Gehakte Herring
געהאקטע הערינג·(ge-hak-teh heh-ring)
Sunday Morning Appetizing Spread (New York)
For first-generation Jewish-Americans, Sunday mornings are defined by the Appetizing Spread, and before the bagels are toasted or the lox unrolled, there is the herring. Real gehakte herring is not the cloying, cream-drenched jarred stuff found in the modern supermarket; it is a sharp, briny, beautifully balanced mash of salted fish, tart apple, and raw onion that smells exactly like a grandmother's kitchen in the old country. By relying on a quick rinse of jarred fillets and a soaked-bread panade, this recipe bypasses the two-day bathtub soak of a whole salt herring without sacrificing an ounce of authenticity. The secret here is old-world restraint: pulse the ingredients gently, fold in the eggs by hand, and let the mixture rest until the flavors marry into something undeniable.
Before you start
Hard-boil the eggs ahead of time.
Boil, cool, and peel the eggs in advance so they are completely cold when incorporated into the herring mixture.
Ingredients
- white bread or challah1 slice
- apple cider vinegar1 tbsp
- pickled herring fillets in wine or clear vinegar sauce14 oz
- Granny Smith apple1 small
- yellow or red onion1 small
- eggs3 large
- sunflower oil or neutral vegetable oil1 1/2 tbsp
- granulated sugar1/2 tsp
- black pepper1/4 tsp
- fresh dill or scallions1 tbsp
Method
- 01
Prepare the bread panade to bind the flavors.
Place the crustless bread in a shallow bowl, drizzle with the apple cider vinegar and a splash of cold water, and let sit for five minutes before aggressively squeezing it out into a damp sponge.
- 02
Strip away the commercial brine from the herring.
Discard the liquid and any soft onions from the jar, rinse the herring fillets briefly under cold running water to wash away the sweet preservatives, and pat them completely dry before roughly chopping.
- 03
Pulse the apple and onion to a coarse mince.
Add the quartered onion and chopped apple to the bowl of a food processor and pulse four or five times until finely minced, taking care not to pulverize them into a paste.
- 04
Incorporate the herring and the squeezed bread panade.
Add the dried herring and the damp bread to the processor, pulsing another four to five times until the mixture becomes a coarse hash with distinct, visible pieces of fish and apple.
- 05
Chop and fold in the eggs by hand.
Finely chop two of the hard-boiled eggs with a knife, bypassing the food processor entirely to prevent a gummy texture, and fold them into the herring hash with a spoon.
- 06
Season the mixture and let it rest.
Stir in the sunflower oil, sugar, and black pepper, then cover tightly and refrigerate for at least one hour to allow the volatile lipids to stabilize and the flavors to fully meld.
- 07
Garnish with the remaining egg and fresh herbs to serve.
Mound the chilled spread onto a serving dish, finely grate the yolk and white of the remaining hard-boiled egg over the top, and sprinkle with fresh dill before serving cold alongside cocktail rye bread or toasted bagels.
Notes
Respect the pulse.
The single greatest failure of modern chopped herring is over-processing; you want a coarse, rustic texture, not a grey slurry.
The bread panade is non-negotiable.
The soaked and squeezed bread acts as a sponge, absorbing the intense oils and briny flavors of the fish while holding the spread together.