Chef Juliette
Butters and Creams
Beurres et crèmes d’hors-d’œuvre prove that cold-table finesse is mostly timing: smooth good dairy, cover it closely, hold it cool, then season only as you dish so every spoonful keeps a clean edge.
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Herrings à la Livonienne
Created by Chef Juliette
Equal measures of salt herring, cold potato, and russet apple meet a sharp green vinaigrette, then take the fish’s own shape on the platter: composed salad as balance, wit, and supper.
Salads
French
Weeknight
Picnic
Make Ahead
40 min
Active Time
25 min cook•10 hr total
Yield4 servings
Harengs à la Livonienne (salt-herring, potato, and apple salad) teaches the architecture of a salade composée, a composed salad: each dice stays itself, but salt, starch, fruit, herbs, oil, and vinegar meet in one balanced forkful. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is this: the herring must taste pleasantly briny, not punishingly salty, before it ever meets the potatoes.
The old entry assumed whole salt herrings, cold boiled potatoes waiting in the larder, and enough hands to fashion several little fish with their heads and tails restored. A home table needs less choreography. Soak and clean the herring yourself, cook one saucepan of potatoes, and form one generous fish on a platter for four. The individual portions were brigade scaffolding; the equal measures of herring, potato, and russet apple are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
When it is right, the dice glisten rather than swim, the apple snaps gently against the tender potato, and the herbs lift the rich fish without disguising it. Taste the herring after soaking and trust your mouth, because every cure carries a different measure of salt.
Livonia lies on the eastern Baltic, across lands now divided chiefly between Estonia and Latvia, where salted herring, potatoes, apples, and sharp dressings belong naturally to the preserved-fish table. French classical cookery brought that larder into its repertoire under the name à la Livonienne, keeping the Baltic flavor logic while arranging the mixture as a salade composée. The returned head and tail are French service grammar rather than a necessary Baltic custom: they tell the diner what is in the salad before the first spoonful.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole ready-to-eat salted herrings
Quantity
3 small (about 1¼ pounds / 570 g before cleaning; yielding 1½ cups / 250 g soaked diced fillet)
cleaned, with 1 head and 1 tail reserved
cold water
Quantity
8 cups (2 L / 2 kg) per change, plus more as needed
for soaking
waxy potatoes
Quantity
2 medium (about 10 ounces / 285 g raw; yielding 1½ cups / 225 g cooked dice)
boiled whole, cooled, and peeled
firm russet apples
Quantity
2 small (about 9 ounces / 255 g whole; yielding 1½ cups / 190 g prepared dice)
peeled and cored
flat-leaf parsley leaves
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 15 g)
finely chopped
fresh chervil
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g)
finely chopped
fresh fennel fronds
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g)
finely chopped
fresh tarragon leaves
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 3 g)
finely chopped
sunflower or grapeseed oil
Quantity
5 tablespoons (75 ml / 69 g)
white wine vinegar
Quantity
2½ tablespoons (37 ml / 38 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
fine sea salt (optional)
Quantity
Up to ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole ready-to-eat salted herringscleaned, with 1 head and 1 tail reserved | 3 small (about 1¼ pounds / 570 g before cleaning; yielding 1½ cups / 250 g soaked diced fillet) |
| cold waterfor soaking | 8 cups (2 L / 2 kg) per change, plus more as needed |
| waxy potatoesboiled whole, cooled, and peeled | 2 medium (about 10 ounces / 285 g raw; yielding 1½ cups / 225 g cooked dice) |
| firm russet applespeeled and cored | 2 small (about 9 ounces / 255 g whole; yielding 1½ cups / 190 g prepared dice) |
| flat-leaf parsley leavesfinely chopped | ¼ cup (60 ml / 15 g) |
| fresh chervilfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g) |
| fresh fennel frondsfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g) |
| fresh tarragon leavesfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 3 g) |
| sunflower or grapeseed oil | 5 tablespoons (75 ml / 69 g) |
| white wine vinegar | 2½ tablespoons (37 ml / 38 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
| fine sea salt (optional) | Up to ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Flexible filleting knife and fish tweezers
- •2-quart (2-liter) saucepan
- •Large mixing bowl and broad spoon
- •14-inch (35-cm) long oval serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Desalt and clean herring
Ask the fishmonger how long this particular cure needs, then work accordingly. Remove the heads and tails, clean one handsome head and tail inside and out, dry them well, and refrigerate them covered for the finished platter; they mark the shape and are not eaten. Fillet, skin, and pin-bone the fish, then soak the fillets under cold water in the refrigerator, usually for 8 to 12 hours, changing the water twice. Taste a small piece after 6 hours. If the salt reaches you before the flavor of the fish, change the water and continue soaking for 1 to 2 hours at a time. Ça se rattrape. Stop when the herring tastes savory and distinctly cured, then drain and dry it thoroughly.
Use salt-cured herring sold ready to eat after soaking, not smoked herring or sweet pickled fillets. The cure should be clean and firm, with no sour odor. - 2
Boil and cool potatoes
Put the unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan, cover them with cold unsalted water, and bring it gently to a simmer. Cook for 18 to 25 minutes, depending on size, until a thin knife enters the center with slight resistance. Drain at once and let them cool completely before peeling. If a potato has begun to split, chill it before cutting; the cold firms its starch enough to make a respectable dice. Warm potatoes crumble and drink the vinegar unevenly.
- 3
Cut equal dice
Cut the dried herring and cold potatoes into neat ⅓-inch (8 mm) dice, measuring 1½ cups (375 ml) of each. Peel and core the apples, cut them to the same size, and measure another 1½ cups (375 ml). Cut the apple last so it goes directly into the dressing rather than browning on the board. Equal finished measures are the principle of the dish: the herring gives salt and richness, the potato carries the dressing, and the apple brings tartness and bite.
- 4
Dress the salad
Whisk 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of the vinegar with the pepper, then whisk in 4 tablespoons (60 ml) of the oil to make a loose vinaigrette. Put the herring in a bowl, add the equal measures of potato and apple, then add the parsley, chervil, fennel fronds, and tarragon in the sequence of the original preparation. Pour over the vinaigrette and fold gently with a broad spoon so the potato keeps its edges. Rest for 10 minutes, then taste. If it is too sharp, add the reserved oil; if it tastes heavy or dull, add the reserved vinegar. Add salt only if the finished mixture truly asks for it.
- 5
Form the herring
Spoon the salad onto a chilled long platter and use the back of a damp spoon to form one broad fish shape, full through the middle and tapered at both ends. Do not mash or pack it tightly; this is a gathering of distinct dice, not a paste. Set the cleaned reserved head at one end and the tail at the other. If the shape slumps, return the mixture to the cold for 15 minutes, drain away any liquid that has pooled, and form it again with the damp spoon.
- 6
Chill and serve
Cover without pressing on the surface and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours, so the dressing settles through the potato. Bring the platter out 10 minutes before serving; it should be cool but not so cold that the herbs and apple disappear. Spoon portions from the side while keeping the fish shape visible for the table. À table!
Chef Tips
- •If whole salted herring is unavailable, use 1½ cups (375 ml / 250 g) ready-to-eat salted fillets and form the same tapered silhouette without a false head or tail. The flavor and equal proportions remain intact; only the old cold-platter flourish is lost.
- •Measure the three principal ingredients after soaking, cooking, peeling, and dicing. Equal quantities concern what enters the bowl, not what you carried home from the market.
- •A true russet apple has rough brown-gold skin, firm flesh, and a tart, faintly nutty flavor. If none is available, choose a firm aromatic apple that will hold its dice; a soft sweet apple collapses into the potato.
- •For a picnic, keep the salad below 40°F (4°C) in an insulated carrier and return leftovers to the cold within 2 hours. Salt curing gives flavor, not permission to neglect a cold fish salad.
- •Pour a very dry white wine with brisk acidity, such as Muscadet, or serve cold sparkling water. The drink should clear the salt and oil rather than compete with the herbs.
Advance Preparation
- •Clean and soak the herring the evening before serving. Once properly desalted, dry the fillets, wrap them well, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
- •Boil and cool the potatoes up to a day ahead, keeping them whole and covered in the refrigerator. Peel and dice them only when assembling so their surfaces stay moist and clean.
- •The dressed salad can be assembled and shaped up to 4 hours ahead. For a picnic, transport the mixture, reserved head, tail, and platter separately, then form the herring shortly before the meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
370 calories
Total Fat
27 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
23 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
18 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
14 g
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