Kiel sprat
Kiel sprats are a fish specialty that is mainly made from the sprat by smoking it.
Occurrence
The sprat is a herring-like sea fish that rarely grows larger than 20 cm. For the production of Kiel sprats, smaller specimens around 10 cm in length (equivalent to around 25 g) are preferred. Young herrings are occasionally used. The sprat is caught today in economically irrelevant quantities in the Baltic Sea around Kiel ; Over 100 years ago, this was obviously different: Even on our shores, especially those of the Baltic Sea, will every year many trapped alone an average of about sixteen million sprats in Eckernförde, usually smoked and then under the name of "sprats sent" to the whole world , wrote Alfred Brehm in 1884. The greatestNowadays landings come from the North Sea and the Northeast Atlantic .
Kiel sprats are typically sold in flat crates made of raw wood, in various sizes, for both resellers and consumers. They can be eaten in their entirety, including their head and tail ("with head and codend") and with bones , as they are very soft and fine. It is more common, however, not to eat the head, the tail and the main bones (“Kopp and Steert sünt nix weert”). To do this, the head is cut off, the sprat grasped with thumb and forefinger and lightly pressed against the stomach and back. Now the tail with the main bone can be carefully pulled out of the sprat without opening the sprat body.
Name reference
An interesting question is why the Kiel sprat bears the name of Kiel. A story that is often told in Eckernförde is that the sprats were made in Eckernförde and the boxes were given a large shipping stamp on the way to the nearest Kiel main station , which gave the impression that they were made in Kiel. In fact, however, the Kiel sprats are mentioned in 1809 in the book “Neuste Land- und Völkerkunde” Volume 4 of the Geographical Institute in Weimar. There you can find the sentence on page 198: “The Kiel kippers and sprats are very much appreciated”. Since the Kiel Sprat was mentioned 35 years before the Altona-Kiel railway line opened in 1844, the history of the shipping stamp cannot be the reason for the name Kiel Sprat . Rather, the sprat is an original Kiel specialty, which was later also produced in Eckernförde. The already well-known name Kieler Sprotte was retained.
There is an older reference to Kiel as the place of origin of the Kiel sprat. In the poem "Urian's Journey Around the World" by Matthias Claudius from 1786 it says: "On it I buy some cold food / and Kiel sprott and cake."
Real Kiel sprats are smoked in the traditional Altona oven over beech and alder wood. In many places, however, the Altona oven has given way to modern, gas-fired smoking ovens . However, a good deal of the typical taste is lost. "Real Kiel sprats" must also come from the greater Kiel Bay area .
Rehbehn & Kruse in Eckernförde is one of the last manufacturers of “real Kiel sprats” .
Other meanings
In some shops in the region, a chocolate version is also offered, which - similar to a cat's tongue - imitates the fish specialty in shape and packaging (a small wooden box).
In a figurative sense, the term "Kieler Sprotte" is used for a long-established or native citizen of Kiel, regardless of whether they are male or female.
Furthermore, an aquavit has been produced in Kiel for some time by Bela (Spirituosen Manufaktur Bartels-Langness), which is also called "Kieler Sprotte" and is characterized by the fact that it is driven according to old tradition through the Sprottenroute across the Kiel Fjord.
literature
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brehm's Thierleben. General knowledge of the animal kingdom, volume eight, third division: creeping animals, amphibians and fish, volume two: fish. Leipzig: Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, 1884, p. 315 [1]
- ↑ Latest country and ethnology. A geographic textbook for all classes. Fourth volume. The kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Weimar, Verlag des geographisches Institut, 1807, p. 198 [2]