Soused herring

Soused herring (Matjessill in Swedish) is a type of pickled herring that is stored in a salty preservative solution, or something like that. The Dutch apparently have a different kind of soused herring, but the Swedish version is the one I’m familiar with. The Dutch kind of soused herring looks a bit like eels while the Swedish one looks more like a filet, I guess.

For some reason Google Translate thinks soused herring is the same as surströmming. It is not. In fact I have never tried surströmming. Go figure.

Soused herring is typically eaten as a dish for Swedish Midsummer, but I tend to also eat it during Christmas, Easter, and just about any other time of the year. I enjoy it very much, with a very salty and tangy flavour. It usually comes in a glass jar and is ready to be served right out of the jar, very nice and simple.

Klädesholmen is basically THE brand for soused herring, named after a small island on the west coast of Sweden with a history of herring fishing going back centuries.

While I have joked about it sometimes on the Internet, I have never eaten soused herring straight out of the jar with a fork in bed. My Blåhaj would never allow that.

What is it served with?

At my home, we usually serve it with:

Boiled potatoes, the more yellow the better. Maybe even with the peel on.
Sourcream on the side.
Chopped red onions.
Previously we’d have chive, but not anymore.

Gallery

This is a collection of soused herring pictures I have snapped from over the years. However, it is far from an exhaustive record of all the times I have eaten soused herring, and many meals are undocumented.

Click to open an image in full size.