Last night we had dinner at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, New
York City.
They had just started their annual "Herring Festivcal" which is basically
airfreighting in
"Nieuwe Maatjes Herring Filets" from Holland and making it available at
$5.95 per filet.
Although I had heard much about this herring, I had never till last night
had as chance to try
it. I had been to Holland ages ago for business but was unaware of it then,
plus it must be
a seasonal thing. Anyway, it was a perfectly fileted herring split down the
middle,
no bones whatsoever. It was clearly raw, while I suspected a bit of salt and
very very light
vinegar, my wife felt she tasted no vinegar but only light salt, pointing
out that no part of the flesh
had gone white from contact with vinegar. It came with chopped onions,
hardboiled eggyolk and chives as garnishes. In summary, it was delicious.
Without doubt
it would go well with some shoyu and shouga
M

yes, it is a seasonal thing. Last week the first bucket with fresh
'maatjesharing' was sold and that is the start of the season. The
herring is caught in the Northsea & Eastsea in this period while it is
at its fattiest.
The herring, called 'Hollanse nieuwe' is ripened: after the gills,
throat and intestines except for the pancreas are removed it is kept in
salt over a period. Apparently the pancreas contains enzymes that play
a part in developing the taste.
The way the 'Hollanse nieuwe' is eaten is indeed with chopped raw
onions and traditionally like in this pictu
http://www.waasdorp.nl/images/vishan...ngWaasdorp.jpg
Being dutch I was eager to make sushi with it. I made it last week and
I liked it as sushi.
I put it on my web-log, but it is dutch though:
http://sushi.web-log.nl/log/2690633

Mike

Musashi wrote:

> Last night we had dinner at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, New
> York City.
> They had just started their annual "Herring Festivcal" which is basically
> airfreighting in
> "Nieuwe Maatjes Herring Filets" from Holland and making it available at
> $5.95 per filet.
> Although I had heard much about this herring, I had never till last night
> had as chance to try
> it. I had been to Holland ages ago for business but was unaware of it then,
> plus it must be
> a seasonal thing. Anyway, it was a perfectly fileted herring split down the
> middle,
> no bones whatsoever. It was clearly raw, while I suspected a bit of salt and
> very very light
> vinegar, my wife felt she tasted no vinegar but only light salt, pointing
> out that no part of the flesh
> had gone white from contact with vinegar. It came with chopped onions,
> hardboiled eggyolk and chives as garnishes. In summary, it was delicious.
> Without doubt
> it would go well with some shoyu and shouga

Oh you lucky!!! It's been almost 15 years since I was in Holland and had
the herring. I loved it. I'd love to have some shipped here.. wonder if
I could get them for that price.

--
Dan

meijnhard wrote:
> The way the 'Hollanse nieuwe' is eaten is indeed with chopped raw
> onions and traditionally like in this pictu
> http://www.waasdorp.nl/images/vishan...ngWaasdorp.jpg

That's how my cousin ate them when we were in Delft. Rolled them in
onions and down the hatch.

--
Dan

"Dan Logcher" > wrote in message
...
> Musashi wrote:
>
> > Last night we had dinner at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, New
> > York City.
> > They had just started their annual "Herring Festivcal" which is
basically
> > airfreighting in
> > "Nieuwe Maatjes Herring Filets" from Holland and making it available at
> > $5.95 per filet.
> > Although I had heard much about this herring, I had never till last
night
> > had as chance to try
> > it. I had been to Holland ages ago for business but was unaware of it
then,
> > plus it must be
> > a seasonal thing. Anyway, it was a perfectly fileted herring split down
the
> > middle,
> > no bones whatsoever. It was clearly raw, while I suspected a bit of salt
and
> > very very light
> > vinegar, my wife felt she tasted no vinegar but only light salt,
pointing
> > out that no part of the flesh
> > had gone white from contact with vinegar. It came with chopped onions,
> > hardboiled eggyolk and chives as garnishes. In summary, it was
delicious.
> > Without doubt
> > it would go well with some shoyu and shouga
>
> Oh you lucky!!! It's been almost 15 years since I was in Holland and had
> the herring. I loved it. I'd love to have some shipped here.. wonder if
> I could get them for that price.
>

It think it "may" be possible.
Oyster Bar Mail Order 1800-622-7775
M

"meijnhard" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> yes, it is a seasonal thing. Last week the first bucket with fresh
> 'maatjesharing' was sold and that is the start of the season. The
> herring is caught in the Northsea & Eastsea in this period while it is
> at its fattiest.
> The herring, called 'Hollanse nieuwe' is ripened: after the gills,
> throat and intestines except for the pancreas are removed it is kept in
> salt over a period. Apparently the pancreas contains enzymes that play
> a part in developing the taste.
> The way the 'Hollanse nieuwe' is eaten is indeed with chopped raw
> onions and traditionally like in this pictu
> http://www.waasdorp.nl/images/vishan...ngWaasdorp.jpg
> Being dutch I was eager to make sushi with it. I made it last week and
> I liked it as sushi.
> I put it on my web-log, but it is dutch though:
> http://sushi.web-log.nl/log/2690633
>
> Mike
>

You probably explained this on your site, but how was the taste?
Was it close to other traditional sushi? Or unique?
Did you use soy sauce and wasabi, or soy sauce and shouga?
M

Musashi wrote:
>
> You probably explained this on your site, but how was the taste?
> Was it close to other traditional sushi? Or unique?
> Did you use soy sauce and wasabi, or soy sauce and shouga?

I bet it was similar to iwashi, but maybe a bit more soft.

--
Dan

"Dan Logcher" > wrote in message
...
> Musashi wrote:
> >
> > You probably explained this on your site, but how was the taste?
> > Was it close to other traditional sushi? Or unique?
> > Did you use soy sauce and wasabi, or soy sauce and shouga?
>
> I bet it was similar to iwashi, but maybe a bit more soft.
>

Yes, that would my guess too. And
just a bit saliter.

M

I thought it was quite unique and difficult to compare because the
fish has ripened. When caught the herring must have a minimum
fatpercentage of 16/18% to be called 'Hollandse nieuwe' so the fish is
very fat (in July the fish even has a fatpercentage around 25%) and the
ripeningsprocess makes it briny and lightly salty. The quality and
taste of Hollandse nieuwe also differs tremendously.
So because of the particular taste I thought it wouldn't match with the
vinegared rice but I was wrong, I liked it a lot (I made the shari
kansai-style and a tiny bit sweeter).
I only bought two Hollandse nieuwe and I couldn't resist to eat the
first one with some chopped onions, so I had one left to experiment
with. Next time I need more :-)
Personally I like to eat most kinds of sushi without shoyu, but I guess
that if one likes shoyu with regular sushi one also likes it with the
hollandse nieuwe sushi.
I think that as yakumi kizami negi and shoga would be nice, maybe
momiji oroshi too but I have to test this next time

meijnhard wrote:
> I thought it was quite unique and difficult to compare because the
> fish has ripened. When caught the herring must have a minimum
> fatpercentage of 16/18% to be called 'Hollandse nieuwe' so the fish is
> very fat (in July the fish even has a fatpercentage around 25%) and the
> ripeningsprocess makes it briny and lightly salty. The quality and
> taste of Hollandse nieuwe also differs tremendously.

How long is the ripening process? Any idea what is involved?

> I only bought two Hollandse nieuwe and I couldn't resist to eat the
> first one with some chopped onions, so I had one left to experiment
> with. Next time I need more :-)

I can see serving nigiri with chopped scallion like you would with
saba.

> Personally I like to eat most kinds of sushi without shoyu, but I guess
> that if one likes shoyu with regular sushi one also likes it with the
> hollandse nieuwe sushi.

I would think you could skip shoyu for this, since it's already salty
enough from the brining. It's been 15 years since I had it, but I don't
recall it being overly salty.

--
Dan

"meijnhard" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I thought it was quite unique and difficult to compare because the
> fish has ripened. When caught the herring must have a minimum
> fatpercentage of 16/18% to be called 'Hollandse nieuwe' so the fish is
> very fat (in July the fish even has a fatpercentage around 25%) and the
> ripeningsprocess makes it briny and lightly salty. The quality and
> taste of Hollandse nieuwe also differs tremendously.
> So because of the particular taste I thought it wouldn't match with the
> vinegared rice but I was wrong, I liked it a lot (I made the shari
> kansai-style and a tiny bit sweeter).

Good idea..to offset the slight saltiness of the herring.

> I only bought two Hollandse nieuwe and I couldn't resist to eat the
> first one with some chopped onions, so I had one left to experiment
> with. Next time I need more :-)
> Personally I like to eat most kinds of sushi without shoyu, but I guess
> that if one likes shoyu with regular sushi one also likes it with the
> hollandse nieuwe sushi.
>I think that as yakumi kizami negi and shoga would be nice, maybe
>momiji oroshi too but I have to test this next time

Because the Herring already has just the slightest degree of saltiness (at
least the one I ate anyway)
you could easily go without shouyu. A squeeze from a lemon only might be
good.
On the other hand like most Hikarimoro, the slightest touch of shoyu with
yakumi like chopped negi,
grated shouga would go extremely well.I doubt momiji oroshi would be good,
as it rarely if ever goes well
with fatty fish. Perhaps the best yakumi would be to simply use the
traditional dutch one..chopped onions.

Musashi