Homemade Sprats from Baltic Herring

Homemade sprats are never actually smoked. The color and that same "smoked" note come from a decoction of onion skins with strong black tea — it is dye and flavor at once, and there is nothing else in the recipe that does this. So the onion skins here aren't a seasoning you can skip: without them you simply get fish braised in oil.

The second difference from a shop-bought tin is time. The Baltic herring is simmered under a lid for about two hours over the lowest heat, and it is exactly during this time that the small bones soften enough not to be felt. It can't be cut short: the color takes half an hour, the bones do not.

The method isn't tied to Baltic herring. Any small fish that makes no sense to clean one by one is treated the same way — the only thing that matters is the size of the carcass, so that it lies flat in a layer and doesn't break apart.

The color here comes from onion skins rather than from smoke; a smoker on the same fish gives smoked Baltic herring at home instead. The same oil-and-lid method, scaled up to a large fish, is homemade canned mackerel in oil.

Caloric content: 250kcal

Notes

• The fish is never stirred at all. Once the herring is laid out in layers, it isn't touched with a spoon or a spatula: after two hours it holds together only on its own backbone, and a single stir turns the sprats into pâté. If needed, shake the pot by its handles.
• Cooling in the pot is mandatory. Hot sprats crumble when you lift them out — the fish holds its shape only after the oil has set.
• A thick-bottomed pot and a lid without a hole. Steam escapes through the hole, and with it the liquid in which the fish is supposed to simmer for the full two hours.
• The skins are squeezed out and thrown away. Only the strained decoction goes into the pot: skins left in give bitterness and stick to the carcasses.
• Backs facing up. Laid this way the carcasses sit more tightly and don't float up when oil is poured over them.
• This is a refrigerator preserve, not a jar put up for winter. The jars are neither sterilized nor sealed — the sprats are kept cold and eaten within a few days.

Questions and Answers

Can sprats be made without onion skins?

No, not if you want them to look like sprats. The color and the smoky note come only from a decoction of the skins with strong tea — without it you get ordinary fish braised in oil. It isn't a seasoning but the dye of the recipe.

How long do the sprats keep?

A few days in the refrigerator. The jars here are neither sterilized nor sealed, so this is a refrigerator preserve rather than something put up for winter.

Why do the sprats fall apart?

Two reasons, and both are about movement. The fish was stirred while it simmered — after two hours it holds together only on its own backbone. Or it was taken out hot: sprats take their shape only once the oil has set.

Will another fish do instead of Baltic herring?

Yes, any small fish that makes no sense to clean one by one. Only the size of the carcass matters: it has to lie flat in a layer in the pot and not break apart.

Recipe and step-by-step photos — kolizhanka.net.ua.