These herring are not like those in Holland. Pickling, from a Swedish Point of view, involves the use of only minute amounts of vinegar, The preservative effect comes from loads of sugar and salt. Vodka, plain or spiced, is a popular ingredient at Xmas and Easter. Then there are all sorts of Spices and sour Creams that add flavour.

Canny lass, when I first went to London I went with a lass from Ashington we went to see her sister who was married to Finnish guy we had x mas dinner on the eve with his family the dinner consisted of raw fish,ham,cabbage & boiled tettie.The only thing I enjoyed was the bottle of Filandia vodka that was on offer,but saying that the rest of the company seemed to enjoy it give me Turkey & stuffing anytime.

Finlandia vodka! That must have been an all time first for a Finn! Everything- and I mean Everything - is home made here.

Even the fish, raw fish is raw fish to me whatever country your from or live in

Is this cod roe fresh,it's much nicer fresh then fried in batter symptoms might not agree as for the reindeer bland & you can't

Get stock by the way canny lass I thought the youngsters in Sweden enjoy fast food outlets

Of course we don't make raw herring but we do make many home-made dishes using raw herring - in the same way that people don't make strawberries but do make home-made strawberry jam.

 

The food in the Picture - Kalles Kaviar - is not cod roe. The Product contains about 40% fish roe, of which a small proportion comes from cod. The remaining 60% is mostly oil so I wouldn't try frying it.

 

Youngsters here are the same as youngsters in any other developed country. Of course they like fast food. Problem is that it's hard to get your hands on fast food here  because of the  long distances to outlets.

 

"Reindeer bland", "stock"?? I'm afraid you've lost me there!

Edited March 23, 201511 yr by Canny lass

Canny lass just joking about the food the closest I've been to Sweden was when I went to Majorca with a few lads from bedders

& we started seeing a some girls from Gothenburg who worked at customs in there airport,happy days with fond memories saying that

I did go to Norway on a sking holiday which was organised by the school.

Does anyone do herrings rolled and cooked with part vinegar and water.

Mackerel are also good cooked in this way.

Roll mops maggie that's what the cockneys call them

That is what I would call them too.

Our Worlds are connected.

The jellied eels are even worse

I spent a little while on a seal cull boat crewed by a lot of very large Viking types (don't ask!! and it wasn't anything you need to know or rant about) but breakfast was a bowl of herring and a big bowl of salt - pick up a herring dip in salt and swallow - might seem a bit bizarre, but I never had a cold!!!  -although they did bake the most tremendous bread everyday - sort of oval and bloomer like but man-sized. I showed them the joys of a bacon sandwich using a whole loaf each of that same bread but with the addition of about a pound of thick sliced gammon each and became a friend for life!!

Mackerel is best taken fresh from the sea - gutted head and nothing else down and filled with tarragon and anything else that comes to hand a squeeze of lemon wrap in foil and oven for ten mins. You cant freeze mackerel!!!

I stayed in the depths of the very rural sowf for a while and a couple of old gypsies lived on the land - made their own cider which was magic and caught eels in sacks of straw with chicken offal and then smoked them - it wasn't what I would call 'must have' but was not bad for eels !! 

Interesting though about different folks eating -- we leased a property to a Polish family for a while and got invited to Christmas dinner with them and the family - it was carp - actually it was tremendous and its worth checking the Polish food in the shops (although they did have some homemade vodka to go with sent over from home!!!)

We freeze mackeril! Whole, gutted, cavity filled with dill stalks. Dipped in iced water and frozen. Removed from freezer when frozen. Dipped in iced water again and refrozen. Remove and wrap in Heavy duty foil or polythene. Keep up to 3 months. It is, as you say, better fresh but this method gives a fair result.

 

When I lived in London I was very fond of the east-ender's 'pie and mash with liquor'. The liquor was a luminous green fluid poured over the pie and turned out to be the water in which they cooked the eels -later to be jellied. I loved it , till I found out what it was!

 

The polish vodka isn't a patch on the Scandinavian! One of the most interesting ways I've seen of serving potatoes!

Do you ever cook the mackerel in the vinegar Canny Lass.

The roll mop herring was often called 'soused herring'

Cooked it was always good to eat hot or cold.

probably should have added re the polish family -- his father was Russian and her father German - not a good combination in that country post war!!! but the vodka was made by his father. Strange but drink it straight and you never get a hangover...

samphire is brilliant with mackerel --and any other high oil fish and its free!!!!