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Herring Salad with Sour Cream Sauce

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Submitted by trt9364

German herring salad layered with tart apples and onions in a tangy sour cream and yogurt sauce, marinated 5 hours and topped with fresh dill. A classic Northern European cold fish salad.

YIELD

4 servings

PREP

10 min

COOK

0 min

READY

10 min

This is Heringssalat, the kind of dish you’ll find on every Northern German table during holidays and celebrations. Marinated herring fillets get layered with crisp tart apples, thinly sliced onions, and a tangy sour cream sauce, then marinate in the fridge for hours until every bite is creamy, briny, and bright.

The apple is the genius ingredient. Its tartness cuts through the rich sour cream and salty herring, adding a crisp, fruity contrast that keeps this salad from feeling heavy. Use a firm tart apple like Granny Smith so it holds its shape during the long marinate.

Five hours in the fridge isn’t just chilling time. The flavors meld, the onion softens and sweetens, and the sauce absorbs some of the herring’s brine to create a unified dressing.

Kitchen Tips

  • Use good-quality marinated herring fillets (Matjes style or in wine marinade). The herring’s existing flavor is the foundation of the whole salad.
  • Slice the onions as thin as possible. Thick rings stay sharp and overpowering even after five hours of marinating.
  • The lemon juice and sugar in the sauce aren’t optional. Lemon brightens the sour cream and sugar rounds out the acidity so nothing tastes flat.
  • Fresh dill sprinkled on just before serving adds color and a clean, herbal lift.

Variations

  • Add diced cooked beets for a Russian-style herring salad with gorgeous pink color.
  • Fold in diced pickled cucumbers for extra crunch and brine.
  • Serve on dark rye bread as open-faced sandwiches for a traditional Scandinavian presentation.

Ingredients

Sour cream sauce
1 237
CUP ML SOUR CREAM
½ 118
CUP ML YOGURT
½ 0.5
X X LEMONS
juice only *
¼ 1.3
TEASPOON ML SUGAR
Salad
2 2
SMALL EACH ONIONS
2 2
MEDIUM EACH APPLES
tart
8 8
EACH EACH HERRING FILLET
marinated *
2 10
TEASPOONS ML DILL WEED
fresh

Directions

For the sauce, blend thoroughly sour cream, yogurt, lemon juice and sugar.

For the salad, peel onions and cut into thin slices.

Peel and quarter apples, remove cores and but into thin wedges.

Blend onions and apples with sauce.

In a dish arrange herring and apple-onion mixture in layers.

Cover tightly and marinate in refrigerator for 5 hours.

Sprinkle with dill before serving.

* not incl. in nutrient facts Arrow up button

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 208g (7.3 oz)
Amount per Serving
Calories 196 61% from fat
 % Daily Value *
Total Fat 13g 20%
Saturated Fat 8g 41%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 29mg 10%
Sodium 48mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 6g 6%
Dietary Fiber 2g 7%
Sugars g
Protein 8g
Vitamin A 9% Vitamin C 13%
Calcium 13% Iron 3%
* based on a 2,000 calorie diet How is this calculated?
Trans-fat Free, Low Sodium
 

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