Dressed Herring

Dressed herring is a salad in which fish and onions are covered with layers of cooked vegetables, eggs and mayonnaise. It is refrigerated overnight before serving to allow the layers to absorb the dressing.

Ingredients

 1300–500 g salted herring
 2up to 400 g mayonnaise
 3onions, enough to cover the herring layer
 42 carrots
 52–3 potatoes
 62 beetroots
 72–3 boiled eggs
 8vegetable oil
 9vinegar
10apple — optional

Instructions

1. Boil the carrots and potatoes in one saucepan. Boil the beetroot separately until tender: medium-sized beetroot takes approximately 2.5 hours. Cool and peel the vegetables.
2. If using whole herring, skin and gut it, divide it into fillets and remove the backbone and any remaining bones. Cut the fillets into pieces and arrange them in a layer on a serving dish. Sprinkle with vegetable oil and vinegar.
3. Finely chop the raw onions and spread them over the herring to cover it. Sprinkle again with vinegar and vegetable oil.
4. Coarsely grate the potatoes, spread them over the onions and cover with mayonnaise.
5. Add a layer of coarsely grated carrots and spread with mayonnaise. If desired, add a layer of grated apple.
6. Add the coarsely grated beetroot and cover with mayonnaise.
7. Separate the boiled egg whites from the yolks. Grate the whites and spread them over the top and sides of the salad, then cover with mayonnaise. Set the yolks aside.
8. Refrigerate the salad overnight. Grate the yolks over the top before serving.