Vorschmack is a dish with roots in East Prussia: the Germans referred to it as an appetizer made from fried herring, baked with potatoes, onions, peppers, and sour cream. In Swedish, Finnish, and Polish cuisines, the dish often included beef, lamb, chicken, or mushrooms alongside the herring. Europeans prepare vorschmack by combining herring with pasta, cheese, sour cream, milk, potatoes, cabbage, beets, turnips, artichokes, mustard, mayonnaise, or tomato paste. Traditionally, in Prussian and Swedish customs, vorschmack was served hot, while in Odessa, the dish evolved into a cold appetizer made with chopped herring. Historically, it was considered a poor man’s meal: low-quality, “rusty” herring and margarine were used instead of butter. However, the combination of salted fish with eggs, apples, white bread, and onions resulted in a respectable appetizer, typically served with rye bread. Odessa-style vorschmack is a delicious dish crafted by thrifty housewives.
Ingredients: 1 salted (lightly salted) herring; 1 onion; 2 apples; 70 g wheat bread; 50 g milk; 4 eggs; 50 g butter; ½ tsp sugar; ½ tsp 9% vinegar; green onions for garnish; ground black pepper to taste.
Clean the herring, rinse it, and if it’s too salty, soak it in milk for two hours. Prepare the fish by filleting it, cutting it into pieces, and passing it through a meat grinder.
Pass the hard-boiled eggs and peeled apples through the meat grinder or chop them finely.
Finely chop the peeled onion, sprinkle it with sugar, and drizzle with vinegar.
Soak the white bread in milk and mash it with a fork.
Combine all the ingredients in one bowl, add the butter, pepper, vinegar, and mix again.
Transfer the vorschmack to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped green onions or other herbs.
Life Hack
To eliminate any unpleasant bitterness from the vorschmack, you can soak the salted fish not only in milk but also in tea.