Caroline Conran

Fried Sprats

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Preparation info
    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
top 1000British Cooking
British Cooking

By Caroline Conran

Published 1978

  • About

Many people think the good old sprat is too fiddly to bother with; but fried briefly in oil, a dish of sprats is a tremendously good traditional dish and well worth the trouble it takes.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg (2 lb) sprats flour
  • sunflower oil for frying
  • salt

Method

Cut the heads off the sprats and remove the guts at the same time. This is done by cutting through the top of the body, just behind the head, but not quite cutting through the belly. The knife is then used to pull the head away from the body and the insides will be drawn out at the same time. After a bit of practice it takes literally a few seconds to deal with each fish.

Now pat the fi