Herring and Beef Forshmak

⏳ Time

2 hours

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

Forshmak is a dish of German origin, originally served as a hot appetizer. It made its way into Russian cuisine during the time of Peter the Great. It was made from raw and boiled meat, vegetables, and mushrooms — but always included herring. It wasn't until much later, in Jewish cuisine, that forshmak became what we know today: a cold appetizer of chopped herring, with or without egg, and with or without apple. Preparing it solely from salted fish, without meat, was much cheaper, which was valued in poorer communities. However, for our project 'The Time of Moscow Cuisine,' the chef of 'The Riverside Diner,' John Smith, created a hot forshmak, just like it was three hundred years ago.

Ingredients

Lean Beef - 17.6 oz
Fillet of Sturgeon - 3.5 oz
Sour Cream - 3.5 oz
Cream (40%) - 1 fl oz
Ghee - 1.1 oz
Onion - 3.5 oz
Salad Potatoes - 8.8 oz
Passata Tomato Sauce - 0.7 oz
Hard Cheese - 1.8 oz
Breadcrumbs - 1.8 oz
Chicken Egg - 3 pieces
Salt - to taste
Ground Black Pepper - to taste

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Soak the herring in milk for a couple of hours beforehand.

Step 2

Finely chop the onion. Sauté in clarified butter until soft.

Step 3

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Whisk the egg whites by hand or with a blender until fluffy.

Step 4

Pass the meat (if it's already minced, you can pass it through again), fish, sautéed onions, and peeled potatoes through a meat grinder. Add sour cream, cream (you can substitute this with 50 ml of meat broth), tomato paste, egg yolks, and a bit of grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly, then fold in the beaten egg whites, and season with salt and pepper to taste (keeping in mind that the herring already contains salt). Continue mixing until a homogeneous mass is formed.

Step 5

Grease the baking dish with butter. Pour in the prepared mixture, smooth it out, and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and breadcrumbs.

Step 6

Place the gefilte fish in an oven preheated to 356°F for 15-20 minutes. You can also bake the gefilte fish in small individual ramekins for easier serving. Once ready, cut the gefilte fish into portions and serve with sour cream or pickled cucumbers. Enjoy while still warm.