When I was little and living in London, my mother used to buy pickles in a
barrel. In the same deli she also bought what she called "rollmops", but I
understand that name is incorrect since that's herring wrapped around a
pickle (or olive?).

I have tried herring in sour cream but it's much too bland. I can
approximate the taste I used to love by adding a lot of vinegar to the jar.
Is there a name for this so I can try to find it? Nostalgia has set in.

Dora

"limey" > wrote in message

> When I was little and living in London, my mother used to buy pickles in a
> barrel. In the same deli she also bought what she called "rollmops", but
> I understand that name is incorrect since that's herring wrapped around a
> pickle (or olive?).
>
> I have tried herring in sour cream but it's much too bland. I can
> approximate the taste I used to love by adding a lot of vinegar to the
> jar. Is there a name for this so I can try to find it? Nostalgia has set
> in.
>
> Dora
>

Oops. This should have gone to alt.cooking-chat.

"limey" > wrote in message
...
> When I was little and living in London, my mother used to buy pickles in a
> barrel. In the same deli she also bought what she called "rollmops", but
> I understand that name is incorrect since that's herring wrapped around a
> pickle (or olive?).
>
> I have tried herring in sour cream but it's much too bland. I can
> approximate the taste I used to love by adding a lot of vinegar to the
> jar. Is there a name for this so I can try to find it? Nostalgia has set
> in.
>
> Dora
>
>
>
Dora:
They are readily available in Canada but, as the product is perishable, the
jars are always stored in the supermarket coolers. Have you looked there?
Graham

"graham" wrote >

> "limey" wrote
>> When I was little and living in London, my mother used to buy pickles in
>> a barrel. In the same deli she also bought what she called "rollmops",
>> but I understand that name is incorrect since that's herring wrapped
>> around a pickle (or olive?).
>>
>> I have tried herring in sour cream but it's much too bland. I can
>> approximate the taste I used to love by adding a lot of vinegar to the
>> jar. Is there a name for this so I can try to find it? Nostalgia has set
>> in.
>>
>> Dora
>>
>>
>>
> Dora:
> They are readily available in Canada but, as the product is perishable,
> the jars are always stored in the supermarket coolers. Have you looked
> there?
> Graham

Unhappily, yes I have, Graham. My addition of vinegar to the herring and
sour cream is the closest I have achieved. However, I think there's a real
name involved and it's bugging me. Good to hear from you! When is your
next trip home?

Dora

Someone on alt.cooking-chat has just told me the name is Matjes herring and
that the jars also contain onions and spices. Eureka!

Dora

limey > wrote:

> Someone on alt.cooking-chat has just told me the name is Matjes herring and
> that the jars also contain onions and spices. Eureka!

Then it is not matjes herring. *Real* matjes are just brined, with no
vinegar, no spices, and no onions. They are very often served with
onions, though. There is a good article about matjes at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soused_herrings>.

Herring that is marinated for a couple days in vinegar with onion rings
is called Bismarck herring.

Victor

"Steve Wertz" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 15:06:20 -0500, "limey" >
> wrote:
>
>>Someone on alt.cooking-chat has just told me the name is Matjes herring
>>and
>>that the jars also contain onions and spices. Eureka!
>
> When I said that I was referring to the regular pickled herring. I
> think most Matjes are just red wine vinegar and spices - no
> onions, or at least much less so than regular pickled herring.
>
> -sw

I think my search continues, Steve.
Dora

limey wrote:

> Someone on alt.cooking-chat has just told me the name is Matjes herring
> and
> that the jars also contain onions and spices. Eureka!
>
> Dora

too bad, I was just going to tell you that :-)

anyways, here's a classic I translated from german, my mother used
to make this on a regular basis:

Matjesfilet in Cream Sauce

8 filets of Matjes herring, marinated for 1 hour in 1/4 l of butter milk
( this is to take out the salt ).

thicken 1/2 l sweet cream a bit, add 3 Tbsp salad mayonnaise, add
fresh Dill, salt/pepper, 1Tsp sugar, 3 Onions cut in thin slices
3 pickled cucumbers in thin slices, 1 apple sliced.

Add the herring and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

really good with cooked potatos.

cheers,
--
birdie

"limey" > wrote in message
...
>
> "graham" wrote >
>
>> "limey" wrote
>>> When I was little and living in London, my mother used to buy pickles in
>>> a barrel. In the same deli she also bought what she called "rollmops",
>>> but I understand that name is incorrect since that's herring wrapped
>>> around a pickle (or olive?).
>>>
When is your
> next trip home?
>
> Dora
>
I reckon early May. I've just had a large load of work dumped on me so
April is out.
Did you ever find the tartlet pans you were looking for?

Graham

"graham" wrote >

limey wrote:
> When is your
>> next trip home?
>>
>> Dora
>>
> I reckon early May. I've just had a large load of work dumped on me so
> April is out.
> Did you ever find the tartlet pans you were looking for?
>
> Graham

I'm afraid not. I might be trying to find something that no longer exists,
even if I pay a visit back home. Sorry about your workload but hope you
make it in May.

Dora

Steve Wertz > wrote:

> Al the Matjes I see in the gourmet stores have some sort of wine
> [vinegar] in them - along with some spices (peppercorns, cloves,
> bay - not necessarily all of these). But not usually onions - I
> corrected her on that part as I was the one that originally
> confused her.

Then it is simply not matjes, no matter how it is labelled. Real matjes
herring is a pretty delicately-tasting fish and adding any amount of
vinegar would destroy its very raison d'être. I've heard of such
American mislabelling of matjes before - it is somewhat akin to the
Jewish-American gefilte fish that no longer bears much resemblance to
the real thing, which however still happily exists on the other side of
the pond.

In about three weeks, the matjes season will be upon us here in Germany,
the best matjes still coming from The Netherlands, of course. I'm
pretty sure about 75% of all real matjes are consumed in Germany, about
20% in The Netherlands (only because of its much smaller population),
with everyone else getting just the remaining 5%, should they be so
lucky. It's just a guess, but probably a pretty close one.

Here, BTW, is another nice article about matjes:
<http://www.holland.com/denhaag/gb/practinfo/geninfo/herring.html>.

Victor