Pickled Herring

Inlagd Sill (Pickled Herring)

8 salted herring filets
1 quart water 1 cup
Swedish vinegar (ättiksprit, 12%)*
2 cups sugar
3 cups water
5 allspice whole
5 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 red onion -- peeled and sliced
1 carrot -- peeled and sliced red onion -- sliced

Soak 8 salted herring filets in 1 quart water for 3 hours. (at Christmas we buy fish in cans at this stage)
Skin and cut up into bite size squares
Combine 1 cup vinegar, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups water, allspice, peppercorns, and 2 bay leaves in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, then let cool.
Place fish in a glass jar, layering up with the sliced peeled red onion and sliced peeled carrot. Reuse a spaghetti sauce jar works for this. The layers look attractive in the jar.
Pour vinegar mixture over herring and vegetables, cover, and refrigerate for 3-7 days. We also did a version with leeks, you can put in what you like.

Serve with sour cream and boiled potato, garnish with chives. Great cool summer dish!

*I am not sure if you can get 12% vinegar in Virginia at supermarkets, personally, I think its worth a try with white vinegar.
There are many variations of this dish, and at Christmas and Easter we get several varieties for the table. Red beet sill, Mustard sill, Onion sill…. I have an absolute favourite if you go to the Ikea you MUST try this stuff!!!! Its made by the Abba brand, its called Skärgårdssill (archipelago herring) It’s a white creamy sauce with roe, the sauce the fish is in is just as yummy as the fish! I love it on whole grain bread for breakfast :P or lunch…. Or snack…. Good luck making sill, I hope you all at least get to salt some, the fried salted herring we eat in Virginia is exactly the same here.