Brathering

It is fried first and pickled afterwards, and the marinade softens the bones until you can eat them.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 8 fresh herring, heads and guts removed
• 4 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons oil, for frying
• 200 ml white wine vinegar
• 200 ml water
• 2 onions, sliced into rings
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Method

1. IT IS FRIED FIRST AND PICKLED AFTERWARDS, AND THE MARINADE SOFTENS THE BONES UNTIL YOU CAN EAT THEM. Its Preparation gives the order and the consequence: the fish are EITHER BREADED OR SIMPLY TURNED IN FLOUR, THEN FRIED, AND FINALLY PICKLED IN A MARINADE OF WHITE VINEGAR AND BRIEFLY BOILED WATER, ONION, SALT, SPICES LIKE PEPPER, BAY LEAVES, MUSTARD SEEDS, AND A LITTLE SUGAR.
2. AND THEN THE SENTENCE THAT MAKES THE DISH WORTH WRITING: THE THIN BONES OF THE GREEN HERRING ARE PARTIALLY DISSOLVED IN THE MARINADE, SO THAT THEY HARDLY INTERFERE WITH EATING. The vinegar is not only a flavour, it is doing the job you would otherwise do with tweezers.
3. SO THE ORDER IS THE WHOLE POINT. Rollmops and the other cured herrings are pickled raw; this one is cooked and then pickled, which is why it browns and why the marinade can get at the bones through a fried surface.
4. GREEN HERRING MEANS FRESH, which the article spells out, and nothing else will do. A salted or smoked herring has already been through a cure and will go to paste.
5. FLOUR, NOT BATTER, UNLESS YOU WANT BREADCRUMBS. Both are in the article. Flour alone gives a thin skin that holds up in the vinegar; breadcrumbs go soft but keep more of the fish's own juice in.
6. FRY THEM HARD AND LET THEM COOL BEFORE THEY GO IN. Three minutes a side in hot oil. A hot fish dropped into cold marinade steams itself and the skin slides off.
7. BOIL THE MARINADE BRIEFLY AND NO MORE. The article says briefly boiled water, and it matters: a long boil drives off the vinegar and you lose the acid that does the work on the bones.
8. LAY THEM IN A DISH WITH THE ONION BETWEEN THE LAYERS and pour the hot marinade over to cover.
9. THEN WAIT TWO DAYS IN THE FRIDGE, UNTOUCHED. This is the step that cannot be hurried and the pan is nowhere near it. The article allows up to a fortnight refrigerated.
10. SERVED COLD, AND THE ARTICLE IS PARTICULAR ABOUT THE CONTRAST: WELL PERVADED AND COLD, TOGETHER WITH WARM FRIED POTATOES or cold potato salad. Cold fish, hot potatoes.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes