We will share secrets on how to quickly and easily prepare this salad. And, of course, to make it delicious.
Herring
This is the key component of the salad that forms the main flavor. Therefore, it is extremely important to choose the right herring. The optimal option is barrel herring, which will need to be cleaned the old-fashioned way on a newspaper. It has the best taste, and its meat is denser compared to ready-made fillets in jars or vacuum packs. Barrel herring will not fall apart in the salad and will not be mushy.
Separate Preparation
Potatoes and carrots should be cooked separately from the beets. We are not making a vinaigrette, and the vegetables will be layered, so the potatoes and carrots should not change color — they should remain white and orange, respectively.
Baking or Steaming
The best way to cook vegetables is by baking. For this, each potato, carrot, and beet should be wrapped in foil. You can add herbs, salt, and pepper to the vegetables, but you can also bake them without any additions. All the vegetables can be baked at the same time, as wrapped they will not color each other. It is only important to remove the smaller vegetables from the oven on time: first the carrots, then the potatoes. Beets usually require more cooking time.
You can also use a steamer — the vegetables cook faster, retaining more nutrients, flavor, and color. However, the beets will need to be boiled separately or in a special compartment of the steamer. It is important to ensure that the water does not boil too vigorously, otherwise the potatoes may crack and start to fall apart.
Cooking in the Skin
We boil or bake the vegetables in their skins, which is called “in their jackets.” This method helps to retain juiciness and flavor, as well as prevents them from overcooking and protects them from water.
Layering Sequence
There are no strict rules here. Most often, herring is placed at the bottom, followed by onions, potatoes, eggs, carrots, and finally beets on top. Another option is to start with potatoes, followed by all the other ingredients in the same order: onions, eggs, carrots, beets.
Sometimes the yolks are separated from the whites. The whites go inside the salad, while the yolks are crumbled on top of the beets, which are coated with mayonnaise.
Choosing Onions
It is best to use white or red onions, as they are less sharp in taste than yellow onions. The onion can be lightly scalded, lemon juice or a little fruit vinegar can be added, mixed, left for a minute, and then drained. Then this marinated onion is placed on the herring.
Cutting Ingredients
It is believed that the salad will taste better if all the ingredients are cut into cubes of the same size. For herring under a fur coat, you can use a grater to grate the potatoes, carrots, beets, and even eggs. This will give the layers lightness and uniformity, and the salad will look very attractive.
Do Not Soak in Mayonnaise
All layers are interspersed with mayonnaise — this is the classic approach. However, if you dress each layer separately and then arrange them in the desired order, for example: herring, onions, potatoes, eggs, carrots, beets, then, firstly, less mayonnaise will be used for each layer, which will reduce the calorie content (after all, the beloved sauce contains 650-700 Kcal per 100 grams). Furthermore, the mayonnaise will not soak the layers and leak, as it will already be evenly distributed within each layer. This means that the salad can be served immediately, which is very convenient.
