To Salt and Smoke Herrings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the herring thoroughly.
Salt the herring with equal parts of salt and sugar and let them sit for 24 hours.
Run a stick through the eyes of the herring.
Smoke and dry
Hang the herring in rows over an old cask half filled with dry sawdust.
Place a red hot iron in the sawdust to smoke the herring.
Dry the herring in the sun or in a malt‑kiln or oven.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the herring and seasons the flesh during the 24-hour cure.
- Sugar
- Balances the salt and adds sweetness while it cures the fish.
- Dry sawdust
- Supplies the smoke that flavours the herring and gives it its aroma.
The step that matters
Placing the red hot iron in the sawdust. The sawdust must smoke slowly rather than burst into flame. Too much heat scorches the fish and gives harsh, bitter flavour, while too little smoke leaves the herring under-flavoured.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.