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Herrings, Fresh, Baked
Scale and clean the herrings carefully, without washing them. Cut off the heads, tails, and fins; split the fish open, and take out the backbone. Sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and pounded mace over them, both inside and out, lay them in a deep baking-dish, and arrange the roes at the top. Cover them with vinegar and water in equal proportions, and put three or four bay-leaves or cloves into the liquid. Bake for one hour. They are much better eaten cold than hot. When the backbone is removed they may be neatly rolled before baking. Probable cost, 1d. or 1 1/2d. each. Sufficient, half a dozen for three persons.
This is a soused herring under another name: the fish is baked in a vinegar and water bath, then left to cool and set. The instruction that matters most is the last one — these are meant to be eaten cold, after the acid has firmed the flesh and drawn the flavour of the spice through it.
- Oven temperatureCassell's gives no heat at all, as was normal. Bake at 325-350F; the liquid should barely tremble rather than boil, or the thin fillets will shred.
- An hour is not too longFor most fish it would be, but herring in acid behaves differently: the flesh sets rather than dries, and the finest bones soften a little, though full softening needs longer steeping. At 325F, 45-60 minutes suits average fish; smaller ones need less.
- Use a non-reactive dishVinegar in quantity will pit aluminium and strip seasoning from cast iron, and will pick up a metallic taste from either. Glass, glazed earthenware or enamelled cast iron. Cover with a lid or foil.
- Vinegar strengthVictorian malt vinegar was broadly comparable in strength to modern vinegar, though strengths varied and were not standardised. Equal parts vinegar and water gives a sharp bath; malt or cider vinegar suits herring better than distilled white.
- Pounded maceMace is the outer covering of the nutmeg seed, sold as blades or ground. A blade or two in the liquid plus a pinch of ground on the fish is plenty — it is assertive, and the original's "a little" should be taken at its word.
- "Without washing them"Scrape the scales and gut over paper, then wipe with a damp cloth. The point is to avoid waterlogging the flesh before it meets the vinegar; a brief rinse and thorough drying does no harm.
- The roesSoft (male) and hard (female) roes were both prized; the book has them arranged at the top, though it does not say why. Many fishmongers now sell herring already gutted and roeless — the dish works without them.
- Bay or clovesThree or four cloves is a lot in a small dish; two is safer if you dislike a medicinal note. Bay is the gentler choice, and a few peppercorns and a sliced onion are traditional additions the book leaves out.
- Yield and keepingSix herrings for three people, as stated, as a light dish with bread and butter. Once cooled, they keep three or four days covered in their liquid in the refrigerator.
Herring was the cheapest sea fish in Britain for most of the nineteenth century, landed in enormous quantities on the east coast and carried inland by rail — hence Cassell's costing of a penny or three halfpence apiece. Baking or steeping the fish in spiced vinegar is the old "sousing" method, related to the Dutch and Scandinavian pickled preparations; the acid both flavours and preserves, softening the many small bones and letting the fish be kept and eaten cold over several days without ice. That last point explains the book's insistence that they are better cold: this is a larder dish as much as a dinner dish, made in quantity when the boats came in.