Oneg Shabbos Herring Recipe

I still have the recipe from some fantastic herring we had in Norway years ago. Like any other recipe, the key is to find the freshest herring available. It uses a bit less salt than most and relied on spices for its unique flavor and avoids the “cream” or “oily” textures frequently encountered.

Norwegian Style Herring

1/4 cup kosher salt
1 quart water
2 cups white wine vinegar (or some dry white wine past its prime)
1/4 cup sugar
1 pound FRESH herring fillets (the canned/bottled varieties tend to be salted)
1 teaspoon mustard seed
2 teaspoons whole allspice
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 green chili (anaheim for mild; serrano for hot)
3 cloves
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 red onion thinly sliced

Heat 3 cups of the water sufficiently to dissolve salt and let the brine cool to room temperature. Refrigerate the herring fillets in the brine overnight. Bring the sugar, vinegar, 1 cup of water and all the spices to a boil, simmer and cool. Simmer 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let this steep until cool. Layer the brined herring fillets in a glass jar with the sliced lemon and red onion. Pour the liquid sugar/spice liquid over the herring in the jar and refrigerate for a day or two. It can easily stay fresh in the frig for at least 2 weeks.

Huju: Then you probably don’t bake your own Challah erev shabbos???

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

There is a highly rated “Scandinavian” restaurant in NYC which has an entree of “Brine Herring with Potato Onion Puree” at the bargain price of $48.00. Alas, the non-existent hashgacha does not lend itself to a culinary assessment.
P.S. I suspect it may be priced a bit above the offerings of Amil’s zayda.

If you’ve ever arrived in Amsterdam at the Central Station during the spring months, you probably have seen literally dozens of street vendors selling “virgin matjes” herrings which are the freshly caught oily filets. You can forego their sandwiches and just add your own roll or bread and experience one of the truly simple great tasting experiences.

Lostspark, you’ve got me drooling!! I’m off to the market for some minor shopping and I’ll be sure to pick up a jar of herring. I put some red onions up the other day to pickle them, perfect on a herring sandwich.