Have had a craving lately. No joy finding any. And then yesterday, my base Commissary had a New Item! list that included herring in both sour cream and white wine vinegar. The wine style came in quart jars. QUARTS. I snatched one quicker than a pickpocket in Rome. Gonna have a few pieces as appetizer for lunch today and many days afterwards.

I'll get the usual spread of you folks, I know. Some will envy my find and others will claim they gag at the very mention. I will gloat at the former and pity the latter. While I enjoy my nice little piece of fish.

Had some the other day with cheese and liverwurst on crackers. It was a fine lunch.

You won't get gruff from me, I love the stuff. I eat it all them time. Wife can't stand my farts from all that pickled herring.

Pickled herring with a slice of pickled beet on a cracker is a favorite snack of mine.
I want to pickle some duck and try that.

It’s readily available here , must be why they call us Herring Chokers

Herring is ok but I prefer my own pickling of northern Pike the best.

They use herring for lobster bait here and sardines. Not a big demand for eating it pickled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_herring

In the past, I have pickled bass, catfish, and a couple other fishes. The best was bluegill.

Remember eating it as a young boy at grandmother's on NYE for good luck. Didn't remember liking it then but have no recollection as to its flavor.

I would try it again in the presence of someone who knows how to eat it.

Regards

I should try to acquire a taste just so I can get even with my son.

Yes. Fairly good stuff. I eat it on occasion - sans sour cream.

Also good is kipper snacks!

No thanks

Used to get Chowan Herring here, the Chowan River being renowned for them. Read the label once and it's just a brand name now. They are no more. Fish come from elsewhere now. Much clamoring for funding to study the shocking decline. Widespread industrial farming draining into all its tributaries is as obvious as Roundup wafting on the air, after the preemergent breeze blows by that is. Obviously not the cause....

It's best eaten with a variety of dry cured salami, cheeses, grapes, liverwurst, veggies on crackers. Mix it up.

Wash it all down with a cold beer and enjoy.

Rocky,

Place me in the "envy" crowd.

Ed

Reading this made me go to the refrigerator for a quick snack. This brand of herring is some of the best I’ve had.

HEB handles the Vita brand. Delicious on wheat crackers with cheese and Dukes mayo.

I pickle my own. I use yellow suckers and red horse mostly. Pickle in vinegar and white wine with onions and bell peppers. Sometimes add jalapeños. Put on a saltine and founder.

Well Rocky, I'll take your pity and grant you my lifetime share of pickled herring.

My dad told me that his father, (my grandfather in Wisconsin back in the day) used to go to the market and buy herring and bring it home and pickle it. The way he described it sounded great and he said it was delicious. My experience in these modern times is eating it out of the jar. Sometimes the old ways are the best and the way he described I sure would’ve liked to try it.

Never tried it. If I ever see any, I’ll pick up a jar.

Hard pass, I don't eat bait !!!

I’m very fond of the Vita classic wild herring in wine sauce, always have a 32 oz. jar in the refrigerator.
Also, really enjoy ‘Blind Robins’ the smoked, salted herring filets that were once common bar snacks. Only find them at the local Christmas Holiday fish stands now.

If I remember correctly, herring in sour cream appetizers are called "rollmops" when the fillets are rolled up, secured with a toothpick and served on or with saltine crackers.

I prefer the white wine packed ones, straight from the jar, chilled. Go great with saltines, and also with a sprinkle of minced fresh dill.

Sad sorry stuff being sold as pickled herring these days. The pickled herring of my youth was primarily salt brine and vinegar and spices with onion sometimes, but most often the onion slices were fresh...Knekebrod (hard crisp rye flatbread), a pickled filet, a slice of onion and maybe a dab of mild mustard or sour cream. The herring tasted like...fish...what a concept. Only enough sugar was added to the brine to just barely take the edge off the vinegar. The crap sold today is loaded with sugar, the onion is soft and mushy sweet and the filets are best described as sugar flavored rubbery boot soles. I don't know when sugar became the main ingredient.
Poulsbo Washington had a store down by the marina that sold the real deal back in the 70's.
But, maybe it's me, I hate store bought jerky that is made with sugar or corn syrup.

As pickled fish goes its not very good.

Herring is better smoked.

Olsen's in wine sauce on a regular Ritz cracker and you're good to go. The onions that are mixed in there aren't bad either.

Never had pickled herring but I do like sardines and crackers.

I don't think I've ever even seen a jar of pickled herring.

This. Mom used to get it in small wooden drums and would take out some at times and clean the brine off and soak in a jar of vinegar/water for a few days before we got it.

You tough guys need to try some stink flipper. I'll stick with pickled or smoked whitefish on pilot bread. Whitefish roe is pretty good too.

If I can find old fashioned hard tack, I eat it with my herring.

I haven't had any for quite a while. I like it on a ritz cracker. Used to be a fish supplier that would stop in at our lunchroom once in a while with frozen fish and pickled herring. I would buy a container and have it for a snack.

Jerry

Having picked herring on NYE was my introduction to the stuff. I love it and maintain the tradition.

Now wait a minute. How did you get that pic in focus?

Is this a Q deal?

My grandmother immigrated from Sweden in 1908 and made pickled herring, called "sill" in Swedish.
She died in 1961, but had taught my father how to make it. He went to the Seattle public market every Christmas and bought salted herring.
He died in 2011, but had taught my wife how to make it. She goes to the Seattle public market every Christmas and buys salted herring.


Fillet fish and cut to bite sized.
Put in a 5 gallon crock with salt brine, white vinegar, sugar, onions chopped, peppercorns, bay leaves, and cloves.
Put crock in unheated space.
Wait for a few days.

I thought it was bait, but so is shrimp and crawdads. I like them.

Actual pickled fish is awesome.

The jarred crap with all the "sauces" is bad.

I can take it or leave it but a few of my friends would trample old women to get at a jar of it. Wine packed of course, not the sour cream kind.

I like pickled Lutefisk .

🤮

Craving some now, going to go have some Vita

Same here. Tonight I will have some while grilling, accompanied with a very dry Sapphire martini.

-Ken

LOL

Amen. Not a big fish guy. My wife LOVES smoked salmon. She also like Anchovies on Pizza. The things a guy accepts to marry a gymnast. . .. .

BMT

Rollmops are herring butterfly fillets rolled around a pickle spear in vinegar with some onion, garlic and dill for seasonings.

Now I want some, none to be had around here, thanks a million. .

ditto

We have an Olsen brand up here that will do in a pinch. I've pickled many, many gallons of Northern but my favorite is spring caught Sucker when the water is just warm enough for them to spawn.
Of course I like a lot of pickled foods like venison heart, pork hocks, etc.

I been pickled a few times.

If your looking for a specific red herring, how do you know if you got the right one?

Yumm!

I like pickled herring. I used to get them in Solvang, California, when wife and I would go up there for a day when we lived near Ventura. My favorite style is roll mops, but the ones in Solvang were not wrapped around a pickle, just a fillet rolled up. Good stuff. The best I've ever had was from a Finnish aunt who pickled herring and also salmon, fabulous eats!

Coming from Swedish and Danish immigrants, pickled herring has been in the family fridge for generations. I like them all, but have a preference for Elf brand, but it's only packed once a year with a one year expiration date. The closer it is to its original packaging date, the better it tastes.

But if you're in the upper midwest and visiting Door County Wisconsin, you must stop into Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant for some of their home made pickled herring. Simply the best pickled fish I've ever had.

https://aljohnsons.com/

This is what mine looks like.

Ate a thimble full of the stuff one night as an appetizer in Amsterdam. Wife claims I peeled the paint off the bathroom walls at our B & B. I would have to agree, have never smelled that bad my entire life. After that I’d gag every time as I passed the PH Stand by Amsterdam central station. We hung out in Amsterdam a lot through the years.

I’m with SuperCub on this topic!

Ha, Maternal Grandmother came from Sweden and Maternal Grandfather came from Denmark.

Paternal Grandfather born here. 12 cousin or so of Queen E.

When I was in highschool worked for a restaurant chain out of Canada. Once a monrt or so would drive to Winnipeg with a van full of pickled herring, roll mops (pickled herring wrapped around a pickle) and tins of caviar. The guys at thee border crossing would come out with plates, eating utensils and big grins.All the stuff was used for the salad bar at their fancy restaurant in Wiinipeg.

If not fresh homemade (not by me) then Vita.

Dutch

Rollmops sounds great.

When I was a kid, the old man used to eat it on Ritz crackers. Once he gave me a taste, and since then he had to share his pickled herring with me. We were the only two in the house that would eat it. I loved it. May have to pick some up for old time's sake.

Fixed.

My Dad loved the stuff, I can take it or leave it.

LEGALIZE LUTEFISK!!!!

I have two full buckets of salted herring for halibut bait. We have a good sized run with rather large herring that spawn in the lagoon. Most folks prefer the roe out this way, but on occasion when I'm not tied down with everyone else's silly-ast problem I like making pickled salmon and herring. Most of us use the same pickling mixture for both.










Sailor Boy Pilot Crackas.....er Crackers.

Me?

I wouldn’t eat a single piece for $100. Disgusting.

Most canned and jarred fish is absolute swill.