Silver, Slim and Underrated: Getting to Grips with November Herring
November has a way of nudging us towards sturdy, comforting food. Stews, roots, baked puddings, second helpings. Somewhere in the middle of all that richness, herring deserves a place on the table. It is silver-blue, slim, modestly priced and full of flavour, and it happens to be very good right now.
If your only experience of herring is a jar of rollmops at the back of the fridge, it is time for a rethink. Fresh herring is a quick supper fish, a lovely thing to pickle, and a brilliant teacher. It asks you to look, touch and judge rather than follow a recipe to the gram. In an Essex kitchen, with good fishmongers within reach, that is not a bad lesson for November.
Why herring belongs in your November kitchen
Herring is an oily fish, which means it carries plenty of flavour and stays juicy when cooked hot and fast. It does not need much help. A little salt, a hot grill, a squeeze of lemon and something sharp on the side will do more for it than a long list of ingredients.
It is also usually kinder to the wallet than the usual fillets. That matters as we head towards the expensive end of the year. Herring gives you a proper fish supper without the price tag of sea bass or sole, and it is flexible enough to serve simply on a weeknight or dress up for friends.
Buying herring is a conversation, not a grab-and-go transaction. Ask your fishmonger where it is from, how fresh it is and whether they will clean it for you. Around Leigh-on-Sea, Wivenhoe, Colchester and the smaller coastal towns, there are people who know fish properly. Use them. A good fishmonger will tell you whether the herring is worth taking home today or whether you should wait.
Buying fresh: what to look for
Fresh herring should look bright and taut. The scales should be shiny, the eyes clear rather than sunken, and the flesh should feel firm when you press it gently. It should smell of clean sea, not of old fish or ammonia. If the fish looks limp or the skin feels slimy in a tired way, leave it.
Ask for the fish to be gutted and cleaned. Many fishmongers will also bone or butterfly herring if you ask, which makes the whole business much less daunting. If you are buying from a market, take a cool bag. Herring is delicate and does not enjoy a warm car boot.
You may also see herring with roe. Soft roe is a lovely thing rolled in flour and fried; hard roe can be grilled or potted. If your fishmonger has it, try it. It is part of the pleasure of buying fish in season.
Three ways to cook herring
1. Grilled, hot and fast
This is the simplest route and a good first test. Ask for the herring cleaned and opened out, or leave it whole and score the skin lightly on both sides. Pat it dry, rub with a little oil and season with salt. Heat the grill properly.
Lay the fish on a lined tray, skin-side up, and grill for three to four minutes on each side. The skin should blister in places and the flesh should just pull away from the bone. Do not walk away. Herring cooks quickly and turns from juicy to dry in a hurry.
Serve with mustard butter, a squeeze of lemon and boiled new potatoes with parsley. A sharp green salad or some pickled beetroot cuts through the richness nicely.
2. Fried in oatmeal
This is a classic for good reason. Mix fine oatmeal with salt and pepper, dust the herring fillets lightly, and fry them in a little oil or butter over a medium-high heat. Start skin-side down. Give them two or three minutes, then turn carefully.
The oatmeal gives a nutty crust and helps protect the delicate flesh. Serve with brown bread and butter, lemon wedges and something pickled. It is the sort of supper that feels plain in the best way.
3. Pickled for later
Pickling is where herring becomes a make-ahead friend. Salt the fillets lightly for an hour or two, rinse and pat dry. Warm white wine vinegar or cider vinegar with a little sugar, sliced onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and mustard seeds. Pour it over the fish while the vinegar is still warm, then cover and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.
The result is sharp, rich and excellent with bread, potatoes or a simple salad. It keeps for several days in the fridge and makes a smart starter without last-minute panic. If you are new to pickling fish, start with a small batch and taste as you go.
Why a fish class beats a recipe
A recipe can tell you to cook a fillet for three minutes. It cannot tell you that your grill is hotter than the one in the book, or that your fish is thicker, or that the skin is starting to catch. Fish is a judgement game, and judgement comes from doing it with someone nearby who can say, look, feel this, see how the flesh just begins to flake.
That is why a hands-on fish class is worth more than another saved recipe. You learn how a fresh herring should feel, how much pressure to use with a knife, how to tell when the heat is right. You make the mistakes in a room where someone can help you fix them. By the time you cook herring at home, it feels familiar rather than risky.
Confidence is not built by reading about fish. It is built by gutting one, filleting one, cooking one and eating it. A class gives you that in an afternoon.
What to serve alongside
Keep the sides simple. New potatoes with parsley and butter. Dark rye or brown bread. Pickled cucumber, beetroot or cabbage. Mustard, horseradish or a sharp mayonnaise. A little Maldon salt at the end is never a bad idea.
Herring is rich, so it likes acidity and freshness. Think lemon, vinegar, capers, dill or parsley rather than cream and cheese. If you are feeding people who are unsure about fish, serve it with plenty of bread and let them help themselves.
A small November challenge
Buy two herring this week. Grill one and pickle the other. Ask the fishmonger to clean them, take them home in a cool bag and cook them while they are still fresh. It is a small, affordable way to eat better in November and to learn a fish that has been feeding people around these coasts for a very long time.
Once you have cooked herring a few times, you stop needing the recipe. That is the point. Learn it by heart, then cook it your way.
