Whole Spiced Salt Herring

Name: Whole Spiced Salt Herring
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 d
Total time: 2 d
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: Fresh (or fresh-frozen) herring — 500 g Water — 1.2 l Salt — 85 g Sugar — 50 g Bay leaves — 2 Cloves — 5 Allspice berries — 5 Black peppercorns — 6

Published: 04.09.2026

Updated: 04.09.2026

🤤 Здорові рецепти щодня

Cooking time 2 days Portions 2 servings

Spiced salting is the simplest way to cure a whole fish: no cutting, no weights, just cold brine and two days of waiting. The fish is salted undressed, so it loses neither juice nor shape, and the spices go into the flesh along with the salt.

Herring is used here as the most familiar option, but the brine is universal. The same proportion cures the freshwater fish we eat lightly salted rather than dried: taran (Black Sea roach), roach, sabrefish, small bream. The only difference is time — a thin river fish takes salt faster than a fatty sea herring, and two days would already be too long for it.

There is one rule that matters above all: the brine goes on completely cold. Hot or even warm brine cooks the surface layer of the flesh, and instead of firm salted fish you get something halfway between cooked and raw — with no way to fix it.

Salt is not the only way to prepare fish without fire: Classic Silver Carp Hoe with Vinegar does it with the acid of vinegar, and the fish stays raw there too. For longer keeping there is Home-Canned River Fish in the Oven.

Caloric content: 190kcal

Ingredients

Fresh (or fresh-frozen) herring — 500 g
Water — 1.2 l
Salt — 85 g
Sugar — 50 g
Bay leaves — 2
Cloves — 5
Allspice berries — 5
Black peppercorns — 6

Set out the fish and spices

Lay everything out from the list: fish, salt, sugar, bay leaves, cloves and both peppers. The herring is neither gutted nor scaled — it will be salted whole.

Boil the brine and cool it

Bring 1.2 l of water to the boil and stir in the salt, sugar and all the spices. Let the brine cool completely — this is the crucial point, as warm brine cooks the outside of the fish.

Pour it over the fish

Lower the herring into the cold brine so that the liquid covers the fish completely, tails included. Use a glass or enamelled vessel, not a metal one.

Weigh it down and put it in the cold

Cover with a plate so the fish cannot float up and move it somewhere cold — the fridge or a cold balcony. Room temperature will not do.

Salt for two days

Keep the fish in the brine for two days. Longer is possible — the taste becomes stronger; for small river fish two days would already be too much.

Take it out of the brine

Lift the fish out, let the brine drain and pat it dry with a paper towel. Leaving it in the brine any longer is not a good idea — it will go on taking salt.

Fillet and serve

Clean the cured fish, cut it into pieces and serve with onion and lemon. Keep it in the fridge, covered with oil.

Notes

The salt is about 7% of the volume of water. 85 grams to 1.2 litres gives lightly salted fish, eaten straight away and kept for a few days. For longer keeping use more salt, but then soak the fish before serving.
The sugar is not there for sweetness. It softens the harshness of the salt and makes the flesh firmer and springier — without it, herring comes out loose.
The spices go into boiling water, not cold. Cloves and allspice give up their aroma only to hot water; in a cold brine they simply sink to the bottom.
The fish must be fully under the brine. That is what the plate on top is for: anything that floats up and sticks out will not cure and will be the first to spoil.
Cold is essential. A refrigerator or a cold balcony — at room temperature a 7% brine will not hold the fish, and in two days it will spoil faster than it cures.

How long to keep your own fish in

Two days is for a whole herring of 250–300 grams a piece. Smaller fish needs less, larger needs more, and the guide is not the clock but the back: a cured fish becomes springy and the flesh next to the backbone stops looking translucent. If you are salting for the first time and using your own catch, pull one out after a day and cut into it — that is more reliable than any recipe.

Recipe and photos — kolizhanka.net.ua