I love this thread. My grandfather owned a corner shop and was well known in our town for his pickled herring and corned beef. The brine recipe for beef survived after his passing and its what I use today. The herring recipe was lost to the ages.
In later years a Swedish friend took me to meet the fishing boats in San Pedro to buy herring and taught me how to pickle herring. Alas, fresh herring is not available here in the PNW so I haven’t pickled herring in 31 years.
Lostspark, I’d quite forgotten the Russian way which was my mothers preference. I’ll invest in a jar of pickled herring this week and will give it a try. My mother included caraway seeds in her recipe when she was frying the onions. I will never forget that fragrance. TYVM