Curing herring

[Domen]

I am attempting to cure herring, so far with mixed results.

I'm looking to achieve that soft texture and slightly sweet and sour flavour of Eastern European marinated herring, rather than really quite full-on German roll mop.

Anyone has a good recipe, please (I'm running a Brunch Club on Baltic food next week)?

So far I have done the following (basically a roll mop recipe):

Put filleted herrings into cold water with salt for about 3-5 hours

Then made a marinade of vinegar (a lot - about 500 ml for about 12 fillets), with pepper corns, allspice, bayleaf, sugar

Put all the herrings into the marinade for some 3 days

Result: texture is lovely, but the flavour is really rather vinegary. I'm now trying to re-balance the taste by storing it in oil.

Also, any idea how to preserve the herring for another 2 weeks?

thanks

[Deus Mortus]

I haven't preserved a lot of fish yet, but if we're talking about eastern europian preserves, you'll usually find a lot of dill, another idea might be to use just salt water and pickle them.

[heidih]

Here is an older topic with some information.

You may want to also check out this post.

[Blether]

I'm not familiar with Eastern European pickled herring. From what you say, it's milder - you might get closer to your goal with rice vinegar or apple / fruit vinegar.

[dougal]

...

I'm looking to achieve that soft texture and slightly sweet and sour flavour of Eastern European marinated herring, rather than really quite full-on German roll mop.

Anyone has a good recipe, please (I'm running a Brunch Club on Baltic food next week)?

I posted Jane Grigson's recipe on the other thread http://egullet.org/p1820709

Its quite similar to what you have done ...

So far I have done the following (basically a roll mop recipe):

Put filleted herrings into cold water with salt for about 3-5 hours

Then made a marinade of vinegar (a lot - about 500 ml for about 12 fillets), with pepper corns, allspice, bayleaf, sugar

Put all the herrings into the marinade for some 3 days

... BUT she wants the spices to be infused into hot vinegar, and wants some chilli, and rather a lot of bay leaf, in there as well.

Also, choose your vinegar! Malt or pickling vinegar will give a very 'vinegary' result. Wine, cider or even sherry vinegar will give a different flavour.

And if you want it sweeter, add some sugar - brown sugar, honey, maple syrup? -- its your fish, your cure.

Result: texture is lovely, but the flavour is really rather vinegary. I'm now trying to re-balance the taste by storing it in oil.

Also, any idea how to preserve the herring for another 2 weeks?

Not too sure about the oil idea...

Just leave the fish, completely submerged in the spiced vinegar, in the fridge. It should be adequately 'preserved' - don't forget that this was a traditional method of preservation. It would make sense to cover the dish/jar. One of those snap-lock-lid boxes should be a good choice. They used to use barrels, and no refrigeration - so you ought to be OK ! Just be sure to keep the fish submerged - especially if you pull out the occasional fillet/roll for 'sampling' purposes.

If you want less 'pickled' flavour, you might just soak the fillets in some (salty?) water

[Domen]

thanks a lot for all the suggestions.

I'm going to try to dilute vinegar with water (and I had used mild wine vinegar before) as some of the other recipes suggest.

my question re preserving in oil stemmed from the fact that herring in all Eastern-European shops in London is sold marinated inn oil, it's a lot less vinegary that my result was.

[Ufimizm]

Here is the recipe I got out of a church cookbook for Polish style herring. I think it comes out perfect. I added the bird chili's to the recipe because I like a little heat.

2 lbs salt herring fillets or fresh herring fillets.

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup white vinegar

1 bay leaf

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon whole allspice

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

1/3 cup sugar

1 large red onion

3-4 Bird chili’s or to taste

Directions:

For Salt Herring, soak the fillets in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours and change the water a couple of times.

For Fresh Herring, salt the water and let the fillets soak overnight.

***It has been a few years since I got fresh herring and I do not remember how much salt was used exactly. I was told by a polish grandma to soak them in salty tasting water, but not too salty. I ended up salting water with some kosher salt and taking it to her and she added some more salt and told me it was salty enough.

To make the pickling solution, combine water, vinegar, sugar and seasonings (I crush the garlic, peppercorns, mustard seed and chili together) in a pan and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar; let cool.

Rinse the fillets with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

I will cut the fish in chunks, but they can be left whole as well.

Peel, slice, and separate slices of onion into rings.

Arrange herring and onion rings in alternate layers in sterilized jars. Cover with pickling solution and cap.

Refrigerate at least 3 days before serving.