Spekesild (Norwegian for raw herring pickled in salt) is Atlantic herring preserved using salt.
The preservation takes place by the salt extracting water from the herring, and thus poorer growth conditions are created for microbes. [1] Until the 1960s, herring was an important export item for Norway, but the decline in the herring fisheries led to these exports stagnating sharply. In the 1990s, exports picked up somewhat, and Russia, Sweden and Poland are important markets. [2]
The salted herring is soaked in freshwater for one and a half to two hours for desalination before eating.
In Norway, spekesild was for hundreds of years considered a poor man's diet that kept hunger away. A traditional Norwegian dish with salted herring (spekesild) is along with boiled potatoes, raw onions, dill, pickled beetroots, butter or creme freche and flatbrød. [3] [4]
Swedish cuisine is the traditional food of Sweden. Due to Sweden's large north-to-south expanse, there are regional differences between the cuisine of North and South Sweden.
Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked ingredient in many dishes, and as a raw ingredient for delicacies such as caviar.
Polish cuisine is a style of cooking and food preparation originating in or widely popular in Poland. Due to Poland's history, Polish cuisine has evolved over the centuries to be very eclectic, and it shares many similarities with other regional cuisines. Polish-styled cooking in other cultures is often referred to as à la polonaise.
Danish cuisine originated from the peasant population's own local produce and was enhanced by cooking techniques developed in the late 19th century and the wider availability of goods during and after the Industrial Revolution. Open sandwiches, known as smørrebrød, which in their basic form are the usual fare for lunch, can be considered a national speciality when prepared and decorated with a variety of fine ingredients. Hot meals are typically prepared with meat or fish. Substantial meat and fish dishes includes flæskesteg and kogt torsk with mustard sauce and trimmings. Ground meats became widespread during the industrial revolution and traditional dishes that are still popular include frikadeller, karbonader and medisterpølse. Denmark is known for its Carlsberg and Tuborg beers and for its akvavit and bitters, but amongst the Danes themselves imported wine has gained steadily in popularity since the 1960s.
Russian cuisine is a collection of the different dishes and cooking traditions of the Russian people as well as a list of culinary products popular in Russia, with most names being known since pre-Soviet times, coming from all kinds of social circles.
Pickled herring is a traditional way of preserving herring as food by pickling or curing.
Kroppkaka is a traditional Swedish boiled potato dumpling, most commonly filled with onions and meat. Potatoes, wheat flour, onion, salt and minced meat/pork are common ingredients in kroppkaka. They are very similar to the Norwegian raspeball, Lithuanian cepelinai and German klöße. And quite similar to the Swedish palt.
Soused herring is raw herring soaked in a mild preserving liquid. It can be raw herring in a mild vinegar pickle or Dutch brined herring. As well as vinegar, the marinade might contain cider, wine or tea, sugar, herbs, spices, and chopped onion.
Smørrebrødsmørbrød "butter bread" (Norwegian), is a traditional open-faced sandwich in the cuisines of Denmark, Norway and Sweden that usually consists of a piece of buttered rye bread, topped with commercial or homemade cold cuts, pieces of meat or fish, cheese or spreads, and garnishes.
Norwegian cuisine in its traditional form is based largely on the raw materials readily available in Norway and its mountains, wilderness, and coast. It differs in many respects from continental cuisine through the stronger focus on game and fish. Many of the traditional dishes are the result of using conserved materials, necessary because of the long winters.
Labskaus is a culinary speciality from northern Germany and in particular from the cities of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck. The main ingredients are salted meat or corned beef, potatoes, and onion. Some recipes put beetroot, pickled gherkin, or even herring into it, while others have these ingredients as side dishes.
Brathering is a simple and traditional German dish of marinated fried herring. It is typical of the cuisine in northern Germany and the northern parts of the Netherlands, either for lunch or as a snack at fast food stands or take-out restaurants.
Surströmming is lightly salted fermented Baltic Sea herring traditional to Swedish cuisine since at least the 16th century. Surströmming or fermented herring is distinct from fried or pickled herring.
Herring are forage fish in the wild, mostly belonging to the family Clupeidae, but they are also an important food for humans. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast. The most abundant and commercially important species belong to the genus Clupea, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, including the Baltic Sea, as well as off the west coast of South America. Three species of Clupea are recognized; the main taxon, the Atlantic herring, accounts for over half the world's commercial capture of herrings.
In Finnish cuisine, rosolli is a salad eaten mostly as a cold side dish, in particular as part of the traditional Finnish Christmas meal.
Herring salad is a mixed salad consisting of cut and salted herring, beetroot, potato, onion, mayonnaise and whipped cream.