Fischbrötchen

The roll is the constant and the fish is the variable, and the article names nine of them.

Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 4 crusty white rolls
• 4 Bismarck herring fillets, or soused herring
• 1 onion, sliced into thin rings
• 4 tablespoons remoulade
• 2 pickled gherkins, sliced lengthways
• 2 tablespoons creamy horseradish sauce
• a few lettuce leaves
• 1 lemon, in wedges
• black pepper

Method

1. THE ROLL IS THE CONSTANT AND THE FISH IS THE VARIABLE, AND THE ARTICLE NAMES NINE OF THEM. A COMMON PREPARATION IS MADE WITH BISMARCK HERRING OR SOUSED HERRING, and OTHER VARIETIES USE BRATHERING, ROLLMOPS, EUROPEAN SPRAT, SALMON, SMOKED ATLANTIC MACKEREL, FRIED ATLANTIC COD, AND OTHER FISH VARIETIES. Prawns too.
2. SO THERE IS NO SINGLE RECIPE AND THAT IS THE HONEST ANSWER. What is fixed is the bread and what goes round the fish: FRESH WHITE OR DRIED ONIONS, PICKLES, REMOULADE, CREAMY HORSERADISH SAUCE, KETCHUP, OR COCKTAIL SAUCE. Pick a fish and the rest follows.
3. BRATHERING, AS ON ITS OWN PAGE, IS ONE OF THE NINE, and it is the one to use if you want the fish to have been cooked rather than cured.
4. THE ROLL MUST BE CRUSTY AND SPLIT, NOT SLICED THIN. It is holding a whole fillet and a wet sauce, and a soft roll collapses in the hand. This is eaten standing up at a harbour stand, which is the article's own setting: COMMONLY SERVED AT FAST FOOD STANDS OR TAKE-OUT RESTAURANTS.
5. THE SAUCE GOES ON THE BREAD, NOT ON THE FISH. It is a barrier: the cut face of the roll stays dry for a few minutes longer.
6. THE ONION GOES IN RAW AND IN RINGS, not chopped. Rings stay put; chopped onion falls out at the first bite.
7. THE FISH GOES IN COLD AND WHOLE. A Bismarck fillet is already cured and needs nothing done to it at all.
8. GHERKINS SLICED LENGTHWAYS AND LAID FLAT, so they do not roll out.
9. LEMON AND PEPPER AT THE LAST MOMENT, over the fish rather than the bread.
10. AND EAT IT AT ONCE, which is the only timing instruction this dish has. It has about five minutes before the roll gives up.

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