Home salted / cured sprats

Being a sprat is one of the worst kinds of fish to be. You're there to be eaten by anything that's larger than you, unfortunately that is most things. Anyway, they're sort of like small herring or sardines, but bigger than whitebait. They're related to anchovies, and only a little bit bigger, so what if I salted them?

Here's what you need:
A double handful of sprats, should cost about a pound (yes really)
About the same weight in coarse rock salt
A tupperware box
A 250-300g size jar.

You only want the fillets, so prepare to get stinky fingers cleaning them up. Twist of the head and discard, it should pull out some of the guts. Take a small pointed knife and slit down the belly to the tail. Using your thumbs, carefully press the two halves apart. Then, carefully remove the backbone - pinch it out using your two thumbs, and then lift it out gentle and the tail should come with it. Rinse the fillet under the tap, and scrape off any remaining entrail.

That should keep you occupied for a little while. When done, pat them dry and layer them with the salt in the tupperware box, and put in the fridge. Leave them about 4 hours, or overnight.

Remove them from the box, discarding the liquid. Now layer them with generous amounts of salt in the jar, pressing each layer firmly as you go. Top the jar off with plenty of salt, and put in the fridge for at least 4 weeks.

No idea how long they keep, but they should last a few months so long as they've got plenty of salt on them.