Chef Juliette
Mayonnaise de Volaille
Cold roast chicken, ciseled lettuce, and a shining coat of homemade mayonnaise, arranged with capers, olives, anchovies, eggs, and lettuce hearts, then tossed at the table as the canon intends.
Culinary Explorer
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Herrings à la Russe
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 356, Herrings à la Russe, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Salt-cured herring and cold waxy potatoes, laid in alternating rows and sharpened with oil, vinegar, shallot, chervil, fennel, and tarragon: a composed salad whose discipline is balance, not ornament.
Salads
French
Weeknight
Picnic
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
25 min cook•1 hr 45 min total
Yield4 servings
Harengs à la russe (Russian-style salted herring and potato salad) teaches proportion. The fish brings salt and firmness, the potato quiets it, and oil and vinegar draw the two together. Before you touch the pan, taste the herring. Its salt level decides every other choice.
The original asked for no saucier, stockpot, or salamander. It assumed something more relevant: a cold larder with cleaned herring fillets and boiled potatoes already waiting, plus enough hands to cut and arrange them for service. The source gives no quantities, so I have fixed a home scale for four while preserving the alternating rows and every named flavoring. Ready-to-eat fillets, one saucepan, and a tray for cooling the potatoes give us the honest equivalent. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The brigade's advance preparation was scaffolding and can go. Completely cold potatoes, thin herring slices, and the alternating composition are the dish and must stay. Done properly, Harengs à la russe is silver-pink fish against pale potato, lightly glossed rather than drowned, with green herbs and shallot waking each cold bite. Taste and, only if needed, temper the herring before slicing. Once the platter is built, its salt cannot be pulled back out.
Harengs à la russe belongs to the Parisian classical hors-d'oeuvre table, where French cooks arranged the salted fish, potatoes, and sharp dressings associated with Russian and Baltic cold tables into formal composed salads. Salt herring with boiled potato was everyday food across northern and eastern Europe, so the title marks a French interpretation rather than an exclusively Russian origin. Its passage into the French canon changed the presentation more than the substance: humble companions were cut finely, ranked in rows, and finished with the herbs of the cold larder.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cleaned, ready-to-eat salt-cured herring fillets
Quantity
4 fillets (8 oz / 225 g)
drained
medium waxy potatoes
Quantity
4 potatoes (1 lb / 450 g)
mild olive oil or neutral salad oil
Quantity
1/4 cup (60 ml / 55 g)
white wine vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g)
fresh chervil leaves
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 5 g)
finely chopped
tender fennel fronds
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 2 g)
finely chopped
fresh tarragon leaves
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 2 g)
finely chopped
small shallot
Quantity
1 shallot, about 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 20 g)
finely minced
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cleaned, ready-to-eat salt-cured herring filletsdrained | 4 fillets (8 oz / 225 g) |
| medium waxy potatoes | 4 potatoes (1 lb / 450 g) |
| mild olive oil or neutral salad oil | 1/4 cup (60 ml / 55 g) |
| white wine vinegar | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) |
| fresh chervil leavesfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 5 g) |
| tender fennel frondsfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 2 g) |
| fresh tarragon leavesfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 2 g) |
| small shallotfinely minced | 1 shallot, about 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 20 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •2-quart (2-liter) saucepan
- •Rimmed tray or large plate for cooling
- •Sharp slicing knife
- •Small bowl and whisk
- •12-inch (30 cm) shallow oval platter
Instructions
- 1
Taste the herring
Cut a small piece from one herring fillet and taste it before doing anything else. It should be distinctly salty but pleasant enough to eat by itself. If the salt bites hard, ça se rattrape: cover the fillets with cold water for 10 minutes, drain, dry, and taste again. Repeat once only if needed, working in short intervals so you temper the fish without washing away its character. Pat the fillets thoroughly dry and return them to the refrigerator.
Use plain salt-cured herring that is labeled ready to eat. Herring packed in cream, mustard, sweet pickle, or wine sauce is already a finished preparation and will not make this dish. - 2
Boil potatoes gently
Put the unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan and cover them with cold water by about 1 inch. Bring slowly to a simmer, then cook at the gentlest tremble for 18 to 25 minutes, depending on size. A thin knife should enter the center without force, but the potatoes must remain whole and firm. If one begins to crack, drain them all immediately; a split potato is warning enough.
- 3
Cool and slice
Drain the potatoes and spread them on a tray so moisture can escape. Let them cool completely, then peel them and cut them crosswise into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Warm potato turns greasy under an oil dressing and breaks when arranged, while cold waxy potato keeps a clean edge. If one potato became crumbly, chill it thoroughly and cut it slightly thicker. It will still hold its place on the platter.
- 4
Make the vinaigrette
Whisk the white wine vinegar in a small bowl, then pour in the oil in a thin thread while whisking to make a vinaigrette, a temporary oil-and-vinegar emulsion. Taste it on a potato slice rather than from the spoon, because the potato mutes acidity. If it tastes too sharp, whisk in a little more of the measured oil; if it seems dull, add the final drops of vinegar. Without mustard, the vinaigrette will separate as it waits. That is not failure. Whisk it again just before dressing.
- 5
Arrange alternating rows
Slice the cold herring fillets thinly on a slight diagonal. On a shallow oval platter, arrange a neat row of overlapping potato slices, then a row of herring, continuing until the platter is full. Keep the two ingredients visibly distinct rather than tossing them together. The alternating composition is not decoration added after the fact; it gives each forkful its proper measure of salty fish and quiet potato.
- 6
Dress and finish
Whisk the vinaigrette once more and spoon it evenly over the arranged rows, lifting a few overlapping edges so the dressing reaches underneath. Scatter the minced shallot over the whole platter, then finish with the chopped chervil, fennel fronds, and tarragon. Refrigerate for 15 minutes so the dressing settles into the potato, then let the platter stand out of the cold for 10 minutes before serving. It should be cool, not numb. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose plain salt-cured herring fillets, cleaned and ready to eat. Avoid rollmops and fillets already dressed with cream, mustard, sugar, or wine; those preparations bring their own seasonings and bury the clean oil-and-vinegar structure of this salad.
- •Use waxy potatoes such as Charlotte, fingerling, or Yukon Gold. A floury baking potato absorbs too much water, then collapses when you try to build the rows.
- •Fennel here means the tender green fronds, not diced fennel bulb. Chop all three herbs shortly before finishing so chervil stays fresh, fennel remains bright, and the tarragon does not dominate.
- •No added salt is needed. The herring seasons the potato as the platter rests. A cold, dry, unoaked white wine suits the salt and vinegar, as does a crisp pale beer.
Advance Preparation
- •Boil and chill the potatoes up to 1 day ahead. Keep them whole and covered in the refrigerator, then peel and slice shortly before composing the salad.
- •The herring can be tasted, tempered if necessary, dried, and refrigerated up to 1 day ahead in a tightly covered container.
- •The completed platter can be dressed and refrigerated up to 4 hours before serving. Do not leave it overnight, as the herbs lose their freshness and the potato surface becomes overly sharp.
- •For a picnic, carry the covered platter in a well-chilled cooler with ice packs and keep it cold until serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
335 calories
Total Fat
23 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
18 g
Cholesterol
40 mg
Sodium
900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
21 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
14 g
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