Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Sprats along with all the Sprats containing recipes presented on this site, with 1 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Sprats recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Sprats as a major wild food ingredient.



Sprat — Sprat is the common name applied to a group of small, oily forage fish mainly in the genus Sprattus of which the European sprat (Sprattus sprattus) is the type species in the family Clupeidae. (The term is also applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish.)

Sprats are sometimes passed for other fish; products sold as having been prepared from anchovies (since the 19th century) and sardines are sometimes prepared from sprats, as the authentic ones used to be less accessible. They are known for their smooth flavour and are easy to mistake for baby sardines.

The main species of sprats in the genus Sprattus include the following: European sprat Sprattus strattus, New Zealand bleuback sprat (Sprattus antipodum); Australian sprat (Sprattus novaehollandiae); Falkland sprat (Sprattus fuegensis) and the New Zealand sprat (Sprattus muelleri). Though not a true sprat, the Black and Caspian Sea sprat (Clupeonella cultriventis) is also included as a sprat.

The average length of time from fertilization to hatching is approximately fifteen days, with environmental factors playing a major role in the size and overall success of the sprat.

Sprats have been used as a food fro millennia. In northern and north-eastern Europe, European sprats are commonly smoked and preserved in oil, which retains a strong smoky flavour. They are also sold fresh, canned, salted and dried.

The European sprat, Sprattus sprattus (also known as bristling, brisling or skipper) is a small, herring-like, marine fish. Found in European waters. It has silver grey scales and white-grey flesh. Specific seas in which the species occurs include the Irish Sea, Baltic Sea and Sea of the Hebrides. Often it is cooked whole and can be fried, grilled, barbecued or baked. Smoked and canned sprats are available in many north European countries, including the Baltic states, Scandinavia, Ireland, Germany, Poland and Russia. They are an important Latvian export.

In Britain they are not much consumed today, unless caught by netting for home use. But they used to be much more popular and the majority of Victorian authors always included recipes for sprats. A popular method of cooking was deep frying them whole either dusted with flour or dipped in batter.