Ds decided he wants to make Shmaltz herring from scratch..

amother

Silver

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 5:00 pm

sunshine5 wrote:

Anyone ever done that and can help me out.? TIA

This isn't a real recipe but it was handed down by my grandfather. Get fresh herring in season (March). You can either clean them yourself or have your fishmonger do so. I have them gutted and heads removed just below the gills. Cut off fins. You will need a crock or glass or ceramic container. You can use a plastic bin but only if it will be your designated herring bin.

Now you are ready to salt cure the herring. This is the first step. Dry your herring and layer the flat herring and salt in your container, about a half inch of salt between layers. Finish the layers with a layer of salt. Refrigerate for about a week. Remove fish from the salt and rinse well. Let them rest in very cold water in the fridge while you make and cool the pickle. Change their water a couple of times.

Make a sweet pickle with 2 parts of vinegar to one part sugar. Add your seasonings, traditionally these would include bay, black peppercorns, whole coriander, juniper berries, some garlic and dill. Bring this to a boil and then cool. Slice some onions and layer onions and herring in a ceramic container and cover with cooled pickle. Put in the fridge and sample every 5 days to get the depth of pickle that you want. You can use cider vinegar, or pickling vinegar (6%). Do not use a sweet vinegar such as balsamic, the acidity is what keeps the food safe.

Mrs Bissli

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 6:05 pm

You'll need fresh herring to start with. It may be out of season (we get them normally in spring ) but a good fishmonger may have frozen stash. They definitely sell frozen ones year round at Schipol airport in Amsterdam. Get them descaled, gutted and filletted. Rinse and pat dry. Make brine with kosher salt (don't use iodized salt) about the same taste as seawater. Lay fillets in no more than two layers in a tupperwear with tight seal. Pickle with sliced onion rings and a bayleaf or juniperberry for 2-3 days.

sunshine5

Mon, Jul 18 2016, 7:21 pm

Thanks all Imas for taking time to respond. I cant wait to show my ds. He will be so happy to make pickled herring but would also love to make the red little ones with onions and "OIL",

Smile1234 my father used to make awesome salmon herring, I offered that to my ds but he wants the real stuff!,,