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

White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
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. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

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