Monday, September 4, 2017

Herring

The first food brought to life in the Highlands is herring! Claire was lamenting that practically all they had eaten since arriving had been herring: fried, pickled, and kippered .... hmmmm, what is kippered herring?

Kippered by definition is a means of curing a fish, which is typically herring, that is split & gutted, salted, dried, and smoked. Typically cold-smoked over oak chips specifically, but not to exclusion. It used to be a popular breakfast dish - as was the reference in Chapter 1 of Outlander! - but went through a period of time of unpopularity, being rejected as a "war-time breakfast." It is currently on an upswing as a dish to be emnjoyed rather than scorned.




I, myself, believe I will be trying kippered herring. Who knows, I may discover a new dish to add to my repitoire.

As for pickled herring, I have a recipe which is essentially like anything else that is pickled. The entire article can be found here @ Local. Honest. Simple. under the blog post Soused Scottish Herring Recipe.


Ingredients
10 VERY fresh herrings ask your monger to butterfly them for you.
2 teaspoons of salt
300ml cider vinegar
150g caster sugar
4 grinds of fresh white pepper
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 fresh bay leaves
1 carrot finely sliced
2 shallots finely sliced
6 juniper berries crushed
Rind of 1 orange (keep the juice in an ice cube tray for a future recipe…I will remember!)
Rind of  1 lemon
Lay the fish skin side down on a tray with a slight lip.
Sprinkle the salt evenly over the flesh, wrap in cling film and fridge for 2 hours to start the curing.
Remove from the fridge and gently BUT not thoroughly wash off the salt and pat the fish dry, place in a plastic container big enough so that the fish can be stored in nomore than 3 layers.
Bring all the remaining ingredients together to the boil and immediately remove from the heat and allowing to cool.
Pour this over the fish making sure its completely covered, place a lid on or cling film on top and store in the fridge for at least 1 day before diving in.
Easiest way to serve is get some torn lettuce and bread spoon over some of the vegetables and marinade and plonk a darling on top!  Yum.

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