I'm visiting Amsterdam at the moment, a city (in)famous for it's liberal attitude towards wooden footwear and cheese. Where the inhabitants cycle to the red light district, clutching bunches of tulips, puffing on joints.
Although the promise of 'coffee shops' remains a magnet for many tourists, what i crave most when returning to the city is herring. Specifically 'een Hollandse Nieuwe': Raw, salted and ripened herring served with or without chopped onion.
The traditional season for the Dutch herring catch is somewhere between the months of May and July when the juvenile fish reach a high (above 16%) fat to body weight ratio.
After partial gutting, they are layered into small barrels and scattered with salt. A process occurs in which moisture is extracted from the fish to be partially replaced by the salt.
The reaction of the resulting brine, combined with enzymes derived from the pancreas of the fish, ensure that within a short period (as little as 24 hours) the herring's flesh softens and a mild salty flavour is achieved.
Before the invention and advancement of freezing techniques a greater amount of salt was necessary to ensure safe preservation. The obvious drawback was - very salty herring often requiring a pre-soaking in milk and/or water to make them palatable.
Nowadays, law dictates that the ripened herring undergo freezing (eliminating any parasites that could be present). This has the advantages of allowing the pickle to be less salty whilst at the same time lengthening the 'shelf-life'.
For the uninitiated a good introduction to the pleasures of this very Dutch delicacy is 'een broodje haring'. The fish is served in a soft white bread roll with (controversy still rages) chopped onion and slices of pickled gherkin.
It might all sound a bit too raw, salty and traditional but they really are a treat and one of those foodstuffs which the body (mine at least) seems to recognise as being good and at times unmissable. Happily and famously, Portugal has it's fair share of sardine dealers to satisfy even the most acute oily fish craving.
Although the promise of 'coffee shops' remains a magnet for many tourists, what i crave most when returning to the city is herring. Specifically 'een Hollandse Nieuwe': Raw, salted and ripened herring served with or without chopped onion.
The traditional season for the Dutch herring catch is somewhere between the months of May and July when the juvenile fish reach a high (above 16%) fat to body weight ratio.
After partial gutting, they are layered into small barrels and scattered with salt. A process occurs in which moisture is extracted from the fish to be partially replaced by the salt.
The reaction of the resulting brine, combined with enzymes derived from the pancreas of the fish, ensure that within a short period (as little as 24 hours) the herring's flesh softens and a mild salty flavour is achieved.
Before the invention and advancement of freezing techniques a greater amount of salt was necessary to ensure safe preservation. The obvious drawback was - very salty herring often requiring a pre-soaking in milk and/or water to make them palatable.
Nowadays, law dictates that the ripened herring undergo freezing (eliminating any parasites that could be present). This has the advantages of allowing the pickle to be less salty whilst at the same time lengthening the 'shelf-life'.
For the uninitiated a good introduction to the pleasures of this very Dutch delicacy is 'een broodje haring'. The fish is served in a soft white bread roll with (controversy still rages) chopped onion and slices of pickled gherkin.
It might all sound a bit too raw, salty and traditional but they really are a treat and one of those foodstuffs which the body (mine at least) seems to recognise as being good and at times unmissable. Happily and famously, Portugal has it's fair share of sardine dealers to satisfy even the most acute oily fish craving.
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