Dish of Pickled Herring Sweden
(click to enlarge)

Pickled Herring, Glassblower's


Sweden   -   Glasmastarsill
Makes:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 6 app
***
3 days
Must		 A Swedish recipe for Pickled Herring, a treat popular throughout Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Northern Europe, Home made is better than store bought.

1
8
1
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2
1
1/4
2
1
2
3
3
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#
oz

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c
c
c
t
t
t


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Herring Fillet (1)
Onion, red
Lemon
-- Pickle
Vinegar (2)
Water
Sugar
Peppercorns
Mustard seed
Allspice whole
Cloves
Bay Leaves
------------------ 		Make   -   (24 hours, 3/4 hour work)
  1. Clean HERRINGS, cut off heads, and fillet. For this recipe the skins are scaled and left on. Detailed instructions for this will be found on our Atlantic Herrings page.
  2. IF: using Brine Cured Herring Fillets, soak in cold water for 12 hours in the refrigerator to reduce saltiness. Rinse.
    IF: using Fresh Herring, you must soak fillets 12 to 24 hours in salt brine, then just rinse (see Salt Brine)
  3. Split ONIONS and LEMON in half lengthwise and slice fairly thin crosswise.
  4. Mix All Pickle Items and stir until Sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, take off heat and cool thoroughly.
  5. Drain Herring and pat dry with paper towels.
  6. Arrange Herring, Onions, and Lemon Slices in a jar, skin side out. Pour the cooled pickle solution over them. Refrigerate before serving, at least overnight but better several days. The herring will keep refrigerated for a month or more.
  7. These are usually sliced on the diagonal for serving. Include some of the onions too, they are very good. You can serve herring slices and onion strips on buttered dark rye bread.
NOTES:

  1. Herring:

      Usually you will use whole Brine Cured Herring - these will be with "heads, guts and feathers" or may be gutted. They will generally have been scaled. These can be found in specialty markets serving communities from countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. They should weigh about 11 ounces each, and will yield about 6-3/4 ounces of fillet (you will need 3 for 1 pound).
    IF using Fresh Herring, you must soak it 12 to 24 hours in brine (1/4 cup pickling salt to 4 cups of water) and skip the soaking step, just rinse. Unsalted herring will become mushy when pickled.

  2. Vinegar:

      The pattern recipes call for white distilled vinegar, but a good white wine vinegar could also be used. Note: recipes from Germany, Poland, and Scandinavia will usually presume a 12% Vinegar (North American is 5%) thus the amount of vinegar and water will be about equal.

  3. Salt Brine:

      If brining Fresh Herring, the brine should be about 1 Tablespoon per Cup of Water. As for all pickling uses, you should use a salt with no additives like non-caking and free flowing powders. I use Korean Sea Salt, but Pickling Salts are available. Some Kosher salts have non-caking additives.
  4. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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