Here’s how to pickle fresh herring. Most recipes on the old internet tell you how to take canned and salted herring, draw off the salt, and season it with vinegar. I wanted to pickle the fish fresh with a live lactobacillus culture, and the recipe I came up with is an adaptation from Linda Ziedrich’s Joy of Pickling.
This fish pickles in just 24 hours and has a mellow flavor. It makes a great snack with bread (and maybe some vodka?), as an appetizer, or as a small meal. The picture above is herring in kefir, sprinkled with dill.
Small fish are popular these days because they’re low on the food chain and don’t collect as much mercury and other metals as larger fish. They’re also a natural source of Omega 3 fatty acids, which supposedly make you happier and smarter. Good combo, huh? These oils are a trend food, too. They’re even getting pumped into orange juice! The only trouble with herring is where to get it. The population goes through booms and busts and this coming season California has closed entirely the part of its fishery that it regulates because there are so few of the little guys. Hopefully, their numbers will rise again. If you can’t get any fresh, sardines might work just as well.
Part of the trick of preparing herring is filleting the fish. If you buy it fresh at the supermarket, they’ll probably clean for you. If you want to fillet it yourself, jump down to how to fillet a fish.
Pickled herring recipe
Ingredients for a one-quart mason jar
1 pound whole fresh herring, filleted
several springs dill
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
2 bay leaves
1 small onion (any color)
1/4 cup whey (the thin, whitish water that rises to the top of yogurt)
brine of 1 cup water and 2 tsp salt
optional additions:
crumbled dried chilis or chili flakes
sliced fennel
Take the dry ingredients and layer them in the jar. I like to lay the fillets flat across the jar. They tend to (almost) fit perfectly that way and it makes them easy to pull out one by one when you want to eat them. Pour in the whey and then add brine until it nearly covers the contents.
The view from above.
Fill a smaller jar with water and put it into the jar as a weight to press the pickle under the water. A wide-mouth mason jar makes this easier. Drape a towel or cloth over the top and put the jar in a dark place for 24 hours. After that, take out the smaller jar of water, pop a lid on your herring, and throw it in the fridge. It’s ready to eat! And it will last about two weeks in the fridge.
If you want to clean the herring yourself, or you buy it at the farmer’s market like I did, here’s how to fillet a fish.
Rinse off the fish and put them in a bowl. Get a second bowl for the fillets and a third for leftover heads and guts.
Start the fillet by lying the fish on its side and cutting down perpendicular to the spine just behind the side fin. Don’t cut all the way through. Keep the knife parallel to the cutting board and bring it down till you hit the bone. Pick up the fish and roll it against the knife so that the knife cuts through the top of the fish. Lay the fish on its other side and cut down like you did on the first side.
Roll the fish back so that the spine faces you again. angle the knife and cut along the spine toward the tail. Don’t poke the knife all the way through the fish or you’ll rip open the stomach and organs and make a mess. Some bones from the rib cage might end up in the fillet. Fear not! They are small and, especially after the pickling, can be eaten without a problem You won’t even notice them.
When you get toward the back of the herring (just past its butt, to be specific) push the knife all the way through and cut till you reach the tail.
Pull the fillet up away from the spine. The guts will be held together in a thin sack. Gently pry them from the flesh then cut the fillet away from the fish and put it in the bowl.
Now you want to get the guts out. Start by cutting them from where they meet the fish’s backside.
Use the knife to push the guts up toward the head and off of the body.
Pick up the fish and hold the head. Gently pull on it to pry the spine away from the second fillet. You might need to use to knife to keep the flesh from sticking to the spine.
Keep pulling!
At the bottom, cut the fillet from the tail. What’s left is compost.
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Hi,
I’m an editor at On The Water, a regional fishing magazine in New England, New York, and New Jersey. We have an article on Herring in our December issue, and have a sidebar on a recipe for pickled herring. Do you think you could e-mail some photos? These look like great shots of the process and finished product above. You would get photo credit in the magazine.
Thanks so much for the help,
Rick -
Pingback from Eating About Beer « on January 14, 2010 at 8:30 am
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what about the parasites etc.? how can you kill them off?
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Good question, David. The salt helps halt the growth of parasites, much like it does when one makes ceviche. And the lactobacillus in the whey begins to ferment the veggies, producing lactic acid that helps preserve the fish. If it makes you more comfortable, you can also use the herring only as an ingredient in cooked dishes.
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Pingback from Eating About Beer | Freestyle Cooking on September 3, 2010 at 5:37 pm
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Every Christmas, I would help my Norwegian mother pickle herring. It wasn’t Christmas unless we performed this ritual. We had a German deli here in Lake Worth, Florida but the proprietor retired and the new owner went broke. He was not at all familiar with Scandinavian or German food. The herring was called matjes herring (salted from a barrel). Is there anywhere I can purchase this? It used to come in a wooden barrel or sometimes we would purchase them in a plastic barrel type container and imported from Holland.
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dear nancy.your comments brought me back to my childhood times when we was eating this herring for cristmas..
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I was so excited to see your recipe – I’ve been trying to make all the recipe in Sandy Katz’s Wild Fermentaction. I was just as excited to find the fresh herring in the market ( which I never see).
So I put the herring in the brine as your recipe states and put the container ( with the weight and the cover) in the closet ( a dark place). And 24 hours later I put it in the fridge. I don’t remember if I smelled it before I did. But I do remember smelling a few minutes ago. It has a POWERFUL and SCAREY stench.
Does yours smell so strong. Were you scared of the way yours smells? I’m not of faint heart in eating strange and smelly food and before these fermented herring, I’m a bit scared.
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Hi Rob, It will definitely smell strongly of fish, if that’s what you’re smelling. Sardines are especially fishy as far as fish go. Maybe take one of the fillets out and give it a poke? It should be soft and limp but not gooey or anything like that. Since I can’t smell them myself I can’t say for sure, but if you used fresh fish to start with (they go bad quickly if you leave them in the fridge without brining them) and went by the recipe then it should be ok.
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Hi,
I just made two quarts, doubling the recipe above with very fresh Herring. The only thing mine smelled of was dill and the faintest of fish smell.In my case, the fish were still a bit raw in places after 24 hrs., especially where the flesh was pressed up against the glass it remained pink. I have been gobbling them up and they are delicious, but the people I have shared them with would prefer that they were not so raw. Is it just a matter of leaving them at room temp. longer?
This is a nice site.
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Thanks Brent, I’d say that you’d get the most success by sliding a butter knife in along the glass and gently pressing in on the fish and veggies and stirring a little so that the pink bits of fish that are pressed against the glass get more exposure to the brine. This, and pressing down on the weight, are also a good thing to do if you see air bubbles in your jar trapped between the fish and veggies. And the fish will continue to cure even in the fridge, so no need to leave them out.
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My herring was not very slimey and was soft. But it didn’t smell like fish – it has an overpowering odor – and it is quite pink. Does yours remain pink?
I think I’m not going to eat this round. Hopefully I’ll track down some more fresh ones soon.
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@Rob, Yeah, better safe than sorry. As for pinkness, I don’t have any in the fridge to check right now but you can see a bit of pinkness in the picture at the top of this post.
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I’ve been pickling, smoking, canning, and curing (gravlax) for over 20 years. Your herring recipe is very similar to mine. What I do is put the lot into a large bucket with a lid that is slightly smaller then the top and place a brick or a heavy weight on top for 2 days. After I transfer the fish and brine into jars and sit for 1 week before eating. The brine will remove the redness that most have been inquiring about. What works good for me is plastic bucket that can fit into a fridge.
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mmmm herring and Blow!!!
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Thanks for post the info on pickling herring . How would you go about smoking the herring? I have a smoker and would love to give it a try. Norman
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Hi Norman, I’ve never smoked herring, but I bet it would be tasty.
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Smoked herring is very popular in Denmark. Eat them straight from the smoker, still warm and dripping of
fat
or put them on a piece of heavy Danish ryebread with scrambled eggs and chives. Make sure you don’t smoke them for too long or too hot so they go dry. -
I lived in Hamburg for two years and love this dish, with sour green apple. I definitely will try fresh herrings this week. I thought you should scale the fish before filleting? What’s the best way to scale herrings ?
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I have a very similar recipe, however where I come from, (Nova Scotia) our solomon gundy is sort of sweet and pickly. I was wondering what to use to get this effect and still use whey. Any ideas? I tend to use local ingredients like maple syrup and honey rather than sugar, but would that disable or effect the whey? Also, I am getting a gift of at least 10lbs of herring. Do you think I could freeze it and then pickle it later? If so, a note to your parasite fearful guest- freezing any meat for 2 weeks will kill any parasitic activity.
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@Alex Since this is quickly made and quickly eaten, I think that adding a sweetener would make the pickle taste sweet. Any sugar you add will eventually become food for the bacteria in the whey, which will result in more lactic acid (more sourness), but that will take a while, especially in the fridge. I’d think that using honey or maple syrup instead of sugar would be fine and would probably add a more complex flavor than just sugar. As for freezing the fish and then pickling it–I haven’t tried it. It could work, but between freezing and thawing, would you risk of getting a mushy texture in the fish? That might not be as appetizing as the pickle made from fresh fish. As a general rule, I prefer to pickle things as quickly as possible, while they’re still fresh and crisp. But like I said, I haven’t tried it with the fish so I could be wrong. Ten pounds is a lot, though! I wonder if there is another way to preserve them for longer, perhaps by filleting them and then packing them in salt? Let me know if you find other recipes!
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Could I use smelt just as well? Also, is the onion essential? (I’m wondering if it has some hygienic property that makes the finished product safer to eat). I just packed up a jar of smelt with all your ingredients minus the onion-I can’t eat onion due to digestive issues-and, to augment the whey, added a bit of brine off my Bubbie’s lacto-sauerkraut jar. Hope that’s ok.
It’s curing now in my linen closet. Any feedback would be appreciated, before I bite into these things tomorrow night. Thanks! -
@Laura Yes, I think smelt would be fine and I don’t see any problem with leaving the onion out. Sounds like a good move to add the kraut brine–I didn’t realize that Bubbie’s had live cultures in it. That’s good to know.
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Oh, my god! So good! Going to throw some whole allspice berries in now. I checked on the Bubbies and I was wrong- not lacto- they just let the cabbage do its own work. Salt, cabbage, water. Well, it sure didn’t seem to hurt my smelt! Thank you so much for this detailed and appealing guide to making- and eating- something I’ve wanted to for ages. And it sure didn’t disappoint! It fits perfectly within my unfortunately limited dietary restrictions- everything at the store, and online, has vinegar. My son even tried it (after helping me with the fish yesterday). I think it might be the perfect food.
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PS. Yes- says ‘abundant with live active cultures’ on the side of the Bubbie’s. Guess that means not pasteurized.
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in holland, the fish man just puts the fresh herring in the freezer one day to kill off anything and then, into salted water. sells it in the buckets fresh like that or wrapped. not pickled. just fresh…. i just took one out of the freezer, though, here in texas (from holland, sealed) and it tastes very salty. more than usual. not sure if that is good.
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I just had a thought for your ‘compost’. This is recipe from Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions (which I highly recommend) and I plan on trying it out when my herring arrives. I believe they are talking about a smaller fish like minnows here but I thought it would be worth the try.
Fermented Fish Sauce
1 1/2lbs of small fish, including heads, cut up
3 Tbsp of sea salt
2 cups filtered water (she just means to make sure the water is clean of impurities)
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 tsp peppercorns
several peices of lemon rind
1 Tbsp tamarind paste (available in African markets) optional
2 Tbsp wheyToss fish peices in salt and place in a wide mouth, quart sized mason jar. Press down with a wooden pounder or meat hammer. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over fish. Add additional water to cover fish thoroughly. The top of the liquid should be at least 1″ below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and leave at room temperature for about 3 days. Transfer to refrigerator for several weeks. Drain liquid through a strainer and store fish sauce in refrigerator.
Also, if you remove the guts, you could boil the heads for fish stock.
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Where do I get the whey? Do I buy plain yogurt and drain it?
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@Sazqwatch Yes, that’s how I often do it. I also make kefir and that tends to produce even more whey than yogurt in the jar, so I use that, too.
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Here in the Great Lakes we have Lake Herring, also called Cisco. It is a little bigger than salt water herring and is very perishable. Folks here keep them iced till they get home then cook them immediately, or brine and smoke them. They don’t freeze well, the thawed fish is mushy. I’ll try to pickle some next season. Is there a way to get a longer shelf life?
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@David I don’t have a sure way of getting a longer shelf life. Perhaps by salting the heck out of the fish? But then, of course, you have salty fish.
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It seems to me that a Japanese Pickle Pot or Press (like the one listed here: http://www.houserice.com/jappictsukpr.html) would be good for making these pickles.
I’d guess that you’d have to move them from the press to a jar after the initial pressing process, but I would think this would be a useful tool for this and other pickles that need weighting.
I hope to try this recipe after the holidays are over and things get back to a dull roar around here.
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Searching hopelessly for the taste I remember from New York. I moved to Israel 13 years ago. There are many Russians here so herring abounds, as does pickled herring both in brine and cream … But the matjes herring here is different. It’s pinkish (which I suspect is artificial) and comes in oil, but doesn’t have that strong matjes taste which I love. I’ve tried adding red wine and sliced onions to it. This is a little better but still not the real McCoy. If anyone here knows the matjes I’m talking about and can help me out with how I can create it from the herring described above.
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Elona, In response to your query. I’ve never eaten matjes herring in New York, but in London, where we called it shmaltz herring, it was browner, softer and more strongly flavoured than the matjes that is most common here in Israel. (I think the pink matjes may be the way the Dutch like it, and I think it is simply a question of how long it has stood packed in fat/oil and salt – but I’m not sure.) Amyway, if you can get to the Mahane Yehuda shuk (open market) in Jerusalem, you might try a shop that sells excellent herring, other fish, and olives and other delicatessen. It’s called Cohen (Hamutzim, I think). If you enter the main *covered* lane in the market (glass roof) from Jaffa Street (the lane runs from Jaffa to Agrippas), then this store is 10(?) stores down on your left. They usually have two containers of shmaltz, and the softer one is just as I like it. Incidentally, to reduce the saltiness, so that the herring flavour will come through, I put the herring in a flat dish just deep enough to cover the herring with water, immediately tip that water out, fill it again, turn the tap (fawcet) down till the water is running as little as possible. I completely empty the water after 30 minutes and refill, then empty it again after another 45 minutes and then clean the fish: lightly scraping the skin side with the flat blade of a sharp, non-serrated knife; then turning it over and clearing any memberane and boned from the gut side. I then slice it, wrap each fillet individually in cling film, and keep it in the fridge for as long as it lasts. (It stays perfect for at least 10-14 days, and is still enjoyable even a week later. Our problem is usually getting it to stay uneaten for that length of time!)
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