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pickled herring with kerry salad©️ Nel Brouwer-van den Bergh

Pickled herring with curry salad

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Prep Time 4 days
Total Time 4 days
Course Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine Scandinavian
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

herring

  • 1.1 lb (500 g) fresh herring

for the pre-treatment

  • 1/4 cup 5% white vinegar
  • 1 quart water
  • 1/2 cup salt (no iodine added)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 quart water

for the pickling liquid

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 quart white vinegar (5%)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 15 juniper berries
  • 10 whole pepper corns
  • 1 bay leave
  • several twigs of dill weed or dill seeds
  • two fingers full coriander seeds
  • 1 red or white onion not to be boiled in the pickling liquid
  • a few thin slices of lemon not to be boiled in the pickling liquid

for the curry salad

  • 0.8 oz (20 g) dill pickle
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 0.4 oz (10 g) dijon mustard
  • 3 tsp european curry powder
  • 0.4 oz (10 g) celery stem
  • 0.8 oz (20 g) cooked macaroni, finely sliced optional
  • some sugar or honey to taste
  • 5 oz (140 g) mayonnaise

Instructions
 

cleaning

  • Mix 1/4 cup of vinegar and 3 3/4 cups of ice coldwater
  • Cut off head, tail and the dorsal and pectoral fin
  • Slice along the stomach and remove the intestines
  • Butterfly the fish or slice two filets
  • store the cleaned fish in the cold dilute vinegary solution (above), preferably not longer than an hour

freezing

  • Drain the fish and place them in a vacuum sealed bag or zip lock bag and freeze them for at least 48 h at -20 C

brining

  • Make a solution of 1/2 cup salt (iodine free), 1/2 cup sugar in around 3 cups of water
  • Place the frozen fish in the brine solution for 12 hours. The salt and sugar will extract water from the fish, which helps preservation and imparts taste
    brined herring ©️ Nel Brouwer-van den Bergh

pickling

  • Mix all the pickling ingredients (except for the onion and lemon) together and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Then let it cool
  • Slice the onion and lemon in thin rings
  • Sterilize the jars by filling them with boiling water and lettting them stand for 10 min, do not forget the lids
  • After the jars are sterilized, empty them carefully and place a layer of onion rings and some lemon on the bottom. Add fish fillets to a third, then add the pickling liquid with herbs, add more onion, lemon, fish and pickling liquid, until the jar is full.
  • Cap the jar with the steralized lid and refrigerate
    pickled herring ©️ Nel Brouwer-van den Bergh

making the curry salad

  • Cut the dill pickles and cooked macroni (if using) in very small slices
  • Mix all the other ingredients and let it stand in the fridge preferably for a day, so the flavors blend

serving

  • Drain some fillets and serve them on dark rye bread, covered with a thin spread of sour cream and then top the fish with curry salad. If you can get your hands on it, serve a glass of aquavit with it.

Notes

Method: raw, pickling
Food allergy & intolerance information: fish, egg
Keyword herring, kerry, pickled, salad