Preparation Place the Baltic herring filets skin side down on a cutting board or similar surface. Salt them and give them a few turns from the white pepper mill, then put together the filets in pairs. Roll the filets in coarse rye flour and fry them in butter until golden brown on both sides. Eat them right away with potatoes and lingonberries, as in the photo, or make a marinated version as follows. Marinated fried Baltic herring: Mix all the marinade ingredients and boil for a few minutes in a pot. Place the finished fried Baltic herring filets, while still warm, on top of each other in a deep bowl or dish. Pour the warm marinade over them. Let stand until cool. Peel the red onion, divide it in two, slice it thin and sprinkle on top.
Ingredients 4–6 servings 1 kg (2¼ lb) Baltic herring filet coarse rye flour salt, white pepper butter
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Marinade: 350 g (12 oz) sugar 300 ml (1½ cup) distilled white vinegar (12%) 600 ml (3 cups) water 2 tbs whole allspice 2–4 bay leaves 2 red onions
Stekt strömming
or fried Baltic herring is one of hundreds of recipes based on the smaller-sized eastern relative of the North Sea herring. Swedes often say that Baltic herring is better the fatter it is, but the truth is perhaps that all Baltic herring tastes good. Some people prefer to fry the filets laid together with parsley between them. Others want the backbone to stay in. But no one talks about frying Baltic herring in anything but butter. Freshly fried Baltic herring tastes especially good on top of buttered hard crispbread. But there is certainly nothing wrong about eating them with fluffy mashed potatoes generously sprinkled with chopped parsley.