Pre-Brined Herring Fillets from Central Coop for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Photo by Zachary D. Lyons.
Pre-Brined Herring Fillets from Central Coop for Alaska Herring Week 2017 make enjoying any of our chefs’ great recipes at home easy! They’ve already done the 3-hour bone-softening brine step for you. All you need to do is soak them for about 30 minutes in ice water to “freshen” them (a.k.a., remove the vinegar flavor), then use them in any of our chefs’ recipes, skipping their bone-softening step! (Note: recipes still may include additional brining steps for flavor.) (Note: herring pin bones are perfectly safe to eat… just texturally bothersome to some folks. This brining step renders the bones texturally inert.)
Smoked Herring Tacos, served on a 6” corn tortilla with fresh Pico d Gallo and cabbage garnish, Red Salsa on side, from Freshy’s Seafood Shack for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Photo by Zachary D. Lyons.
Looking for lunch, or a nice evening snack, on Mercer Island. Try these Smoked Herring Tacos, served on a 6” corn tortilla with fresh Pico d Gallo and cabbage garnish, Red Salsa on side, from Freshy’s Seafood Shack for Alaska Herring Week 2017. We did, and they are awesome! Who said herring isn’t Mexican? We sure didn’t!
Wanna make this at home? You can purchase the same Alaska Herring fillets being used by Seattle’s top chefs for Alaska Herring Week from Central Coop on Capitol Hill, Freshy’s Seafood Market on Mercer Island, Old Ballard Liquor Co. in Ballard, and Wild Salmon Seafood Market at Fisherman’s Terminal! (In fact, if you want to make life easy, you can get the same smoked herring at Freshy’s Seafood Market just up the street!) Once you’ve done that, here’s the recipe:
Smoked Herring Tacos
Recipe for Smoked Herring:
½ Gallon CocaCola
½ cup canning Salt
Brine herring fillets overnight, or about 6-8 hours
Rinse lightly in ice cold water
To Smoke:
Use any small or large smoker on low heat, we like to use applewood for our smoke, smoke until the meat flakes easily.
Serve on 6” corn tortillas with fresh Pico d Gallo and cabbage garnish, with red salsa on side.
Smoked Herring from Freshy’s Seafood Market for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Photo courtesy Freshy’s Seafood Market.
Smoked Herring from Freshy’s Seafood Market for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Freshy’s is a grocery paired with a seafood shack (surprisingly called, “Freshy’s Seafood Shack”) on Mercer Island. Besides have this gorgeous Smoked Herring in the case, check out what else they are offering in the Market for Alaska Herring Week, along with fresh-frozen herring fillets with which you can make any of our wonderful recipes!
Norwegian Pickled Herring from Freshy’s Seafood Market for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Photo courtesy Freshy’s Seafood Market.
Norwegian Pickled Herring from Freshy’s Seafood Market for Alaska Herring Week 2017!
Wanna make this at home? You can purchase the same Alaska Herring fillets being used by Seattle’s top chefs for Alaska Herring Week from Central Coop on Capitol Hill, Freshy’s Seafood Market on Mercer Island, Old Ballard Liquor Co. in Ballard, and Wild Salmon Seafood Market at Fisherman’s Terminal! Once you’ve done that, here’s the recipe:
Norwegian Pickled Herring
Brine:
2 cups water
1 3/4 oz sea salt
Brine herring fillets for two hours
Pickling:
2 cups white vinegar
2 tbls sugar
1 tbls pepper corns
8 bay leaves
1 tbls mustard seed
1 tbls coriander seeds
1 cup sliced shallots
Bring mixture to a boil and chill. Add herring fillets and pickle for one to two days.
Sweet n Hot Pickled Herring from Freshy’s Seafood Market for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Photo courtesy Freshy’s Seafood Market.
Sweet n Hot Pickled Herring from Freshy’s Seafood Market for Alaska Herring Week 2017!
Wanna make this at home? You can purchase the same Alaska Herring fillets being used by Seattle’s top chefs for Alaska Herring Week from Central Coop on Capitol Hill, Freshy’s Seafood Market on Mercer Island, Old Ballard Liquor Co. in Ballard, and Wild Salmon Seafood Market at Fisherman’s Terminal! Once you’ve done that, here’s the recipe:
Sweet n Hot Pickled Herring
Season fillets with salt and rest for 20 minutes.
Light Rinse
Season with sugar and rest for 2 hours.
Brine:
10 oz smoked pepper vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons mustard seed
1 cup sliced shallots
Half cup smoked peppers
Bring mixture to a boil and chill. Add herring fillets and pickle for one to two days.
Smoked-Then-Fried Herring from Old Ballard Liquor Co. for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Photo courtesy Old Ballard Liquor Co.
Meet Smoked-Then-Fried Herring, just one of the herring dishes being offered by Old Ballard Liquor Co. for Alaska Herring Week 2017! Wanna make this at home? At Old Ballard Liquor Co., you can purchase the same Alaska Herring fillets being used by Seattle’s top chefs for Alaska Herring Week! Once you’ve done that, here’s the recipe:
RECIPE: Smoked-Then-Fried Herring
Tasty Smoking Brine
You’ll need:
1 C Apple Cider Vinegar
½ C Pickling Salt
1 C Sugar
1 tsp Juniper Berries
1 tsp Allspice Berries
½ tsp White Peppercorns
6 C Ice Cubes
Prepare the Brine:
Add all ingredients except the ice cubes to a pot and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and allow to steep for 30 minutes. Add the ice to cool the brine. Store brine in the refrigerator for up to 45 days if not used immediately.
Prepare the Herring:
Peel the skin off of the Alaskan herring fillets, and brine for 2-3 hours.
Lay the fillets on a cooling rack on a small pan and put uncovered into a refrigerator for three hours to dry slightly. The fish should be sticky to the touch when ready.
Cold smoke the herring in alder smoke at 120 degrees max for 30—45 minutes.
Remove from the smoker. If the fish is dry to the touch, moisten by lightly brushing fresh brine over both sides. Set aside.
In a wide frying pan, heat ¼ Cup clarified butter on medium-high heat (substitute 1/8C butter + 1/8C canola oil).
Dredge the fish in plain, unseasoned rye flour.
Pan-fry on each side until golden.
Serve with mashed potatoes and sweet dill cucumber pickles (pressgurka).
Cold poached Herring appetizer with pickled vegetable, potato salad, Olive and Petit Pepper Tapenade from Luc for Northwest Herring Week 2016. Photo copyright 2016 by Zachary D. Lyons.
Alaska Herring Week 2017 in greater-Seattle takes place Monday, June 19th through Sunday, June 25th, at restaurants and grocers throughout the area. And the lineup continues to grow! Over the last few days, the following restaurants have added their names to the list:
Smoked Herring, summer squash, radish and herb vinaigrette by Bar Melusine for NW Herring Week 2016. Photo copyright 2016 by Zachary D. Lyons.
We just updated our website with the first comprehensive list of participants in Seattle’s Alaska Herring Week for 2017. This year, Alaska Herring Week will celebrate gorgeous Pacific herring from the cold waters of Alaska for the week of Monday, June 19th through Sunday, June 25th, and six weeks out, we already have 45 restaurants, grocers and events committed to participate. Compare that to 33 total participants in 2016! And this year, we expand across Lake Washington to include East King County. This year’s lineup includes neighborhood favorites like Ballard’s Porkchop & Co., as well as world-renowned destinations like Woodinville’s The Herbfarm and SkyCity At The Space Needle, and every kind of eatery in between, and we continue to add more! Please check out our 2017 lineup now!
Freshly filleted Togiak herring for Northwest Herring Week at the North Pacific Seafoods plant in Naknek, Alaska, on Bristol Bay.
If you would like to try your hand at preparing herring at home, it is available from several Seattle retailers as fillets.
All small, delicious, nutritious oily fish like sardines, anchovies, smelt and herring have small pin bones that are not easily removed by filleting, but these bones are not unsafe to eat. It’s more a texture/psychology issue for eaters. Because Togiak, Alaska herring are larger than most, their pin bones are a little larger, too. If you have an issue with these little bones, we recommend that you marinate your herring in an acidic brine before you proceed with the rest of your recipe. Here are two such brine recipes from Old Ballard Liquor Co.
Basic Bone Softening Brine:
1 Cup Distilled White Vinegar
1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
Brine fillets for 2-3 hours, then pour off brine.
(Optional) At this point, if you would like to remove the vinegar taste from the fish before moving forward with your recipe, soak the brined fillets in ice water for 30 minutes, change the water and soak for another 30.
Tasty smoking/marinade brine:
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup pickling salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon juniper berries
1 teaspoon allspice berries
1/2 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
6 cups of ice cubes
Add all ingredients to a pan and bring to a boil, then turn the heat off and allow to steep for 30 minutes. Add the ice cubes to chill the brine. When brine is fully cool, brine the fillets for 2-3 hours.
Traditional Swedish Pickled Herrings Bord from Old Ballard Liquor Co. for NW Herring Week!
Old Ballard Liquor Co.’sTraditional Swedish Pickled Herrings Bord includes Blood Orange & Rhubarb, Classic Inlagd Sill, Curry Cream Herring with Tart Apple, Dill Herring, and Smoked Cream with Chives and Citrus Zest. Served with rye and barley flatbread, of course!
Old Ballard also has the following herring products for sale for you to take home… or wherever you are going. We try not to judge.
It’s getting serious up in here… about herring! We’ve just added five more participating businesses to our Participating Grocers & Restaurants page, where you will find links to these and all our other participants. They are:
Central Co-op on Capitol Hill, where you’ll find herring in their fish case during NW Herring Week;
Loxsmithbagels, which will be having a pop-up with their amazing bagels and accompanying herringliciousness on Saturday, June 26th in the Rhino Room at Pine & 11th, to close up NW Herring Week;
Alaska Herring Week 