Chef Klaus
Backfisch mit Kartoffelsalat
Backfisch works when the batter is cold, the fish is dry, and the oil is steady. Miss one of those and you get a wet coat, not a crisp one.
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Matjes nach Hausfrauenart
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A northern early-summer plate of mild cured herring in cool cream, apple, onion, and gherkin, served with hot potatoes, and not a salad.
Main Dishes
German
Weeknight
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
25 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Matjes nach Hausfrauenart belongs to the north and to early summer, when the new young herring comes in mild, fatty, and silver. You serve it with hot Pellkartoffeln, potatoes boiled in their skins, so the cold cream sauce and warm potato meet on the plate. That is the point. It isn't a salad bowl for the buffet.
The north keeps it clean: Matjes, sour cream or Schmand, apple, onion, gherkin, sometimes a little dill. The Rhineland may sweeten the sauce more, and further south you see it treated like any other pickled fish plate, which is not the same thing. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. Here the herring stays the center.
The single technique is soaking the onion, not drowning the fish. Raw onion has a burn that can bully cured herring, so I slice it thin and give it ten minutes in cold water before it goes into the cream. It keeps its crunch but loses the harshness. The Matjes itself gets tasted first, because a true mild cure needs only patting dry, while a salty fillet gets ten minutes in cold milk to pull back the edge.
Make the sauce ahead so apple, gherkin, onion, and cream settle together, then fold in the fish gently. Das braucht seine Zeit, but not much of it. Boil the potatoes only when you are ready to eat, because cold Matjes and hot potato are the whole plate. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Matjes comes from the Dutch maatjesharing, young herring caught before roe or milt develop, a fish prized around the North Sea because its high fat and gentle salt cure gave soft flesh rather than sharp pickle. The medieval Hanseatic herring trade made cured fish a northern staple, moving barrels through ports such as Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck and feeding inland markets through fasting days and winter. Hausfrauenart, housewife style, names the home-kitchen cream treatment with apple, onion, and gherkin, a northern domestic answer to a preserved fish that was never meant to taste like vinegar first.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Matjes herring fillets
Quantity
8 fillets, about 500g
sour cream or Schmand
Quantity
150g
crème fraîche
Quantity
100g
mayonnaise (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
gherkin brine
Quantity
2 tablespoons
white wine vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
mild German mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
tart apple
Quantity
1
cored and diced small
white onion
Quantity
1 small
thinly sliced
gherkins
Quantity
3 small
diced small
dill
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
chives
Quantity
1 tablespoon
snipped
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
small waxy potatoes
Quantity
800g
scrubbed
salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for the potato water
cold milk (optional)
Quantity
as needed
for soaking salty Matjes
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Matjes herring fillets | 8 fillets, about 500g |
| sour cream or Schmand | 150g |
| crème fraîche | 100g |
| mayonnaise (optional) | 2 tablespoons |
| gherkin brine | 2 tablespoons |
| white wine vinegar | 1 tablespoon |
| mild German mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| tart applecored and diced small | 1 |
| white onionthinly sliced | 1 small |
| gherkinsdiced small | 3 small |
| dillchopped | 1 tablespoon |
| chivessnipped | 1 tablespoon |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| small waxy potatoesscrubbed | 800g |
| saltfor the potato water | 1 tablespoon |
| cold milk (optional)for soaking salty Matjes | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Sharp knife
- •Mixing bowl with lid
- •Medium pot for potatoes
Instructions
- 1
Taste the Matjes
Taste a small piece of Matjes before you touch the sauce. True Matjes should be mild, soft, and a little sweet from the young fatty fish; if it bites with salt, lay the fillets in cold milk for ten minutes, then pat them dry. The milk pulls back salt without turning the fish sour, which water does more clumsily.
Do not use rollmops here. A rollmop is vinegar-pickled herring, sharp by design, and it will fight the cream sauce from the first bite. - 2
Soften the onion
Slice the onion thin and put it in a bowl of cold water for ten minutes, then drain it well and pat it dry. Cold water takes away the raw burn but leaves the crunch, so the onion lifts the herring instead of shouting over it.
- 3
Mix the sauce
Stir the sour cream or Schmand, crème fraîche, mayonnaise if using, gherkin brine, vinegar, mustard, and black pepper until smooth. Keep the salt out for now, because the Matjes and gherkins already carry plenty. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss, season, fat, salt at the end.
- 4
Fold the larder
Fold in the apple, soaked onion, gherkins, dill, and chives. Cut the apple small so every forkful gets a little acidity and crunch; leave it in large chunks and it eats like fruit salad next to the fish, which is not the job.
- 5
Rest the sauce
Lay the Matjes fillets into the sauce whole or in broad pieces and fold gently so they stay intact. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours. This short rest lets the onion, apple, and gherkin season the cream while the fish keeps its clean cured texture.
- 6
Boil the potatoes
Put the scrubbed potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water, add the salt, and bring them up steadily until tender, 20 to 25 minutes depending on size. Starting in cold water cooks the potatoes evenly through to the center; dropped into boiling water, the outside goes soft before the middle catches up.
- 7
Serve the plate
Drain the potatoes and let them stand one minute so their skins dry. Spoon the cold Matjes and cream sauce onto plates and set the hot Pellkartoffeln beside it, peeled at the table if you like. Taste the sauce only now for salt, because the fish has had time to speak. Nicht aus dem Glas. This sauce took a bowl and ten minutes.
Chef Tips
- •Buy Matjes from a fishmonger or a good refrigerated pack, and check the label for mild salt cure rather than vinegar marinade. The dish is built on gentle fat and salt, not sharp pickle.
- •Use a tart apple such as Boskoop, Elstar, or Braeburn. A sweet apple makes the cream taste flat, while acidity keeps the herring bright.
- •Keep the fillets in broad pieces or whole. Chop them small and the sauce turns muddy; Matjes should still look like fish on the plate.
- •Serve with Pellkartoffeln, potatoes boiled in their skins, not fried potatoes. The warm plain potato is there to carry the cold cream and the salt of the herring.
Advance Preparation
- •The sauce with the Matjes can rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 8 hours; longer than that and the apple loses its clean bite.
- •Slice and soak the onion up to 2 hours ahead, then drain and keep it covered in the refrigerator.
- •Boil the potatoes just before serving. Reheated potatoes miss the contrast that makes the plate work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
670 calories
Total Fat
43 g
Saturated Fat
14 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
24 g
Cholesterol
125 mg
Sodium
2000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
45 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
27 g
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