Nick Fisher
LATIN NAME
Clupea harengus
SEASONALITY
All year round (different populations spawn at different times)
HABITAT
Much of the north Atlantic
MCS RATING
1–5. Generally a very sustainable choice but a few stocks are depleted or under pressure; look for MSC-certified herring
REC MINIMUM SIZE
25cm
MORE RECIPES
Noodles with seaweed, smoked mackerel and soy; New potato, mackerel and purslane salad; Grilled sardines with potatoes and rosemary; Hot mackerel, beetroot and horseradish sandwich
SOURCING
Today most people’s first experience of herring is as a rollmop: an odd, rolled-up grey specimen in a jar of dubious vinegar. Or as a kipper on a B & B menu, although not everyone knows that a kipper is a smoked herring. Or that bloaters, bucklings and Bismarcks are other manifestations of this small, silver British fish. And, sadly, many fail to realise just how much, as a nation, we owe to this oily, pelagic little specimen.
Britain’s culture and economy has been enormously influenced by the herring. In 1108, the town of Yarmouth was made a borough by Henry I and its annual crown payment was set at 10 millards, or 1,000 million, herring. The Victorian expansion of the railways network was all about herring: a fish that perished easily needed to be transported quickly.
Herring brought wealth to parts of Britain that were previously mired in poverty. When the Gold Rush was raging in California, Scotland and the east coast of England were basking in a sudden flush of comparable wealth, owing to the massive herring shoals migrating around the coast. But by the 1970s, by dint of modern trawling techniques and the wasteful use of fresh herrings as fertiliser and animal fodder, we managed to totally deplete our once world-famous stocks. Tragically, herring fisheries were forced to close.
But herrings are creeping back. Stocks are growing and there are now some carefully managed individual British fisheries landing great fish, which means herring should be back on our plates. But where to start?
Herring is a uniquely versatile fish and it comes in many guises. I would suggest starting with a kipper. Most supermarkets sell these split, brined and smoked herrings at reasonable prices but my preference is for the Manx or Scottish varieties on the bone, which you are more likely to find at a good fishmonger or online.
I like to cook kippers whole, but if you opt to buy kipper fillets, please make sure they are not dyed. Proper smoking gives the fish a burnished honey colour. Adding paprika or annatto to make them glow-in-the-dark orange is just unnecessary – unless you’re trying to compensate for something. Dyeing was a trick used to make kippers look more smoked than they were – the curing process being labour-intensive and costly – and it still makes me suspicious.
Either grill or bake your kipper fast in the hottest part of the oven for no more than 5 minutes. Eat with horseradish sauce, good bread and a poached egg – if you fancy – and tease every last morsel from the spine bones and head. Like crab picking, kipper eating is a tactile, hands-on, sucking, plucking, greasy-chin affair.
Next, try bloater, which is much harder to find than the kipper. They’re smoked whole (not split open) with their guts inside to make them a little more ‘gamey’. Like kippers, they only need to be lightly cooked and served with hot tea and crusty bread.
If bloater doesn’t float your boat, you could try buckling, which is a variation on the theme. It has a stronger, smokier flavour and doesn’t always have the guts intact. Buckling comes from a Baltic tradition of curing and more or less does what the bloater does – although in my opinion, not so well.
And beyond smoking, the herring still has other avenues for you to explore: fresh, pickled, marinated or roes. Rollmops are cured herrings rolled around onions (the Bismarck is similar, it’s just not rolled-up). Unfortunately, they are curate’s eggs: some good, some very bad. Mostly it’s the quality of the vinegar that lets them down. A good rollmop, eaten alone sushi-style, will fill your mouth with fishy flavour, underpinned only subtly by vinegar and sour crunchy onion.
Marinated herring is probably the most exciting and progressive new way to eat our ancient species. These are mostly imported from Scandinavia, where they’re flavoured with anything from sweet mustard to Marsala.
Roes are, I confess, something of an acquired taste. You either do fish roe – caviar, lumpfish eggs, salmon eggs – or you don’t. Herring roes are fairly different in that they’re always cooked, whereas other fish roes are eaten salted or raw. There are two types of roe: hard and soft; eggs equals hard; sperm (or milt) equals soft. Some roe lovers adore both. Some are devoted to either soft or hard. I suggest you trial each, cooking them exactly the same way, i.e. fry gently in well-salted butter and serve mushed on toast with black pepper and lemon. You’ll soon know if it’s your thing.
And finally, fresh herring – one of the finest fish you’ll ever eat. Ask your fishmonger to remove the bones. You don’t want fillets per se – not the meat cut from the bones but, rather, the meat with the head and bones filleted out. This is done by laying the fish flat, belly down, pressing along the backbone with a firm but fair thumb, flipping over and pulling head and bones out in one.
Yes, there are little bones left over. But, it doesn’t matter, because when cooked, they will just crisp and crunch delightfully. There’s only one way, other than curing, to cook fresh herrings in my world: dip them in milk or egg, coat with oatmeal, salt and pepper and fry in butter. Delicious…
These piquant fillets keep well in the fridge for up to a week. This technique works well with sardine fillets too. Serves 6–8 as a starter
8 herring fillets (350–400g in total)
FOR THE BRINE
100g fine sea salt
FOR THE PICKLE
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and juice of 2 lemons
6 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
6–8 black or white peppercorns
6–8 coriander seeds
4 tsp caster sugar
For the brine, put the salt in a large shallow bowl, add 500ml cold water and mix well to dissolve. Add the herring fillets, skin side up, in a single layer. Leave for 25–30 minutes.
Remove the herring fillets from the brine and rinse under cold running water. Lay them in a clean dish, ideally in one layer and, again, skin side up.
Meanwhile put all the pickle ingredients into a small pan with 200ml water and bring to a gentle simmer.
Pour the hot lemony pickle over the fish. Give the dish a little shake to make sure all the fish is submerged. Leave to stand until cool, then cover with cling film and refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours – longer if possible.
To serve, lift the fish fillets from their liquid. Eat them just as they are, or chop roughly and toss with cubed apple and a little mayonnaise. Serve with buttered brown bread.