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Sprats, Broiled
Clean the sprats, dry them well, and draw them at the gills. Dip them lightly in flour, fasten them in rows on small skewers run through the heads, and broil them on a closely-barred gridiron over a slow fire. When they are done upon one side, turn them on the other. Serve them on a very hot dish. They are generally served dry, but if liked a little lemon-juice may be squeezed over them at the last moment. Time to broil the sprats, four or five minutes. Probable cost, 1d. to 2d. per pound. Sufficient, one pound for three persons.
A method rather than a formula: whole small oily fish, floured, skewered in rows and grilled hard and fast. Everything depends on the fish being bone dry before it meets the heat.
- Getting the fishTrue sprats (Sprattus sprattus) appear seasonally at good fishmongers in Britain and northern Europe, usually late autumn to midwinter. Elsewhere, fresh smelt, small fresh sardines or whitebait-sized herring behave the same way; look for fish 3-5 inches long.
- "Draw them at the gills"Hook a finger or the point of a knife into the gill opening and pull the gills and the attached gut out in one piece, leaving the belly uncut. Very small sprats are often cooked ungutted and eaten whole, which is also acceptable.
- Dry means dryPat the fish thoroughly with paper towels before flouring. Oily fish carrying surface water will steam and the flour will turn to paste rather than crisping.
- The skewersRun a thin metal skewer through the heads of six or eight fish so they lie side by side like a comb. This lets you turn the whole row at once without the fragile bodies breaking up. Soaked bamboo skewers work but may scorch.
- Gridiron and slow fireA ridged cast-iron grill pan over medium heat, or a charcoal grill once the coals have greyed over, reproduces the intent. Under a domestic overhead broiler, set the pan about four inches from the element. "Slow" here means steady rather than fierce: sprats are fatty and a roaring fire produces flare-ups and blackened skin over raw flesh.
- TimingFour to five minutes total, turned once, is right for fish of this size and still is. They are done when the skin blisters and the flesh at the backbone is opaque. Overcooked sprats dry out very quickly.
- SeasoningThe original mentions only optional lemon. Salt the fish lightly before flouring if you like; sprats take salt well. Serve immediately on a hot dish; brown bread and butter is often served with small grilled or fried fish of this kind.
- Yield and costOne pound for three people is generous as a first course, about right as a light main. The "1d. to 2d. per pound" tells you these were among the cheapest fish sold in Britain.
Sprats were the classic cheap winter fish of the British coast, landed in enormous quantities in the Thames estuary and along the East Anglian shore and sold by the barrel from street barrows. They were cheap enough that their appearance in a household dictionary of this kind reflects a book written for kitchens where economy mattered as much as elegance. The trick of threading them onto skewers through the head is an old method, still seen in Baltic and Mediterranean grilling of small oily fish, and it answers to the fact that a soft-bodied three-inch fish cannot be turned individually on a gridiron without falling to pieces. Part of the catch went to be smoked rather than grilled, and the smoked version was a staple of the Victorian breakfast and supper table.