Chopped Herring Forshmak with Butter - Step-by-Step Recipe
When I was a child, the shops were hardly overflowing with food. But as far as I remember, there was always herring. Sold by weight or in huge tin cans, there was a choice. The barrels of “rusty” herring were especially impressive. Many of our neighbours made forshmak from it, each with their own recipe. Sometimes they even let each other have a taste. I have always liked this appetizer. The trick was to be at the neighbours' at the right moment, because my mother never made this dish.
Recipes differ strikingly from one cuisine to another. It is believed that the original recipes appeared somewhere in Prussia and then spread around the world. German and Swedish versions are, as a rule, served hot. What we are used to, though, and what is more popular, is the cold appetizer made from chopped herring with various additions. In Soviet cookbooks the ingredients often include veal, herring and butter, and everything is then baked with a breadcrumb coating.
Most people consider it a classic Jewish dish. Usually that means herring forshmak, with no meat added. The recipe is simple: herring fillets carefully cleaned of bones and skin, eggs (not always), apple, onion, the soft crumb of white bread, sometimes potato. The ingredients can be anything from coarsely chopped to a smooth pate. Depending on how it is going to be served, the salted fish may be soaked in milk.
As with borscht, there are as many versions as there are cooks. There is no shortage of “fabulous” appetizers from aunties and grandmothers. It is always tasty and very interesting. I think that, simple as this dish is, it is just impossible to spoil. With no cooking involved, the appetizer is made in half an hour and is ready to eat straight away.
Traditionally the dish is made with salted herring that is not of the very best quality. Go for Atlantic herring: large, whole, with heads and guts, and ordinary salting. To my taste, the various special cures make the fish delicious, but the fillets turn out too soft and hold a lot of brine.
I make it without meat, mushrooms or chicken: just herring and the usual additions. I do not add tomato either, although it is often recommended. The dish is made “raw”, it is not baked. If you like, the appetizer can have the texture of a pate. In that case all the ingredients go through a meat grinder. A blender gives an even smoother texture. But I like it best when the ingredients are chopped with a knife.
Ingredients
4 servings
- Atlantic herring 2-3
- Tart green apple 2
- White onion 1
- Eggs 3
- White bread or a white loaf 100 g
- Milk (for soaking the herring and the bread) as needed
- Black pepper, olive oil or butter to taste
- White bread, lettuce, green onions for serving
Step-by-step recipe
- All the ingredients for forshmak are easy to find, you can buy them in any shop. A few herrings, preferably not too salty, eggs and white bread. I use a mild onion, the white kind meant for salads. Any white bread or loaf will do, a soft roll or sandwich bread for toast. The apples should be on the tart side: Reinette Simirenko or Antonovka are ideal.
- Preparing the herring is an important step. Carefully pull all the skin off the fish, remove the tail, head and guts. Very thoroughly clean the fillets of the membranes in the belly and of absolutely every bone. There are especially many small bones where the fins were, and forshmak with bones in it is unacceptable. The cleaned fillets need to be soaked in water or milk for 2-3 hours. It is a good idea to change the liquid at least once. If the fillets are lightly salted, you can skip the soaking.
- While the herring is soaking, hard-boil the eggs. Cool them under running water, then peel. Cut the crusts off the slices of white bread. The crumb needs to be soaked. If the herring is soaking in milk, the bread can be soaked in milk too. If you are using water, it is worth acidifying it slightly with lemon or vinegar. Soak for 10-15 mins, then squeeze out.
- Depending on the version you choose, the appetizer can be almost a paste or made of larger pieces. If you are using a meat grinder or a blender, the size of the initial cut does not matter much. If you are going to make forshmak from chopped herring, chop all the ingredients to the size you want right away. Peel the onion and the apples, and remove the seeds from the apples. With a knife, finely chop the onion and apples, then the eggs.
- Chop the herring fillets in the same way, patting them dry with a paper towel first. Put everything into a bowl. Add the squeezed-out white bread and season with pepper. There is no need for salt: however long you soak the herring, it will provide the saltiness. Vegetable oil or softened butter is added to the mixture. 1 tbsp is enough. You can also use a mix of the two. Stir very thoroughly until completely uniform. You can add a little vinegar to taste, but that is not for everyone.
- Shape the mixture into an oblong loaf and place it on a plate. You can lay lettuce leaves and slices of boiled egg on the plate and sprinkle it with finely chopped green onions. This dish is usually served as an appetizer. It is spread on fresh or toasted bread. Add some bread to the plate and serve it like that.
- The chopped mixture can be pureed with a blender or put through a meat grinder. How fine to go is up to you. In essence the two versions are no different. If you like, you can make open sandwiches or serve it with bread as an appetizer in its own right.
| Yield: | 4 servings |
| Calories: | 150 |
| Prep: | 20 mins |
| Cook: | 10 mins |
| Total: | 30 mins (not counting soaking) |
| Category: | Snacks and Sauces |
| Cuisine: | European |
| Rating: |
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4.4
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