April 21, 2023

Not Your Mother's Herring


Not Your Mother's Herring
Dressed herring. Wikimedia Commons.

Herring under a fur coat, a revered and traditional Russian dish, is savored by the masses on both extraordinary and everyday occasions. In honor of the iconic delicacy, RIA Novosti reported how renowned chefs at Moscow's finest eateries have put their unique spin on the beloved fish dish.

Uley: Denis Korolkov's stove-smoked herring under a fur coat

Ingredients:
Boiled potatoes - 60g
Homemade mayonnaise - 50g
Boiled carrots - 30g
Herring fillet - 80g
Garlic - 2g
Black caviar - 5g
Red onion - 1g
Dill - 1g
Oil with herbs - 1g

For decoration:
Black caviar - 10g
Parsley, dill - 2g
Butter with herbs - 5g

Directions:
Place the chopped, boiled vegetables, herring, and egg into a glass jar in this sequence: potatoes, carrots, herring fillets, potatoes, herring fillets again, then beets. Separate each layer with a layer of mayonnaise.

Decorate with shredded egg in a pyramid shape, and pile caviar, dill, parsley, and green oil on top. Before serving, fill the jar with smoke from the stove and roll.

On a separate plate, make three canapés with the herring on buckwheat toast, decorating them with caviar, onions, and herbs.

Dizengoff/99: Viktor Sinelnikov's forshmak

Ingredients:
Herring fillet - 250g
Red onion - 50g
Apple - 200g
Butter - 70g
Eggs - 3
Mayonnaise - 70g

Directions:
Chop up the boiled eggs and dice the remaining ingredients. Combine everything with room-temperature butter.

For the mayonnaise, whisk an egg with mustard, salt, lemon juice, and vegetable oil. The mixture should turn thick. You can season it with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice to your liking.

Plate the mixture with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of green onions. Serve with slices of Borodinsky bread

Expedition: Yuri Sysoev's herring with warm potatoes and horseradish

Ingredients
Olyutorskaya herring - 4 pieces
Potato - 500g
Horseradish - 10g

For the brine:
Water - 2L
Sugar - 60g
Sea salt - 140g
Bay leaf - 3 leaves
Sweet pea pepper - 4 peppers
Cloves - 3 pieces
Cinnamon - to taste

Directions:
Rinse and dry the Olyutorskaya herring. Bring the water to a boil, and add all of the spices. Let it cool and then pour over the fish. Leave the dish in the refrigerator for five days.

Fillet the herring into chunks and serve with chopped horseradish and fresh, warm potatoes.

You Might Also Like

Eat. Bake. Protest.
  • January 25, 2023

Eat. Bake. Protest.

How a woman from Moscow turned a cake business into an anti-war protest and helped charities.
Food, Dance, Poets
  • January 25, 2023

Food, Dance, Poets

In which we review books about food, dance, poetry, and Stalin.
A Glutton's New Year Feast
  • January 01, 2022

A Glutton's New Year Feast

The pirog is quite capable of holding the flag as the most important dish in Russian cuisine. It is a filling, generous, and hearty meal, containing all the major food groups (vegetables, animal protein, grains, and bread) rolled up in one.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955