Atlantic Herring


Whole Salt Pickled Atlantic Herring [Clupea harengus harengus]

The most abundant and economically important herring, this fish figures prominently in the cuisines of Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic States. A round bodied fish, it can grow to nearly 18 inches and 1.5 pounds but the photo specimen was 13-1/2 inches and weighed 15 ounces.

The photo specimen is salt pickled, heads, guts and feathers intact, which is how herring is normally sold - and the way most herring recipes expect it. It is eaten raw in Holland, and fresh is sometimes specified in recipes from Northern Europe, particularly Poland, but fresh herring is not likely to be found here in California. Marine ecologists classify Atlantic herring as a sustainable harvest with proper fisheries management.

Whole Smoked Atlantic Herring Herring are oily fish, which makes smoking an option. The photo specimen was first salt pickled, then smoked, so it was fairly salty. This specimen was 14-1/2 inches long and weighed 11-1/8 ounces. Smoked herring have a lot of tiny bones and a skin too tough to eat, and are quite salty, but it's all manageable. Smoked herring is also called for in some recipes.

More on the Herring Family.
See also Herring - Pickled, Canned, Kippered and Dried


Many recipes I have encountered from Poland, the Baltic States and Russia call for "herrings" - just that, no further information. I could tell they were talking about a fairly large herring, but how large, why would I need to soak them overnight, and where could such herring be found?

Fortunately I found good shopping advice in one of my Lithuanian cookbooks. Unless "fresh herring" are specifically called for they are presumed pickled entire, "heads guts and feathers", in salt brine. You buy them from a barrel where they should be very tightly packed and of uniform size (if mixed size they are probably remnants of the catch and may be poor quality). The liquid in the barrel should be pale yellow, if dark brown the herring will be off flavor. Good quality herring has white flesh but it will be pink in poor quality fish. Herring that do not contain milt or roe are fattier and have better flavor, but some recipes call for using the milt and/or roe.

Buying:

  These fish can be found in specialty markets serving a community heavy in people from countries around the North and Baltic Seas. They are large herring, salt pickled whole and are in excellent condition, just as one would expect from reading the recipes. Jon's Marketplace in Glendale CA is now getting theirs from Lithuania in plastic tubs - just like the ones they used to have except these are gutted - which is not a problem. A number of markets here in Southern California now have them individually packed in plastic vacuum bags. The main difference is, the ones at Jon's are 2020 US $3.99 / pound ($2.99 when on sale), while the vacuum packed run about 2020 US $6.00 / pound.

Scales:

  Both brine pickled and smoked herring have already been scaled.

Cleaning:

  The body cavity is very long, like on a trout. Just slit it from under the head back to the vent and pull the guts out. With both brine pickled and smoked herring they are soft and easy to pull. Then cut off the head and tail. Rinse out the body cavity well.

Skin:

  First make shallow cuts through the skin down the backside on both sides of the fin and under the tail. Peel the skin off. On brined herring the skin is thin and delicate. I find it best to start at the top about one third back and peel downward and in both directions. You need to get the outer skin off, but some of the silver or gray inner skin is likely to be left, and that's not a problem. On smoked herrings the skin is tough and inedible. It peels easily.

Fillet:

  Cut downward to the backbone as usual, and over the backbone at the tail end to free the fillet. At this point I often find it easiest to use your fingers to peel the first fillet off the backbone and ribs for the length of the body cavity. This will leave most of the fine bones attached to the backbone, but some will need to be pulled from the fillet. Next pull out the backbone from the tail forward which will take out most of the bones from the second fillet. Note: on a particularly firm fish, pulling the backbone won't be possible and you'll have to deal with it like a regular fish.

Use your long nose pliers to pull out any remaining bones that are stiff enough to be worth pulling. There is also a row of pin bones that point upwards from the centerline. You can grab them with the pliers right at the surface just above the centerline. Very thin bones are usually not to be a problem for pickled herring, as the vinegar softens them.

Prep Salted:

  Most recipes call for soaking fillets in water or a mixture of milk and water for 12 hours or more to reduce the saltiness. I fillet the fish first and soak the fillets in water, refrigerated overnight.

Prep Smoked:

  With long nose pliers, pull as many of the fine bones that you can find. Smoked herring can also be soaked for a few hours to reduce saltiness, but this may also affect flavor.

Yield Salted:

  An 11-1/4 ounce fish yielded 6-3/4 ounces skinless fillets (60%).

Yield Smoked:

  A 10-3/4 ounce fish yielded 6-1/8 ounces skinless fillets (60%)

Pickleling Herring:

  See our recipe Pickled Herring for a very fine treat, as a snack or on buttered bread with onions.

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