In Finland this delicacy is known as lasimestarin silli, which translates directly as "glass master's herring". It is herring preserved in a sugar and vinegar liquid and spiced with onions, carrots, horseradish and peppercorns. The name is a translation of the Swedish glasmästarsill, and nobody seems to know for sure who the glass master was. The explanation I find most believable is that it comes from the jar itself, because the herring is always put up in glass and the layers show through it. Pickled herring is eaten here all year round, but most of all at Christmas.
I've always loved pickled herring, especially ABBA kesäsilli (summer herring) with new season potatoes. Of Abba's many marinades my favourite is still the French onion one, and the company, by the way, is more than a hundred years older than the band. At our Christmas table there has always been rosolli, the pink beetroot and herring salad, served from the same green glass bowl year after year. Many restaurants offer various home-made spiced and pickled herrings in their lunch buffets, but way too often I've found them to be slimy rather than delicious.
A week ago my mum gave me a small jar of home-made lasimestarin silli as an early Christmas present. I was really surprised, since for as long as I can remember she has bought all her herring products from the shop. When I opened the jar and carefully tasted a piece, I was astonished, because it was super delicious. Today I called her and asked for the recipe. She had found it in Pirkka magazine, and she told me that my grandmother used to make this herring every Christmas. Mum didn't like it when she was young, so she never carried on the tradition.
"Better late than never", I thought earlier today, and headed to the grocery store to buy some herring fillets. Luckily I have been saving used glass jars, which made this ex tempore preserving session that much easier. You can use whole herrings, either fresh or salted, but they have a ton of bones to be removed. Or you can be a wimp like me and buy boneless, skinned fillets. Many salted herrings are very heavily salted and must be soaked before use.
The recipe below follows my mum's substitutions, the biggest differences to the magazine's recipe being the pre-spiced herring fillets, which give the pieces their brown colour, and black peppercorns instead of white. I made a big batch, 1.5 kg (almost 4 lb) of herring, as I'm planning to give the jars away as little Christmas presents. In the jar in the picture a bay leaf has ended up pressed flat against the glass, with orange rounds of carrot and rings of red onion packed in between the pieces of fish. Tomorrow I'm going to Tallinn with S, where I'll also meet the lovely Pille of Nami-Nami. She was going to get a jar too, until I remembered her hatred of herring.
Recipe card
Glass Master's Herring
- One big jar or two smaller ones
- Sterilising the jars in the oven 125 °C (260 °F), 15 min or more
You will need
| 500 g (1 lb) | herring fillets |
| 3 | red onions, thinly sliced |
| 2 | carrots, peeled and thinly sliced |
| bay leaves | |
| 2.5 cm (1 in) | horseradish, peeled and thinly sliced |
| a few dozen | black peppercorns |
| 100 ml (1/2 cup) | sugar |
| 100 ml (1/2 cup) | white vinegar |
| 200 ml (1 cup) | water |
| optionally, benzoic acid and sodium benzoate (E210 and E211) as preservatives |
Method
- Mix the sugar, vinegar and water and bring to the boil. Let cool.
- Boil the jars and lids to clean them thoroughly, or bake them in a 125 °C (260 °F) oven for 15 minutes or more.
- Peel the onions, carrots and horseradish and slice them very thin. Rinse the herring fillets under running water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut them into 2 cm slices (slightly less than 1 in).
- Fill the jars with the ingredients in layers, adding a few bay leaves and a small handful of black peppercorns to each jar. Top up with the chilled sugar and vinegar liquid. If you opt to use a preservative (such as Atamon), mix it into the liquid.
- Shake the jars to remove any air bubbles. Store in the fridge.
11 comments
Näyttää hyvältä! Sano Pillelle terveisiä.
ZZ
Heippa Antti! It was lovely to see you earlier today. And although your herring jar looks rather pretty, I'm pretty happy with my Fazer chocs:)
I do love herring (pickled or raw with onions)...wish I was there to taste it (along with the elk, some dallaspulla, and then maybe buy some Moomin things!). I'm sure Finand does really magical christmases! 🙂 Happy holidays!
hi there. really nice looking blog you got here. I added your blog as a link on mine. Hope you dun mind. Merry Christmas! Shaz, a foodie blogger from Singapore.
I am delighted to find your site. I am an Ameri-Fin and love finding real authentic recipes I can read in English. Write on!
Moi!
Lovely site, tasteful layout, good food. What else you gonna need?
Anyway, just wanted to let you know I put a link to your site on our blog about what to eat in Helsinki for lunch. You're welcome to do the same if you think it fine.
Terveisin
Listalla Tänään -toimitus
Interesting blog.
I would like to know if there are any Finnish restaurants in the U.S., particularly, on East Coast, Chicago, California, or Pacific Northwest.
Terve.
Nyt jos teilläkään ei ole vastausta tähän seuraavaan kysymykseen niin masennun.
Millä voi korvata Monterey Jackin? Mitä se vastaa täällä Suomesta saatavista juustoista? Netti on ihan turha tähän, jokapaikassa lukee vaan "pehmeä ja mieto". Aika moni juusto on pehmeä ja mieto.
Tai Pepper Jackin?
i adore pickled veggies. i just returned from Poland and it's about all I ate for two weeks!!
How long will the herring last in the jar?
Hello,
I too love pickled fish. The only problem is that I live in the U.S. and don't have access to herring. Could I make the glassmaster's pickled herring with some other type of fish?? I live near the U.S. Great Lakes and can easily obtain perch, walleye, and pike.
Thanks, Bill