peel, tea and spice fill

2. While the fill is cooling, peel the herring: cut off the heads, remove the entrails and rinse thoroughly.

   

   Peel the herring entrails, cut off the heads

3. Place the fish in a deep bowl, saucepan or pan, tightly to each other, backs up. It is very important to choose a container of the right size for the amount of fish.

   

   Place the fish in the prepared shape

4. Strain the cooled filling and pour it into a bowl with herring. Add sunflower oil there.

   

   Add the filling and vegetable oil, simmer the fish until tender

5. Place a skillet with fish on the stove, and when the liquid begins to boil, reduce the heat to low. Simmer for at least 2 hours. If you have a special skillet that breaks the fire, be sure to use it to prevent excessive boiling.

6. After the fish has been stewed over low heat for 2 hours, remove it and let cool directly in the dish. Sprats keep great in the refrigerator if you fill them with the liquid in which they were cooked.

   

   Appetizing, isn't it?

In a multicooker

A very simple recipe, and most of the hassle in its preparation will be taken over by our constant assistant in the kitchen - a slow cooker. You will need:

• 100 g of strong tea, brewed from 4 bags;
• 350 g of herring;
• ¼ glass of vegetable oil;
• ½ teaspoon of salt.

1. Brew strong tea, mix it in one cup with vegetable oil and salt. Mix thoroughly.

2. Put the fish into the multicooker bowl in the same way as in previous recipes. From the specified amount, you will get 1 layer. Put pepper, bay leaves and fill in. Wait 5 minutes for it to seep to the bottom and spread evenly. At this stage, you can add a spoonful of liquid smoke if desired.

   

   Lay the herring in layers on the bottom of the multicooker, add the filling, oil, spices

3. To prepare homemade sprat in a multicooker, you need to select the "Buckwheat" mode - it has settings for complete evaporation of water, up to the desired time.
4. When the device notifies you with a sound signal about the end of cooking, let the sprats cool completely in the bowl, and then transfer to another dish. The chilled fish will not break and retain its beautiful shape.

Option without preliminary extinguishing

The ingredients for this recipe are the same as in any of the previous ones: herring, black tea, vegetable oil, onion husks, salt, bay leaf, and pepper.

1. Peel fresh herring, cut off the heads and tails.

   

   Peel herring, remove heads and tails

2. Place the fish tightly in a prepared container: a special pot for the oven or a frying pan. Install tightly in even rows.

   

   Place the fish in a prepared oven dish

3. Prepare the fill. Brew a strong tea and let it cool. Boil the pure onion peel for 20 minutes and cool it too. Strain the liquids into separate glasses and prepare the butter.

   

   Prepare tea, onion broth and vegetable oil for pouring

4. Add lavrushka and pepper to the dishes with fish.

   

   Add seasoning to the fish

5. Fill the herring with vegetable oil. Twist the pan a little so that it spreads evenly between the carcasses.

   

   Pour vegetable oil into the bowl

6. Pour the tea leaves and onion peel infusion into one cup, add salt and stir until completely dissolved. Pour herring with this solution. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees and put a pot of fish in it. Cook until the liquid in the pot boils, then lower the temperature to 120 degrees. The total cooking time should be 2 hours. Note: the fish is not boiled, but languishes.

   

   Pour in the tea leaves, onion broth, then send the fish to the oven

7. And here is the result of cooking: sprats in thick oily juice.

   

   Sprats are ready!

Video: oven-baked herring sprats

youtube.com/watch?v=FWIshnxtLyA

In a pressure cooker

If your kitchen does not yet have this modernized pan, be sure to purchase it - you will notice that very little time has been spent on preparing complex dishes. Of course, I already cooked sprats in a pressure cooker, including herring.

1. Prepare herring, gut, trim off heads and rinse.

   

   Peel and rinse herring

2. While the fish is drying, prepare a tea infusion using 1 tablespoon of loose leaf tea and 1 cup of boiling water. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

   

   Brew tea and leave to infuse

3. Meanwhile, place the fish on the bottom of the pressure cooker in even rows, as shown in the picture.

   

   Place the herring in the pressure cooker in even rows

4. Salt the fish, add pepper and lavrushka, pour in strained tea and vegetable oil so that they completely cover the herring. The ratio of oil to tea should be 1: 1.

   

   Add flavor and spice to the fish

5. Close the cooker, set the valve to the desired position and set the cooking time from 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the fish. The larger the herring, the longer it will take.

   

   Set the required time and wait until ready

While the pressure cooker prepares the sprats, you can drink tea, watch your favorite TV show, or walk the dog. And as soon as the device notifies you with a sound signal about the end of cooking, wait until the pressure in the device drops and serve the sprats on the table!

Video recipe: herring sprats in a pressure cooker

With prunes

Prunes will give sprats a spicy flavor.

It is known that the peculiarity of sprat is the taste and aroma of smoked fish. Onion hulls handle this, but still do not provide the required saturation. Therefore, many housewives add liquid smoke when cooking. However, it is not to everyone's taste. Therefore, earlier, when liquid smoke was not yet on the shelves, prunes were added to sprats.

So, for this dish you will need:

• 700 g of herring, peeled of heads and entrails;
• 1 liter of water;
• 50 g smoked prunes;
• 2 tablespoons of dry black tea;
• 2 tablespoons of salt;
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil;
• bay leaf, cloves, a few peppercorns.

1. Prepare tea leaves, boil for 5 minutes, strain and leave to cool. Meanwhile, place the first layer of herring in the prepared pot.
2. Slice the prunes. Transfer them and spices each new layer of fish.
3. Strain the cooled tea, add salt to it and stir thoroughly until dissolved. Pour the herring with the resulting liquid so that the fish is covered with top, with a margin for evaporation. Shake the dishes a little so that the water spreads evenly over the layers of fish, add tea if necessary.
4. Sprats with prunes can be cooked both in the oven and on the stove. In the first case, you need to put a pot of fish in an oven preheated to 200 degrees, wait for the liquid to boil, lower the temperature to 120 degrees and simmer the sprats for about 2 hours. In the second, it is enough to use a divider stand and simmer the dish for 2 hours over low heat.
5. After this time, drain the remaining liquid from the pot with sprats and immediately add the vegetable oil so that it completely covers the fish. Put it on the fire or in the oven again, and after boiling the oil, simmer for another 15 minutes. That's all, sprats with prunes are ready!

With soy sauce

The fashion for Asian cuisine brings its spicy notes to the dishes we are used to. Herring sprats did not go unnoticed. Why not make them with soy sauce?

You will need:

• 1.2 kg of peeled herring;
• 200 g of any vegetable oil;
• 200 g stronger tea leaves;
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of topcoated salt
• bay leaf and peppercorns.

1. Put the peeled and washed herring without heads in a bowl and cover with soy sauce. Leave to infuse for 1 hour. Then place it in a deep frying pan in the usual way: barrel to barrel, backs up, as tight as possible.

   

   Peeled herring needs to be infused in soy sauce

2. Strain the tea leaves, mix with vegetable oil and soy sauce, in which the fish was infused. Pour herring over with the resulting marinade, add lavrushka and peppercorns. Put on medium heat until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours.

   

   Add a mixture of soy sauce, tea and spices to the fish, simmer the sprats for 2 hours

3. When the time is up, remove the sprats from the heat and leave to cool for a day in the same dish. Can be placed in the refrigerator. Do not stir the fish until it is completely cooled so that it does not lose its beautiful appearance.

   

   Herring sprats in soy sauce - a touch of Chinese cuisine in a traditional dish

A few more recipes from the forums

As you can see, at home it is not difficult to cook sprats from such a common fish as herring. From the recipes and methods offered by us, you will surely choose the best for yourself. Tell us in the comments how you prepare sprats from herring or other types of fish. Bon Appetit!