Herring with Onion Appetizer: Simple Step-by-Step Recipe

Name: Herring with Onion Appetizer: Simple Step-by-Step Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Spiced-cured Atlantic herring 1-3 fish; Green onion 1 bunch; Sunflower oil 5-6 tbsp; 6% table vinegar 1 tbsp

The most democratic herring appetizer is herring with onion: simple, “right”, and beloved by everyone. Back in the days of a country that no longer exists, one that covered a sixth of the known land, herring was the most common appetizer on the table. Anyone will tell you that, or else they'll say herring salad.

It is a little surprising to read encyclopedia articles where an appetizer is a light dish served before the main course, and often (the key word) served with alcohol. For the vast majority of our compatriots, an appetizer is simply food. At a feast, the appetizer is everything served from the start through to dessert. Yet only a hundred years or so ago the idea was much more precise. Professor Preobrazhensky put it quite clearly: cold appetizers are to be eaten with a drink! You don't eat them all evening long, like Olivier salad and red caviar salad.

Hot appetizers are, as a rule, rather complex composite dishes that take some skill to prepare. Meat appetizers always take time, unless the recipe uses something ready-made: smoked, dried, or any other pre-cooked meat. A mushroom appetizer is a great quick option. It cooks easily and fast, because you use dried or canned mushrooms. I generally use mushrooms that have been boiled beforehand and then frozen.

Some appetizers are very simple indeed. Caviar, for example: just spread it on a sandwich or take it from the little bowl with a spoon.

The ideal appetizer, in the literal sense, is pickled or fermented vegetables. Salted cucumbers and fermented tomatoes — the kings of all our traditional appetizers. No objections accepted. But herring with onion holds its own worthy place among appetizers.

Herring, or “Hering” as it is also called, is the familiar Atlantic herring, usually. Less often it is Astrakhan or Norwegian herring. Atlantic herring is caught in enormous quantities almost everywhere: the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the northern seas and so on. It is salted in barrels right after the catch, still on board the ships. The salting is simple: salt and spices. Then, right before the feast, a simple appetizer is made: herring with onion. I honestly think a herring appetizer is the only right one, thanks to its availability and simplicity.

More with fish

Chopped Herring Forshmak with ButterChopped herring forshmak with apple, eggs, onion, white bread and butter: a classic cold Jewish appetizer made in 30 minutes. Step-by-step photos.

TaramasalataHomemade taramasalata: lightly salted cod roe blended with soaked white bread, lemon juice, onion, garlic and olive oil into a creamy Greek dip.

Fried Crucian Carp with OnionsFried crucian carp with onions: small crucians dredged in flour, pan-fried until crispy, then braised under golden onions. Simple step-by-step recipe.

Cod Liver SandwichesSandwiches with cod liver pâté, egg, cheese and pickled onion on toasted bread. A quick, refined appetizer with a step-by-step recipe.

Sprat SandwichesFestive sprat sandwiches on toast with sprat and cream cheese spread, Brie, cucumber, lemon and olives. A quick, gorgeous appetizer for the holiday table.

Ingredients

2 servings

Spiced-cured Atlantic herring 1-3 fish
Green onion 1 bunch
Sunflower oil 5-6 tbsp
6% table vinegar 1 tbsp

Step-by-step recipe

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“Herring” is a collective term for us, as it turns out. The popular “iwashi” herring is not really herring at all. Iwashi is a Far Eastern sardine. “Iwashi herring” is nothing more than a trade name, given because the fish looks like herring and is cured in a similar way. Incidentally, “ma-iwashi” in Japanese means “sardine”. Herring with onion, by the way, can be made with any kind of fish: iwashi, Atlantic herring, and even spiced-cured anchovies and sprats.
The art of picking herring in a shop is no harder than switching TV channels. You can read many theories, tips and “secrets”. My way is simpler, and my herring appetizer turns out excellent. The surest way is to buy herring where you always buy it. The fish should be undamaged, without dents or “rust” spots. A light silvery belly, a dark blue-black back. No red liquid should seep from the herring.
If you can discreetly dip a finger in the brine, taste it, just a little. Too much salt or a sour aftertaste, and you should leave right away. And don't buy herring “from the display”, weathered and dry. Herring must be in brine the whole time. Ideally, ask them to splash a bit of brine into the bag with your herring.
Herring is good on its own and as part of dishes. Herring forshmak is a super herring appetizer, and herring salads and the famous people's dish “herring under a fur coat” are known to everyone. And herring with onion, green or regular, is the ideal appetizer and side for baked potatoes.
There is a lot of debate on whether to remove the skin. I do. There is nothing so pleasant in herring skin that it's worth leaving it on and eating it. But it's up to you. I always make a lengthwise cut along the back from head to tail, not deep, just enough to score the skin. Then I peel the skin off with my fingers. It comes off like a film, in one go.
Many people like to eat the herring head, but not me. I cut the head off right behind the gill covers. I also cut off the tail, close to the tail fin. By the way, there are plenty of claimants for the tail among the household.
I slit the belly with a knife, cutting off a thin strip along with the fins. I remove all the innards. I thoroughly clean the cavity of the dark film that lines the walls, and the remains of the organs that are stuck fast to the backbone.
I take off two fillets from the herring. I very carefully remove all the rib bones and, where possible, the large visible bones along the spine. The small bones, the remains of the fins, need particular care. They are along the back, near the cut-off head, and from the tail to the belly underneath. To make life easier, you can simply cut these parts off.
I recommend cutting the herring across the fillet, into pieces no wider than half a matchstick's length. If you find bones while cutting, remove them. Put the pieces in a herring dish, trying to make them look like a whole fish, which is for the aesthetes. We do it more simply and just put the pieces in a deep salad bowl.
Finely chop the green onion, preferably fresh from the garden. You only need the green leaves. We don't use the white part. The amount of onion is strictly to your taste. To my taste, you can use a lot, and the herring with onion only gains in flavor.
Mix everything so that the herring and onion combine evenly. If you arranged the herring artfully in a herring dish, don't stir, so your work isn't lost. Just sprinkle the onion over the appetizer.
Add 1 tbsp of ordinary 6% table vinegar. Not grape, not apple, nothing flavored, only table vinegar. I have friends who like a lot of vinegar in a herring appetizer. Then again, for them herring with onion is only a snack. Well, there's no accounting for taste…
Stir gently so the herring and onion are lightly coated with vinegar. Only then pour over the sunflower oil and stir once more.
From this moment things can get hard to control, because when everyone sees the herring with onion, few people can keep themselves in check at the sight of such a wonderful dish.
If you want potatoes in their jackets, cook them, bearing in mind that in a microwave 4-5 medium potatoes take 10-12 mins. If you suddenly crave a glass of ice-cold vodka, don't you dare deny yourself. Herring with onion is both an appetizer and a meal.