Pickled herring
Butter fish with mustard sauce
- 4 SALTED HERRINGS
- 1 CUP VINEGAR
- 2 TBSP SUGAR
- 1 ONION, chopped
- 4 BAY LEAVES
- 1 TSP DILL SEED
- 1 TSP MUSTARD SEED
- 1 TSP GRATED HORSERADISH
Bring the vinegar to the boil with 1/2 cup of water and dissolve the sugar; allow it to cool down. Add the dill seed, mustard seed and horseradish. Arrange the herring and the bay leaves in a glass jar. Pour the vinegar mixture on top. Put this jar in the fridge for 3 days. Serve with rye bread.
Pickled herring is popular in The Netherlands, but also in Scandinavia (where is would be served with aquavit), Germany and Russia. It used to be served on Ash Wednesday, to mark the start of a "sour" and lean Lent.
Put the fish fillets in a greased oven dish and sprinkle with the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of white wine and pepper and salt to taste. Cover with aluminum foil and bake the fish 15 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius in the oven. Melt the butter with the remaining wine and the mustard and heat it well. Pour this sauce over the fish and decorate with parsley.
This is a recipe from Iceland. 9 October is Leif Erikson Day in Iceland, Norway and the United States. Apparently, he was the first European, as Viking, to set foot in America, and not, as is always said, Christopher Columbus. Click on culinary calendar for more links between cooking and worldwide history.
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