The first mentions of the dish "forshmak" appeared in the 18th century, but there is an assumption that they began to cook it much earlier, since they learned to pickle herring in Holland in the 15th century. The name "forshmak" is usually understood to mean chopped herring made in the form of a pate with various ingredients, including spices.
Herring forshmak recipes
Forshmak belongs to Jewish cuisine, but it is such a delicious appetizer that people love to cook it in Russia and other countries. It is made from ingredients found in every grocery store.
In the Jewish national cuisine there is a description of several options for preparing forshmak (heringgehakte). Forshmak is based on herring. It is cleaned, the abdomen, head and tail are cut off, laid aside, then the insides are taken out and the skin is removed from the head to the tail.
The herring can be soaked in milk or sleeping tea, and if the herring is lightly salted, it is not necessary to soak it.
The herring is turned through a meat grinder along with bread, previously soaked in milk and squeezed. Then stir with grated sour apple, fried onions and soft butter. Season with ground pepper and vinegar.
In other recipes, onions are placed raw or baked with the peel in the oven. Eggs, sour cream, or mayonnaise are also sometimes added to the total mass, carrots and processed cheese are placed.
The prepared forshmak is placed on an oblong dish, cut with a knife "scales" and decorated with olives, herbs, boiled eggs and lemon. The gills are pulled out of the head and put on the herring with forshmak along with the tail.
Herring forshmak recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 apples;
- 800 g of potatoes;
- 2 heads of onions;
- fillet of 3 herrings;
- 3 tablespoons of unrefined sunflower oil.
Before cooking, the potatoes must be boiled in their skins and peeled. Then mince it. After the potatoes, turn the herring, then the apples. Finely chop the onion. Mix all ingredients in one bowl. Add vegetable oil and mix again.
Beef forshmak recipe
An interesting recipe for making beef forshmak from one old recipe book, but herring is also present there.
Ingredients:
- ¾ kg of boiled meat;
- ½ kg of potatoes;
- 1 herring;
- 2 tablespoons of sour cream;
- 1 large onion;
- 20 g butter.
Take a soft piece of boiled meat, mince it along with boiled potatoes, peeled herring and chopped and fried onions. Add a piece of butter, 2 tablespoons of sour cream, pepper, knead well, put in a saucepan coated with butter and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, insert in the oven for 30 minutes to brown. If the meat is fatty, you can skip the butter, and replace the sour cream with broth or milk so that the forshmak is juicy.
