Herring

Herring (Clupea harengus) is the dominant fish of the North Atlantic and Baltic, and the species around which Northern European tinned and preserved fish culture was built. Pickled herring in the Dutch matjes style, smoked herring as kippers or bloaters, and Baltic sprats packed as a herring substitute are all part of the same tradition of oily, cold-water fish preservation that sustained populations from Scandinavia to Russia for centuries. Tinned herring appears in tomato sauce, mustard, cream, and dill across Scandinavian and German producers. Latvian and Lithuanian producers smoke and can sprats, closely related to herring, in the classic Riga style. The British kipper tradition cold-smokes whole herring split along the back.

How to eat it: the northern forms. Laid on dark rye, folded into a potato salad with mustard and onion, or mashed on toast. Bold and briny, and smoke or cure tames it.