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Herring spoils so fast it is almost always eaten salted, pickled or smoked. I’ve eaten (and made) herring in all these forms, but there is something special that makes pickled herring so popular, especially in Northern Europe.
I think it’s because the acidic twang of the vinegar and lemon counteract the rich fattiness of the herring fillets — these fish are among the foods highest in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. The addition of spices, sugar and onion add a personal touch.
This particular recipe is for Swedish glasmastarsill, or glassblower’s herring. Why it is called that I have no idea. Best I can tell it is because this pickle is always put up in glass jars, with the silvery skin of the herring facing outward. Let’s face it, folks: For a pickled little bony fish, this is as pretty as it gets.
Most pickled herring recipes start with pre-salted herring — the kind that come in cans. If you use these, skip the salt in the initial brine and soak the fish in fresh water overnight. They’ll still be plenty salty.
Having some salt in the fish is important: I once made this recipe with fresh herring that I failed to brine, and they turned to mush within 2 weeks. A disaster. You need the salt to extract extra moisture from the fish and keep them firm.
I like these just as a snack, with pumpernickel or rye bread, potatoes of any kind, hard-boiled eggs — or just on a cracker.
If you are so inclined, here is a good primer on food safety when pickling fish, from the University of Minnesota.
Swedish Pickled Herring
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 5 cups water, divided
- 1 pound herring fillets
- 2 cups distilled or white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed
- 2 teaspoons whole allspice
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 cloves
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
- 1 medium red onion thinly sliced
Instructions
- Heat 4 cups of water enough to dissolve salt. Let this brine cool to room temperature. When it does, submerge the herring fillets in the brine and refrigerate overnight, or up to 24 hours. Meanwhile, bring the sugar, vinegar, the remaining cup of water and all the spices to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let this steep until cool.
- When the herring have brined, layer them in a glass jar with the sliced lemon and red onion. Divide the spices between your containers if you are using more than one. Pour over the cooled pickling liquid and seal the jars. Wait at least a day before eating. Store in the fridge for up to 1 month.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Grew up on the Isle of Man where herring was the main source of protein. My mother made the Manx version of pickled herring. The herring were boned, rolled and cooked in a mixture of vinegar, water, sugar and spices, in the oven, Result were beautifully firm and tasty fish usually eaten cold with salad.Probably Australian pilchards could be used in this manner
Jesse: So you are in Virginia? Hmm… Scale the hickories but leave the skin on, remove the ribs and cut them into strips before pickling. That will open up more surface area to the vinegar. Hopefully it will work.
I have no choice,we cannot keep herring because of the fishing regulations I have to use hickory shad , should i skin them before pickling ?
Jesse: I’m not sure I’d use shad. The bones may be too strong to dissolve in this pickle.
Im using shad . should it be skined ?
Again, Anyone have info on processing pickled herring so they will keep without refrigeration? Hot-pack or pressure canning?
It’s herring season in San Francisco, and the commercial harvest here takes only the roe for sushi and grinds the rest up for chicken feed, what a waste. Still, i managed to get a few pounds and tried this recipe. Wow. It makes the best pickled herring i ever ate. Many thanks.
Mike: Try this one, for Scottish oat-crusted herring: https://honest-food.net/2011/03/06/catching-the-elusive-herring/
Just went ice fishing yesterday in Sweden (ljungskile) and caught 84 herring 🙂 Got alot of Pickling to do… preserve em till i get back to Cyprus.. anyone have any other good herring recipes?
Have some very fresh mackerel I’m about to try this recipe with. Planning a Scandinavian inspired feast with lots of home-grown/local ingredients for big family meal over Christmas hols. Hoping a bit of preserving and pickling now will make for a relaxed day next week. Thanks for lots of inspiration.
We never used vinegar for pickled herring. I always add whey from raw soured milk & salt, and leave it to ferment in a warm place for a day, then move it to the fridge. I think vinegar is just an imitation of the acidity created via lacto-fermentation.
Mimi – if you ever come back to read this… i found this link for curry herring at the Poulsbo Marina Market… https://www.marinamarket.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=109715
Followed recipe used lime instead of lemon only because i had lime. Caught the herring fresh, plenty in Australia waters. Have only tasted batch after 4 days. Nice very impressed with taste ,but i think i need to wait just a little longer for full picking to get in to fish. The fish i caught were about 350grams and when filletted the thickest part of fillet is about 8mm thick. I take out all bones. The fish when tasted after 4 days was firm and had good taste. i think for good pickling sometines you have to wait a bit. (Sometimes hard) like wine you need a lot so you have some for later. Will comment in aweek or so.
One of the easiest fish to find and pickle is the SMELT. It can be found in most supermarkets and is usually frozen and/or fresh. The larger ones look very much like herring.
i made this a week ago, using brined herring from http://www.nordichouse.com. (very very high quality brined herring–steep shipping, but if you order a lot of herring, it’s not so shocking.) some thoughts on the recipe in no particular order:
1) if you’re using brined herring (or salted herring), before pickling you’ll need to soak the herring in a couple changes of cold, fresh water–overnight, maybe longer. taste the fish–it should be salty, but not unbearably salty. (the saltiness will dissipate more as you pickle–the salt will equalize with the pickling brine; notice that the recipe doesn’t call for salt. if you’re using fresh herring you’ll need to add salt to the pickle.)
2) the recipe makes WAY TOO MUCH pickling juice–not the worst sin imaginable, but if you pack the herring carefully, you’ll end up throwing out at least half the pickling liquid if you use the proportions called for in the recipe.
3) lemons. my pickle is slightly bitter, more so than i care for, due to the amount of pith from the sliced lemons. if i had it to do over again, i’d carefully zest the lemons with a peeler, then remove the white pith and discard it. i’d add the meat of the lemons, and the zest (in large pieces).
a good recipe. thanks!
I’m about to make my first batch of pickled herring and this discussion has been very useful. My mother was Swedish, and it just isn’t a real holiday or major family get-together without my bowl of herring.
I have always bought jars of herring and mixed them with sour cream and sweet sliced onions. The last time I did it, I emptied a large jar of herring into a glass bowl, added more sweet onions, a couple cloves of crushed and minced garlic, red wine vinegar and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
After a day, I drained and mixed with low fat sour cream and served on Triscuits. Wow.
It is not Glassblower’s herring it is actualy Glass-Master’s Herring (Glasmästarsill)
I was recently in Sweden and had the most incredible herring in a creamy sauce with curry. Any ideas on what else might have been in it? I’ve never heard of a curry sauce for picked herring but it was to die for.
Ack, here’s the URL I meant: https://www.lykkeberg.com/map/Hjemsild.htm
This past weekend I went out with my friend Jack and we fished with throw-nets and came home with 30 or so blueback herring. We split them evenly; I froze six to make stegte sild (pan-fried and marinated in a sweet pickling brine) and the rest I cleaned, chunked, and brined, and when I got home I made the Danish version of glasmastersill (which call glarmester sild). Same as yours, Hank, though with some leeks added and a slightly different ratio of vinegar to sugar to water. Nearly the same though!
Charlotte: if you’re interested in learning how Danes preserve herring, you can put this URL into Google’s Danish -> English translator and get a decent idea.
If you want to find more resources, the keywords are saltsild, høstsild, spegesild and the Danish for “how do I make” is “hvordan laver jeg.”
Cheers!