One more oily fish to the list - herring. Once a year, I make pickled
herring, using the salted milker herring which come from Norway. They
come in a white plastic barrel, about $20.00 for 5 pounds. I get them in
the regular supermarket. For some reason, they always appear around the
holiday season. First you must desalinate them by soaking in fresh
water for 24 hours. Periodically drain water and add fresh. At this
point, if you are really stoic, you can cut off the heads, gut them and
eat raw. But, I usually clean the herring, cut into bite size pieces
and marinate them in a mustard & live cider vinegar brine (my
grandmother's traditions take precedent over paleo do's and don'ts, guys
. . . .) To the brine, I add cut up onion rings, lemon slices and
juniper berries. Put in fridge and let sit for at least 2 weeks. She
used to serve with Russian black bread. Makes you strong like a bull.
Oh, one last thing . . . . a shot of strong vodka. Sorry, but I have to
give you the full gestalt.
From a different grandmother, comes the rendered chicken fat, also
mentioned in an earlier post. In Yiddish, its called "greiven". Its
the kosher version of pork rinds. Just take raw chicken skin, put in a
pan over low heat, and let it cook down until the skin becomes crunchy,
like cracklings. Great crumbled over salad. You can subsitute duck
skin or goose as well.
Judy Genova, cavegirl
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