Arri London wrote:

> Christine Dabney wrote:
>>
>> Arri lives in the same town that I do..Albuquerque, NM. Not quite as
>> cosmopolitan as NYC..by a long shot.
>
> Hence the unavailability of matjes herring around here. And the constant
> requests from my *NYC* relatives for true fresh NM green chiles. Just
> sent off another box

You would have just as little luck finding real fresh matjes anywhere
else, NYC not excluding. The problem is, the general understanding of
what matjes is, is different in America. Look up "matjes" in the
Epicurious dictionary, for example, and you will find a most ridiculous
definition (which often is par for the course for that dictionary).
However, in this particular case, the definition just happens to
accurately reflect what is taken to be matjes in America. The whole
confusion probably came originally from Sweden, where the term matjes
means a different thing, namely pickled/marinated herring with sugar and
spices. It is this kind of herring that is usually sold as "matjes" in
America. This is what I remember seeing at Zabar's a few years ago (and
I've just looked it up:
<http://www.zabars.com/zabars-matjes-herring-8oz/21100FW,default,pd.html>).

It appears that there is just no market for real matjes in America, just
as there is only one German restaurant left in the whole of Manhattan.
(If one can call it really German, that is. It is called Heidelberg and
the staff wears Dirndl or Lederhosen - imagine the hilarity!) From what
I gather, there may be just one place in the whole of NYC where you can
still get real matjes: Russ & Daughters - and they sell it under another
name, to avoid any confusion. You would recognise the name, Hollandse
Nieuwe, but few others would - and another name, New Catch Holland
Herring, used by Russ & Daughters, tells one hardly anything at all.
You can get it sent to you, 10 fillets (double ones, I very much hope)
for a pittance of $39.95 plus overnight postage. Well, their caviar
costs a bit more still... Here, I buy matjes for EUR 1.49 a double
fillet. BTW, Hollandse Nieuwe is maatjesharing that has to be sold
within one month of its capture. This difference makes little sense
nowadays, as all matjes must by law be frozen for at least 24 hours at
-45°C, to kill any nematodes.

As I wrote upthread, real matjes is available in The Netherlands and
Germany - and hardly anywhere else (but there is apparently also a
German shop in San Francisco where they are said to be available).

Victor