Possibly Auntie Bessie’s Herring with Milch (Milt)
This recipe is written on the back of a letter from my youngest uncle to my great aunt Bessie, who was such a wonderful person that I named one of my children after her. Herring with milch is a very traditional Eastern European/Ashkenazic dish. Milt/milch is the male fish equivalent of roe, and considered a delicacy. I’m not sure where you can get a herring with milt today, but if you have a fishmonger who sells these… here’s a recipe for how to deal with it to make spiced pickled herring with it.
Ingredients
- A herring with milch (milt)
- Cold water for soaking
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1 cup water
- Onions, quartered, amount to taste
- Bundle of spices (allspice, black pepper corns, mustard seed, one clove would be pretty traditional)
- 2-4 bay leaves
Method
Take the herring with milch and soak overnight in cold water. (Don’t clean out the inside.) Wash in running water so all the scales come off. Slit the belly of the herring and remove the milch to a flat plate, and mash with a fork. Add ¼ teaspoon of sugar.
In the meantime, boil up the 1:1 ratio of vinegar and water. Let it come to a boil and turn off the burner.
While that’s cooling, smash the milch and put the herring in a jar together with the quartered onions - use as many as you want. Add in two bunches of spices, but no more than 4 bay leaves.
When all the ingredients are in the jar, pour in the vinegar water over the herring to cover. If the amount of vinegar water is insufficient, add more vinegar water in proportion, and adjust sugar as the “case may warrant.”
