No. 1178

Herrings—Smoked and Salted—with Cream

Harengs Fumes a la Creme

Split the smoked herrings in two the entire length of the back; close them up and lay them in a saucepan with half milk and half cream, just sufficient to cover; boil them slowly until thoroughly done, then serve on a very hot dish with branches of green parsley around, and send to the table with a separate sauce-boat of cold, thick cream.

← No. 1177 Herrings, Salt, with Mashed Potatoes Shad, Herring & Mackerel No. 1179 Kingfish a la Bateliere →

For the Modern Kitchen

A two-line recipe that depends entirely on what kind of smoked herring you start with. Ranhofer assumed the hard-cured red herring of the nineteenth century; the milk-and-cream bath is there as much to draw out salt as to cook the fish.

Soak first, or it will be inedibleSoak first, or it may be inedible -- The "smoked herrings" of 1894 could well have been red herrings — heavily salted and cold-smoked to the point of being stiff and mahogany-coloured — though Ranhofer does not specify the cure. A hard-cured fish needs soaking in cold water or milk for several hours, with a change or two, before it goes anywhere near the pan. Modern soft-cured kippers and hot-smoked herring do not, and need only a brief warming.
"Boil them slowly" means barely a trembleRead it as a bare simmer, 180F or below, with the surface only shivering. A real boil will curdle the cream and shred the fillets. Ten to fifteen minutes suits a hard-cured herring after soaking; a soft kipper needs four or five.
Split the entire length of the backThis is butterflying, not filleting — the fish opens flat along the backbone and is then closed again so it holds its shape while poaching. Hard-cured herrings are far easier to split after soaking has softened them.
The dairyHalf milk, half cream means whole milk and heavy cream in equal parts, enough to just cover — how much that is depends on the pan. The mixture becomes salty and smoky as it cooks; Ranhofer says nothing about serving it, and the sauce-boat holds separate cold cream.
Cold cream alongside"Thick cream" here is unwhipped heavy or double cream, served cold and plain. Crème fraîche is a reasonable stand-in and its acidity works well against the smoke.
BonesHerring bones are numerous and fine. Poaching softens the small ones considerably, but the row of pin bones along each fillet is worth pulling before serving if the fish is going to guests.
Yield and settingOne herring per person as a first course or a breakfast dish, two for a main. Ranhofer's parsley branches are garnish, not seasoning; a boiled potato does more for the plate.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer put this in The Epicurean (1894), his enormous record of the food he cooked at Delmonico's in New York, where a section on shad, herring and mackerel sat comfortably beside the terrapin and the truffled capons. Smoked herring was cheap, keeping food — barrelled red herrings travelled anywhere and lasted months, which is why they turn up across northern Europe from the medieval period onward — and the trick of poaching salt or smoked fish in milk to soften both texture and salinity is old kitchen practice rather than any one cook's invention. What makes the dish French rather than merely thrifty is the finish: cream in the pan, more cream cold in a sauce-boat, a preserved fish handled with the same courtesy as a fresh one. The same instinct produced the neighbouring No. 1177, salt herring with mashed potatoes, a pairing that any Dutch or Scandinavian cook would have recognised.