Mustard Herring

Ingredients

• 1.6 herrings, soaked; filleted; do not skin; cut into serving portions
• 2.onion, sliced; for layering
• 3.250 millilitre white vinegar, for brine
• 4.250 millilitre water, for brine
• 5.bay leaves and peppercorns, a few bayleaves; a handful of peppercorns
• 6.3 eggs, whole; beaten
• 7.60 millilitre sugar
• 8.7.5 millilitre mustard powder, dry
• 9.250 millilitre thick cream, whipped lightly

Method

1. 1.Fillet but do not skin the herring. Cut into serving portions. Layer the herring portions and the sliced onions in a casserole. Set aside.
2. 2.Boil up the vinegar, water, bayleaves and peppercorns. Cool.
3. 3.Beat very well the eggs, the sugar and the mustard. Add the egg mixture to the cooled vinegar mixture.
4. 4.Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until thick. Cool and strain.
5. 5.Whip the cream lightly. Fold the cooled vinegar-egg mixture into the cream.
6. 6.Pour this sauce over the layered herring and onion. Cover and allow to pickle for 3–4 days.

Notes

• Method spans two pages in the original binder (page 7 for ingredients and method start, page 16 for method continuation).
• This version uses whole eggs and thick cream — compare with Mustard Herring Without Cream (also in this collection) which uses egg yolks and mayonnaise.
• The egg-cream sauce is cooked to thicken it before being folded with cream — this gives a richer result.