Herring

The herring is a type of small oily fish found in the temperate, shallow waters of the North Atlantic. A smaller variant called the baltic herring lives in the Baltic Sea.

Cuisine

Herring have been a staple food source, especially for northern Europeans, back to 3000 B.C. There are numerous ways the fish is served and many regional recipes.

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Herrings can be eaten raw, fermented, pickled, or cured by other techniques.

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A very popular Scandinavian food item, pickled herring has been around for a long time. In preparation herring are cut into fillets and placed in a vinegar/salt/sugar solution to which peppercorn, bay leaves and raw onions are added. Once the pickling process is finished they are usually enjoyed on a dark rye bread slice. In the United States, pickled herring is often sold and consumed in a sour-cream based sauce, as well as in the more traditional wine- and vinegar-based marinades. These are known as rollmops.

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Another way to eat pickled herring would be as a rollmop, in which the herring is wrapped around a piece of pickled cucumber and then skewered with a toothpick.

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Environmental Defense suggests Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) to be the most Ecological choice for eating.

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A kipper is a split and smoked herring, and a bloater is a whole smoked herring. Both are staples of British cuisine.

Related Topics:
Kipper - Bloater - British cuisine

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A typical Dutch delicacy is raw herring (actually enzyme-cured) with raw shredded onions. To stop parasites, the herring has to be deep-frozen before the curing process.

Related Topics:
Onion - Parasite

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In Sweden, Baltic herring is fermented to make surströmming. Herring soup is also a traditional soup and in Germany, North Sea herring is pickled to make Matjes, or soused herring.

Related Topics:
Surströmming - Herring soup - Soup - Matjes - Soused herring

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Herring is also canned and exported by many countries. A sild is an immature herring that are canned as sardines in Norway.

Related Topics:
Canned - Sardine - Norway

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Very young herring are called whitebait and are eaten whole as a delicacy.

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