Baltika Herring Rolls
Start with the clock rather than the knife: two hours in milk is not fussiness, it is how you draw enough salt out of cured herring to make it bakeable. The fish here is Baltic-style salt herring — whole brine-cured fish from an Eastern European or Scandinavian deli; schmaltz herring is the closest American equivalent. Milk pulls the salt more gently than water does and leaves the fat behind.
The filling leans on three things: a full pound (500 g) of boiled mushrooms, garlic, and scalded roe. Boiling water sets the protein in the roe so the eggs stop gluing themselves into a lump — chopped with dill and parsley, it then spreads evenly and gives the roll a dense, almost pâté-like body. Breadcrumbs do double duty, drinking up the milk poured into the pan and crisping on top, while cotton twine pulled genuinely tight is what stops the rolls unwinding. Fifteen to twenty minutes is the ceiling; herring dries and flakes past that. Cool them, snip the twine, slice on the diagonal to show the mushroom spiral, and serve with dill potatoes or buttered rye.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Break the herring down into fillets and soak them in milk for 2 hours to draw out the excess salt.
Rinse the fresh mushrooms and boil them until tender.
Scald the herring roe with boiling water and pat it dry.
Finely chop the herbs, mushrooms, garlic and roe, mix them together and sauté briefly in butter, then season with salt and pepper.
Spread portions of the filling over the fillets, roll them up tightly and tie them firmly with kitchen twine.
Set the rolls on a buttered baking sheet, sprinkle with melted butter and lemon juice, pour over the milk and dust with breadcrumbs.
Bake in a well-heated oven for 15–20 minutes.
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