Central Europe · Volume 22, Herring, Beer and a Coastline Three Nations Share
Hollandse Nieuwe
The Netherlands
Illustration
- Researched
- 9 sources cited
The classic method is eating it whole, by the tail, head tilted back, with chopped raw onion on the side or scattered on top. There is a genuine regional split worth naming rather than flattening: in Scheveningen and South Holland the fish is traditionally eaten whole; in historically poorer Amsterdam, it became customary to cut it into pieces so it could be shared or stretched further. Be honest about the fish itself: today's Hollandse Nieuwe is overwhelmingly Norwegian- or Danish-caught herring, gutted onshore and shipped to the Netherlands to be cured the traditional way, not a fish landed by a living Dutch fleet. The tradition that survives is the method, kaken, not the fishing ground.
As tradition built it
Serves 4 as a starter. No cooking, but a genuine 1 to 3 day cure if starting from raw fish.
Ingredients
- 4 whole herring, at least 16% fat, roe removed
- 20 to 25% of the fish's weight fine salt, enough to cure
- to serve chopped white onion, to serve
- as available, optional sliced gherkin, optional
Method
- If curing from raw: gut the herring by the traditional kaken method, removing the gills and most of the intestines but leaving the pancreas in place, then pack in salt (roughly 20 to 25% of the fish's weight) in a non-reactive container.
- Cure in the fridge for 1 to 3 days, until the flesh firms and turns a pale, opaque pink, tasting daily from day one.
- Rinse briefly, pat dry.
- Serve whole, by the tail, with chopped onion, or cut into bite-sized pieces in the Amsterdam manner, with onion and gherkin alongside.
What a modern chef changes
The cure controlled precisely, since the raw material itself cannot be controlled at all
Rung 1
Method
- Buy the best available herring and accept its limits honestly. Since almost no UK herring is genuinely Dutch-landed and kaken-cured at sea, cure your own from good, fresh, high-fat herring bought whole from a proper fishmonger or Billingsgate, rather than chasing an authenticity the supply chain cannot currently offer.
- Cure at a controlled fridge temperature, tasting daily, rather than to a fixed recipe time. Fat content and size vary enough between individual fish that a rigid schedule under- or over-cures as often as it succeeds; the enzymatic ripening this dish depends on rewards attention, not a timer.
- Serve genuinely cold, straight from the cure, with nothing beyond onion and a squeeze of something sharp. This is a dish about restraint; garnishing it toward a modern tasting-menu plate defeats the point.