Brathering is a German dish made with fried and marinated herring. The recipe involves cleaning and preparing the fish, breading and frying it, and then marinating it in a pickling solution. The resulting dish can be served with mashed potatoes, toast, or cucumber-dill salad.
Brathering is a German herring dish that is fried and then marinated. The flavor can be very strong and decisive, or it can be sweet and sour with the addition of sugar or other sweet ingredients. Most recipes call for the use of green herring, although any type can be used with similar results. There are some variations on the picking, such as including tomato sauce along with pickling spices or the use of Asian ingredients like soy sauce and ginger. The resulting harvest can be eaten with mashed potatoes mixed with bacon, pieces of toast, or cucumber-dill salad, depending on the spices used during pickling.
Before the preparation of the recipe for harvesting begins, the herring must be properly cleaned and prepared. This process involves removing the head, tail and innards from the fish. The fish is then cut into two fillets, one on each side of the body. The tenderloins can be deboned by using a pair of needlenose pliers to grab the end of each of the small pin bones and pull them out. If the bones are not removed, they will soften or dissolve completely during marinating.
Once prepared, the herring fillets are dried with a towel and then breaded. They can be dredged in a light coating of flour or dipped in egg and then flour or breadcrumbs. Coated herrings are fried in oil, sometimes with onions or other aromatic vegetables, until cooked through and have developed a golden crust. The finished fillets are then set aside, but must be kept warm for the next step.
The pickle marinade can contain many ingredients, but generally starts with vinegar being heated in a pan. Classic additions are mustard seeds, onions, peppercorns, bay leaves, chili peppers and allspice. All the ingredients are placed in vinegar, sometimes with additional water or even white wine, and cooked until hot. Some recipes call for the spices to be fried in oil first to develop their flavors, although this isn’t necessary. Once hot, the final canning process can begin.
Sterile glass jars are filled with the hot and fried herring. Hot marinade is poured into jars so that it covers the herring. After closing the jars, the collection is left to cool to room temperature and then placed in the refrigerator or stored in a very cool place. Herring should be left to marinate for one to four days before eating, depending on the size of the fish. Freshly made harvest will keep for two weeks or more in the refrigerator, while commercially purchased pasteurized harvest can last much longer.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
