Homemade Lightly Salted Whole Herring

Mind-blowingly delicious! Pamper your loved ones and friends. Lightly salted herring can be salted whole at home — there is no need to gut it first, which is very convenient. You can adjust the amount of spices and salt yourself, adding everything to your taste.
cook time: 48h
Maya Lindell
Homemade Lightly Salted Whole Herring

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

66
Calories
4g
Fat
2g
Carbs
6g
Protein

Ingredients (1 portion)

Basic:

Salt 1.5 tbsp
Sugar 0.75 tbsp
Water 500 ml
Bay leaf 1 pc
Peppercorns 5 pc
Herring 1 pc
Carnation 2 pc
Allspice 3 pc

Recipe instructions

Step 1

Step 1
How to make lightly salted herring at home entirely in brine? Prepare your food. The recipe is for one large herring; I salted two of them. Thaw the fish first, but do not gut it, leave it whole, with head and tail. You will learn how to properly defrost herring from the article, link at the end of this recipe. Use filtered or bottled water.

Step 2

Step 2
Take a saucepan, add salt and sugar into it. This amount is designed for preparing lightly salted herring; if you like it saltier, then increase the salt. Add spices. You can also change them to your liking. In addition to pepper, cloves and bay leaves, nutmeg, cardamom, cumin, and mustard seeds are suitable for pickling herring.

Step 3

Step 3
Pour clean cold water into the saucepan.

Step 4

Step 4
Place it on medium heat. Bring the water to a boil and boil the brine for 2-3 minutes. Salt and sugar should be completely dissolved. Then cool the brine.

Step 5

Step 5
Wash the defrosted fish well and dry. Take a container of suitable size, made of glass or food-grade plastic. Place a whole fish in it (I have two, since I cook a double portion).

Step 6

Step 6
Pour cold brine over the herring. It should cover the fish entirely. Cover the container with a lid and refrigerate for two days. In the morning and evening, take it out of the refrigerator and turn the herring over to ensure even salting.

Step 7

Step 7
Remove the finished fish from the brine, dry it, cut off the head and tail. Cut the belly and remove the entrails. Cut the carcass into pieces. Serve with onions, herbs and fragrant oil. Bon appetit!