Cretan Reggosalata (Ρεγγοσαλάτα Κρήτης)

Cretan reggosalata is smoked herring spread for the raki table, sharp with lemon, rich with olive oil, and salty enough to make the next small glass make sense. It isn't a polite dip. It is strong, cured fish softened with soaked bread and onion, then finished with parsley and a little vinegar or lemon until it wakes up.

The whole dish depends on cleaning the herring properly. Skin it, open it, and pull out the fine bones with patience before you beat the flesh with the bread. If the bones stay in, no amount of oil will save the texture. Once the fish is clean, the rest is simple: bread for body, oil for softness, acid to cut the smoke.

Serve it cold or just cool, with barley paximadia, olives, raw cucumber, and a little glass of tsikoudia. This is the kind of meze that disappears without ceremony. Λίγα και καλά: a few good things, and none of them decorative.