For the uninitiated, Surströmming is an infamous heavily fermented herring.

Below is my experience with it. Happy to answer any questions :)

Preparations

I “smuggled” (more on this below) it from Sweden a few months ago and yesterday evening my brother, a brave (or naïve) soul of a schoolmate of his, and I (not to mention our dog) opened it up near the river. We chose the riverside and the night time strategically, of course.

As was advised to us by a friend, we also took a bucket of water with us. Not – as some may wrongly assume – to vomit into, but to open the tin under water. Due to the fermentation continuing in the tin, it builds up pressure and when you open the tin, it inevitably and violently discharges the bile water. The best way to avoid it spraying your clothes is to open it under water.

The tasting

Since this was an impromptu action, – other than the bucket – we came only half-prepared. As condiments we brought only a little bread, a shallot and three pickled gherkins.

The hint with the bucket was greatly appreciated, as the opening of the tin was the most vile part of the whole experience. So if you plan to try it, do get a bucket! It stopped not only the bile spraying us, but also diluted most of the putrid smell that was caught in the tin.

Once opened and aired, the contents of the tin were actually quite recognisable. Fish fillets swimming in brine. The brine was already brownish and a tiny bit gelatinous, but darkness helped us get past that.

As for the taste and texture, if you ever had pickled herrings before – it’s like that on steroids, married with anchovies. Very soft, but still recognisable as fish, extremely salty, and with acidity that is very similar to that of good sauerkraut.

Washing the fish in the pickle jar helped take the edge of – both in sense of smell and saltiness. The onion as well as the pickles were a great idea, bread was a must!

In summary, it is definitely an acquired taste, but I can very much see how this was a staple in the past and how it can still be used in cuisine. As a condiment, I think it could work well even in a modern dish.

We did go grab a beer afterwards to wash it down though.

P.S. Our dog was very enthusiastic about it the whole time and somewhat sullen that he didn’t get any.

The smuggling

Well, I didn’t actually smuggle it, per se, but it took me ¾ of an hour to get it cleared at the airport and in the end the actual carrier still didn’t know about what I was carrying in my checked luggage. The airport, security, two information desks and the main ground stewardess responsible for my flight were all in on it though. And in my defence, the actual carrier does not have a policy against Surströmming on board (most probably because they haven’t thought about it yet).

As for acquiring this rotten fish in the first place, I saw it in a shop in Malmö and took the least deformed tin (along with other local specialities). When I came to the cash register with grin like a madman in a sweetshop, I asked the friendly young clerk if she has any suggestion how to prepare it, and she replied that she never had it and knows barely anyone of her generation who did, apart from perhaps as a challenge.

I've somewhat recently become vegan and am looking for more recipes to cook. I love pretty much all kinds of food, especially kinds I haven't tried before. If anybody has any great recipes that are vegan, I would love to share.

You probably know the drill, but in case not - you get an unlimited supply of one specific beer to drink when marooned on an island - presumably til death.

I love California blondes. I want to try some others that ~ loves, and thought other folks might like to do the same.

Firestone Walker 805 for me. You?

edit: just to say, oops, not dessert...desert.

I went to the local farmers' market on Saturday and was impressed by both the mushroom guy and the stand selling venison. I've only been able to find venison a few times (don't have any hunter friends), and the times I've made it before, it's gone into chili. So, I bought a pound of stew meat, a half pint of Cinnamon Cap Chestnut mushrooms, and some produce to finish out a stew. I braised it all up last night in some beef broth and red wine. That may have been a mistake, as the venison basically came out tasting like stew beef. Process went a little like this:

• chop up the venison into bite-sized chunks
• brown the venison in a bit of butter
• add more butter and some flour to make roux
• add a splash of red wine and about a carton of beef broth
• add mushrooms, potatoes, garlic
• realize I'm out of onions, so add onion powder
• reduce until gravy-like

All in all, it was tasty (the mushrooms were great!), but the venison was basically very tender, $9 / lb stew beef. Did I treat it wrong by using beef broth, or is that just the way it tastes?

Any other puer tea fans?

This is a 250g beeng ("cake") of pressed sheng puer tea by Bitterleaf Teas from the Jingmai area of Yunnan, produced last spring, so it has settled into itself quite nicely.
Dressed
Undressed

Don't know what puer is? Puer tea is a Yunnan, China specific tea that is very unique. It is processed differently than the more common white, green, oolong, and black teas. It is valued for its capacity to be aged for years (to decades) transforming through oxidation and fermentation into something much darker, earthier, smoother, and funkier. It is also consumed young for its fresh, floral, fruity, pungent, bitter, vegetal, and/or pleasantly musky green tea-like qualities. Traditionally, this type of tea was pressed into these cakes for ease of transport, and that tradition has held up (also makes it easier for modern shipping due to the dramatically reduced volume of the tea upon pressing). I use a letter opener to pry away several grams of the tea, and brew using gongfu methods. ( If you're curious, I posted more about this over here on the creative tilde )

This is a very nice tea packed with floral aroma (hence the name "In Bloom"). Great tea from a great producer. I can't say enough good things about Bitterleaf. They can be a bit pricey, but its because of their dedication to producing teas from high quality material.

Quite a lot of us will have them. They are pretty damn useful, and make for decent lazy meals.

Apart from stock, here is one of the recipes I really like for the IP.

https://www.justonecookbook.com/pressure-cooker-pork-belly-kakuni/

Japanese pork belly slices. Works brilliantly and stunning flavour. In fact Just One Cookbook is generally a great site, but this was the first of theirs I tried. I make it every time my wife goes away as it's not her thing, but I love it.

Interested in your favourites!

I'm in the U.S. and Summer potluck season is upon us. What are your favorite crowd-pleasers? I recently made this Mexcian Street Corn Salad for a work event and it went over really well. That was branching out for me. I feel like I always make the same two tired potluck dishes and would love to hear yours.

New group, new topics, this is all so exciting. I'm a chef myself and enjoy discussing the business and philosophies of what I do. I'm wondering if other people in the industry have found their way unto Tildes at this point.