The classic herring forshmak recipe appeared in the 16th century, but the first mentions of it in the annals date back to the 18th century. It is generally believed that this cold appetizer is of Jewish origin, but this is not true. The main ingredient in the dish is salted herring, which Dutch culinary specialists learned to salt in the late Middle Ages. And even the structure of the word itself, according to philologists, has German-Dutch roots. Translated from German, Dutch, Danish and Swedish, the initial part of the word "fore" means "ahead". It meant that the dish should be served at the very beginning of the meal, as an appetizer, preceding the hot and sweet.
At the end of the 15th century, Dutch sailors began to supply salted herring in huge quantities to the Pskov and Novgorod provinces of Russia, as evidenced by historical records on birch bark letters. And after another 300 years, the herring forshmak recipe migrated to Russia.
In 1860, A. Shambinago's guide "An Economic Book for Young and Inexperienced Housewives" was published in Russia, which described in detail how to make a herring forshmak. The main ingredients were herring, crushed crackers, sour cream, onions, butter, and crushed hot peppers. After combining, the mixture of crushed products was sent to the oven for a quarter of an hour for browning.
Its own version of the appetizer has appeared in many countries, the dish has gained immense popularity in Israel for a long time. In the Jewish version, in contrast to the Russian, instead of white bread (or rusks), boiled potatoes are put into the mixture.
When discussing the preparation of forshmak, spears are often broken about whether the ingredients of a snack should be chopped with a meat grinder, in a blender, or a real forshmak is only chopped. And the correct answer here is very simple, and is in the middle: you can grind part of the herring along with onion and half an apple to saturate the oily base with taste, and chop part of the ingredients, creating a texture more pleasant to the dish both for the eye and for the taste.
Nevertheless, we will not grind the herring, and indeed - in our recipe it is "at a minimum", because this forshmak should be very, very tender.
Recipe Information
Before proceeding with the preparation of other ingredients, soak the bread in milk and boil the hard-boiled egg.
Peel the onion, chop and beat together with butter and soaked bread (do not squeeze milk from bread). Sometimes it is recommended to pour boiling water over the onion before grinding, however, if the forshmak is served not immediately after cooking, but at least after 30 minutes, the pungent onion smell will go away on its own.
Although the list of ingredients indicates herring fillet, for a real forshmak it is better not to take a ready-made fillet, but choose a good, fatty, fresh herring and cut it yourself. Accordingly, 100 g of fillet is what has already been cleared of skin and bones.
Chop the herring and eggs into medium-sized cubes. The apple can be finely chopped or grated. Immediately after grinding, you need to sprinkle it with lemon juice so that the surface of the pieces does not oxidize and darken. In general, it is better to cut the apple right before mixing the appetizer.
We combine the prepared parts of the foreschmak and gently mix into a homogeneous mass. If the herring was lightly salted, you may need to add a little salt.
Let the mass stand for 30-60 minutes, so that the onions are marinated, and you can serve the appetizer on the table. Since forshmak has a rather inexpressive gray color, when serving, you can add colors to it using green onions, egg yolk, boiled carrots.
In some countries, forshmak is also called herring pate.
If desired, you can add 30-50 g of processed cheese, a handful of chopped walnut kernels, mustard, boiled carrots to the list of ingredients. Sometimes there are recipes where butter was replaced with vegetable oil, and herring was replaced with salted mackerel or salmon.
Experienced chefs say that in this appetizer, fish should make up 1/3 of the total mass of the remaining ingredients.
Herring forshmak can be a great filling for thin pancakes.
Forshmak is an exquisite international dish that is known in different countries, so there is no single recipe for its preparation. In Germany, Sweden, Holland, Norway, chopped mushrooms, chicken, pieces of vegetables, curd mass, smoked capelin can be added to the appetizer. In Siberia, the list of ingredients sometimes includes chopped pickles and veal. We offer you to find out a rather popular recipe for preparing forshmak in Jewish style, which has a pronounced aroma and mild taste. Instead of bread, in this case, boiled potatoes and eggs are added.
Sometimes such a snack is called forshmak in Odessa, most likely because a lot of native Jews have long lived in this Ukrainian city. However, whatever you call it, the main thing is the fantastic result and incomparable taste, which more than pays for all the efforts.
If you plan to cook forshmak, salt the herring in advance. As a last resort, the fish can be bought in the supermarket, but it is better to let it be home salted, it tastes better. It is better not to salt the whole fish, but in a cut form, removing the insides, the head with gills. If left on, the fish meat will end up with a slight bitterness. It is very convenient to store herring in salted brine in the refrigerator, so that later, if necessary, can be used at any time for preparing a snack.
Now you need to boil the jacket potatoes and eggs. While they are cooking, remove the spine and small bones from the fish if possible. Some of the bones in the pulp will still remain, but this is not scary, we can easily cope with them with the help of a meat grinder. Use a sharp knife to remove the skin from the herring fillets. By the way, you can also use salted caviar and fish milk for cooking.
Cool boiled potatoes and eggs, peel and shell. Peel the onion.
All ingredients - onions, potatoes, fish fillets and eggs are passed through a fine grinder.
Add a few drops of vinegar (lemon juice or diluted citric acid), vegetable oil to the mass. I prefer to take refined oil, odorless, but if you like fragrant unrefined oil, feel free to use it. Now mix the ingredients well.
The appetizer is ready.
Jewish forshmak is served in different ways. One of the options is to put the pate in a flat herring pot, shaping the fish and decorating with herbs, onion or olive rings, and green peas. You can make canapes from forshmak, fill them with halves of boiled eggs, profiteroles from choux pastry, make pancake rolls. It's a good idea to wrap the appetizer in thin Armenian lavash. In cooking, it is simply impossible to be conservative. Experiment, surprise your loved ones and enjoy the taste!
By the way, in some Jewish recipes, not raw onions are put in forshmak, but fried until golden brown, and also not salted fish, but smoked.
Do not put a lot of potatoes, the herring should dominate, and the rest of the ingredients only complement the taste.
Forshmak is an invention of the Ashkenazi, that is, those Jews who, after the great dispersion, settled in the Rhine valley. Living among the peoples who sheltered them, they adopted a lot from German, Swedish, French and Slavic cuisines. And the climatic conditions of the new homeland dictated their own conditions, forcing the Ashkenazi to cook dishes from those products that were available. The Sephardic Jews, who fled to and to North Africa, did the same. But here we will not talk about the vicissitudes of the fate of the Jewish people, but about how to make herring forshmak.
Alas and ah, the tradition of preparing this tsimes (snacks) according to all the rules of kosher is almost forgotten. The dish was adopted by the hostesses of all nationalities. Even the word "forshmak" is German. It means "appetizer". And the authentic name is "gehakte gering", that is, chopped herring. It is clear that over time the dish has been "overgrown" with various German, Polish and even Russian innovations. But yes - in Odessa, in the restaurant "Rosemary", the preparation of herring forshmak is carried out according to an old recipe. The requirements of a religious diet are respected here. It is not for nothing that the restaurant was awarded the title "Glat Kasher".
In ancient Jewish culinary books, there are such records on how to prepare forshmak from herring: "You need to soak the fish in cold tea leaves." This wish applies only to canned herring "Iwasi", which was sold during the Soviet Union. The tea steeping was necessary to remove excess salt and make the fish more tender. If you have a carcass of a Norwegian herring - silvery, greasy, slightly iridescent, then you can omit this overture for preparing an appetizer.
How to cook herring forshmak in Jewish way, what products are needed? In addition to Norwegian fish, the most domestic ones. Onions, garlic, butter or margarine (only parve - on vegetable fats). We also need a sour apple - it is best to take the Simirenka variety. You can not do without ground black pepper, ginger powder. But adding hard-boiled eggs to a snack is a German or Polish addition.
Having stocked up everything we need, we begin our culinary master class "How to make a herring forshmak". We select all the bones from the fish - a dreary, but necessary task. Next, grind two-thirds of the fillets in a blender, and cut the rest by hand into small pieces. Chop two cloves of garlic, peel the apple and free it from the fruit box. Puree apple, garlic, spices in a blender. Chop the onion separately. We combine these two components together with most of the herring. Beat butter or margarine in a mixer to make it look like Add it to the forshmak. Cut the half of the apple without the skin into small cubes. Now we should think about how to make the forshmak airy. It should not be uniform; pieces of herring and fruit should be clearly felt in the mouth. The remaining fish, which is cut into pieces, and half an apple, mix into the total mass and beat. Now salt, but gently. Now you know how to make herring forshmak.
Forshmak is a herring appetizer, a national Jewish dish. Not very attractive in appearance, it won an army of thousands of fans not only among Jews, but all over the world. This appetizer goes well with various dishes, but is especially delicious with baked potatoes. Forshmak is irreplaceable in men's company, as it is an excellent snack with good vodka. How to prepare this dish yourself? What ingredients are added to the classic forshmak, and what to the Jewish?
A bit of history about forshmack
Herring Forshmak is an appetizer that causes controversy between peoples over its origin. Jews consider it a dish of their national cuisine, the same can be heard from Swedes, Germans and Finns. The thing is that initially forshmak was prepared from fish and meat, and served hot. The ancient Prussians called meat and herring baked in sour cream with spices "forshmak", that is, "appetizer".
Among the ancient Jews, the present forshmak had a name that literally means “chopped herring”. Over time, this Jewish dish also began to be called an appetizer, and in addition to herring, other ingredients were included in its composition. The national Jewish dish of chopped herring has changed in composition, in addition, it acquired a name borrowed from the ancient Prussians. That is why there are now controversies about the origin of forshmak in the modern sense.
The current methods of preparing herring appetizers are varied. Many housewives put ingredients in it, taking into account their own taste preferences. They say that nothing can spoil a delicious herring. However, despite all the variety of allowed components, there are basic rules for its preparation. We will look at two forshmak recipes - Jewish and classic.
Which herring should you use?
Since herring is the main ingredient in forschmak, its choice must be taken seriously. There is an opinion that before preparing this delicious snack, fish should be soaked in strong tea or even milk. Is it so? Housewives soaked herring in Soviet times. They did this solely for one reason - previously, the herring was sold so salty that it was simply impossible to eat it. To remove excess salt from the fish, it was soaked. Now there is no such problem - in stores they sell weakly salted herring, fat and tender. This is exactly what we need to prepare this snack.
Classic forshmak: how to cook with herring (classic forshmak recipe)
If you decide to cook forshmak according to the classic recipe, prepare the products you need.
Fatty salted herring - 1.
1 head of onion.
Sour Apple - 1.
2 eggs.
Butter - 100 gr.
First you need to do fish. Cut off the head, fins and tail. Now we make an incision along the back and on the stomach, take out the insides. We remove the skin, starting from the head, grabbing it along the edge of the back. Now you need to carefully remove the ridge, trying to pull out the breast bones with it. Small bones can be left, they will be crushed in a meat grinder. Cut the fish fillets into small pieces.
Peel and core the apple, cut into slices. Divide the onion into convenient pieces for laying in a meat grinder. Hard boil the eggs. Put one of the yolks aside, it will come in handy later.
Grind all the ingredients, including the oil, through a meat grinder. To make it go well through the holes, it is better to lay it after the apple. Stir the resulting mass until smooth. If you like a spicy snack, add a little black pepper. There is no need to add salt, the herring will give exactly the taste that the dish should have.
Transfer the mixture to a beautiful small salad bowl and, tamping it lightly, give the desired shape. Garnish the forshmak with herbs and grated yolk. Send the dish to the refrigerator to set the butter.
Real Jewish forshmak recipe
The traditional Jewish recipe differs from the classic one in that it also uses bread, potatoes and a little lemon juice. This set of products reflects the entire history of the wanderings of this people, their need to survive in conditions of need. At first glance, it may seem that bread and potatoes are unnecessary ingredients, but with them the dish will turn out to be thicker and more satisfying. Lemon will add some zest to the snack.
So, get everything you need ready.
1 potato.
2 testicles.
Sour apple - 1.
Good quality butter or margarine - 100 g.
Bulb.
Yesterday's loaf.
Milk (a little).
Slice of lemon.
Spices on request.
Cooking Jewish forshmak is just as easy. We clean the fish and cut it into fillets, divide it into pieces. Peel the apple, cut into slices, removing the core. Soak 2 pieces of yesterday's bread in milk, squeeze. Boil the potatoes in their uniforms, peel them. Boil 2 hard boiled eggs.
When all the ingredients are prepared, we pass them through a meat grinder. Squeeze the juice of one lemon slice into the finished mixture. Stir the mixture well to make it smooth. At first it seems soft - the butter has melted a little. When the dish is in the refrigerator, it will set and become thicker. Don't forget to garnish the appetizer with yolk and herbs.
How is forshmak served?
If you have prepared a herring appetizer for a festive table, then it is hardly worth serving it to guests just in a salad bowl. In this form, you can leave it if only household members will eat forshmak. It is better to spread it on croutons or crispbread, and decorate the sandwiches with herbs on top. Another interesting way to serve a dish is to give it the shape of a fish or another (at your discretion) by putting it in a herring. Always sprinkle the prepared forshmak with herbs and egg yolk as this appetizer needs some garnish.
Now you know how to make forshmak according to two recipes - classic and Jewish. Choose whichever tastes best for you. You can experiment by adding carrots, beets, or cream cheese to your snack.
The classic herring forshmak recipe involves the use of apples, onions, boiled chicken eggs, butter and slices of bread soaked in milk. All of these ingredients are subsequently transformed in a delicious herring pate, which can then be served, spread on black bread.
The word "forshmak" literally translates as "anticipation." Initially, the dish was hot and belonged to Swedish cuisine, but later it migrated to Jewish cuisine, where it became a cold appetizer.
Potatoes are a favorite side dish for salted herring by many, so it is not surprising that such a herring-potato combination is embodied in one of the forshmak variations. This pate turns out to be quite satisfying and, as well as possible, suits as a main course for breakfast.
The tail and head of the herring should not be thrown away. It will help give the pate the look of a real herring when served.
This recipe is far from the classic combination of ingredients, but the finished appetizer turns out to be unusually tender and airy.
The dish can be served by filling tartlets or halves of a hard-boiled chicken egg with it, removing the yolk before stuffing.
You don't need a blender or an electric meat grinder to cook it in Jewish way, a grater and a manual meat grinder will be enough.
This dish is characterized by the addition of strong spices. This is not surprising, since Odessa housewives often used not the highest quality fish for forshmak, but the so-called “rusty” herring, the taste of which had to be hidden with spices. Of course, for cooking it is better to take fresh and fatty fish, and add fresh notes of taste to the usual dish with spices.
Salted herring is good for vodka, which is why forshmak often appears at festive feasts, but on weekdays a slice of black bread, spread with this pate, will be able to add a savory addition to any first or second course. It remains only to choose a recipe forshmak to your liking (or more precisely, to your stomach).
A dish called forshmak is a delicious and satisfying snack from the arsenal of Jewish cuisine. It consists of chopped herring and some other ingredients that are mixed with each other and spread on bread, put in tartlets, on lettuce leaves or chips. Over time, the recipe for this snack has changed, so today there are many variations of it. Ways to cook forshmak with herring are presented in step-by-step recipes with the photo below.
In cooking, this is the name of a dish made from minced meat or herring mixed with sour cream, peppers, onions and potatoes. Forshmak is believed to have come from East Prussia. The name "Vorschmack" is translated as an appetizer. Jews borrowed forshmak and made it their national dish. In Jewish cuisine, it has been transformed into a cold herring appetizer.
There are many options for forshmak with slightly salted herring. According to the classic recipe, fish takes up about a third of the snack. It pleasantly complements the taste of other products, and does not dominate, which makes the dish unusual. In terms of consistency, forshmak should resemble pate. To make it tasty, it is recommended to chop the peeled herring with a blender or meat grinder, but you can chop it with a knife. They add to the fish:
The simplest option for making a delicious forshmak is its classic recipe. The dish combines several flavors - from sour apple to salty herring. In order for the fish to complement other foods, it is important not to exceed the amount in the recipe. It should be no more than 1/3 of the snack. Airy and light forshmak will be obtained by whipping fish with a mixer or blender.
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The apple recipe is also classic. It is also called Jewish. Mostly sour apple varieties are combined with herring. Such simple components make it possible to cook this dish deliciously, and in a short time. Herring is a classic product of any feast. Making a forshmak with her and apples would be a great option for a festive dish.
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The most sophisticated version is prepared with the addition of nuts and herbs. This recipe is much more interesting than the others. Nuts are taken, as in most snacks, walnuts. You can take any greens at your discretion, be it parsley, dill, cilantro, basil, or several types at once. The rest of the products are the same as in the classic recipe list. An apple is suitable for both sour and sweet and sour.
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Herring forshmak bread is used not only as a base for sandwiches. A few pieces can be added to the minced fish itself. This makes the dish more satisfying. In addition, due to the addition of bread crumb, the volume of forshmak increases, so it will be enough for more people. It is recommended to use a loaf. It goes better with herring, especially in such an appetizer.
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This recipe for herring forshmak is also sustained in the classical canons, but its peculiarity lies in replacing salted herring with smoked herring. It gives the dish a completely different flavor. The changes only apply to fish. The rest of the dish is prepared according to the same principle. All ingredients are ground, blended, and then used to create mouth-watering sandwiches. For decoration, add a little greenery on top.
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The Odessa herring forshmak recipe involves the use of strong spices. In addition to mustard, coriander, pepper, dry ginger are added: this makes the appetizer more spicy compared to the classic recipe. To serve the dish, use toast or ordinary bread, cut into small pieces. Apples are allowed to use sweet and sour varieties, and not exclusively sour. The reason is in the spices, which already make the dish spicy.
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Learn how to make forshmak at home using this recipe with regular processed Druzhba cheese curds. Even very soft cheese sold in trays will do, the dish will only slightly change in consistency and taste, it will become more tender. Both types of cheese have an affordable price, so forshmak is inexpensive, but it still looks great on a festive table.
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This is another popular classic herring forshmak recipe. Its advantage lies in the economy of the products used. In order for potato tubers to preserve starch as much as possible, it is better to boil them in their uniforms, and only then just peel them. Although this is only a recommendation, each housewife can cook according to her own habits. It's important to keep the proportions of fish and potatoes in this recipe so that the gourmet appetizer doesn't turn into a regular salad served on toast or bread.
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