Bismarck herring

Profile#

Like fried herrings, Bismarck herrings are traditional North German home cooking. They are based on salted herrings, which can be purchased in 2kg packs from well-stocked fishmongers in northern Germany. One such source is Emder Fisch Feinkost from Emden in East Frisia. They deliver fish in perfectly packaged and chilled polystyrene containers door-to-door within 24 hours.

Ingredients#

• 2x 2Kg salted herring, ca. 18 fishes
• 6 red und 6 regular onions
• 5 tsp sugar
• 1 tbl black pepper corn
• 1 tbl piment grains
• 2 tbl mustard seeds
• 2 tbl juniper berries
• 4 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp dill seeds
• 10 to 15 bay leaves
• 1,5l vinegar
• 2l water

Let’s go#

This is how the salted herrings arrived:

As I said, they are shipped in a brine of salt and water and therefore do not look very appetizing.

To gut them, cut off the head behind the gills and cut open the belly, starting at the back end. The entrails are removed. If there are roes in the herring, these should also be removed and added to the brine later in the recipe, they taste excellent.

The herring is then washed and carefully cleaned on the inside.

The fish are layered in a pot and then clear cold water is poured into the pot until the fish are completely covered with water. The pot is placed in the fridge for 24 hours before continuing the next day.

Here are the spices again, but you can change them to suit your taste. At the very least, you should always include bay leaves, juniper berries, pepper and piment.

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For the stock, dissolve the sugar in the water while stirring. Heat the stock slowly and add the spices. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Now add the vinegar and stir.

Cut the onions into rings.

Then bring the stock to the boil. Put the onions in a second pot and pour the boiling stock over them.

We don’t want to let the onions cook, so we put the pot in cold water to let the broth cool down.

After about 20 minutes we will probably have to replace the cold water and stir the stock to cool it evenly and wait another 20 minutes. Now we layer the onions and herrings alternately in a large pot and fill the whole thing with the stock. Distribute the spices and bay leaves evenly over the layers.

That’s it, and the pot will be placed into the fridge for four days. After two days you should taste the stock again. As the vinegar is absorbed by the herrings, you may need to add a little more vinegar. You may also need to add a little salt.