Stekt strömming (fried Baltic herring) with mash and lingonberries
30 min · 33 g protein · 459 cals / serving
Sweden's everyday fish classic: butterflied Baltic herring fillets dusted and fried in butter until golden and crisp at the edges, with a soft, fluffy potato and cauliflower mash, a spoonful of lingonberries and quick pressed cucumber. Cheap, quick and as traditional as it gets.
Ingredients
Potatismos
- 1 1/3 lb potato, floury (mjölig), peeled and cut into chunks
- 10 oz frozen cauliflower, frozen cauliflower florets
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp skimmed milk, 0.5% fat, fortified, hot
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 pinch nutmeg (optional)
Pressgurka
- 1 1/2 cucumbers, very thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp vinegar, 7 % vinegar (or 1 tbsp ättika 12 %)
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp parsley leaves, chopped
Strömming
- 1 1/4 lb raw baltic herring, single butterflied strömming fillets (strömmingsfiléer), patted dry
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 3 tbsp potato starch (potato flour)
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp canola oil
To serve
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
- 1/3 cup lingonberry jam, reduced sugar, lightly sweetened lingonberry jam, or rårörda lingon
Steps
- Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15–18 minutes, adding the frozen cauliflower for the last 8 minutes, until both are completely soft.
- Meanwhile, put the cucumber in a bowl. Stir the vinegar, water, sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves, pour it over, add the parsley and press the cucumber down under a plate. Leave it in the fridge until dinner.
- Season the fish on both sides with the salt and white pepper. Heat half the butter and half the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat until the butter foams. Only now turn the first half of the fillets in the potato starch, shaking off the excess; coated fish that waits turns gummy.
- Fry the coated fillets flesh side down first, 2 minutes, then turn and fry 1–2 minutes more, until golden and crisp at the edges and cooked through, 145°F; keep warm on a plate. Wipe the pan with kitchen paper so the butter solids don't burn, then coat and fry the second batch in the remaining butter and oil. While it fries, drain the potatoes and cauliflower well, let them steam dry in the hot pot for a minute and mash with the salt, butter and nutmeg, adding the hot milk a little at a time until fluffy; you may need only 1 1/2 dl.
- Serve the strömming on the mash with a spoonful of lingonberries, the drained pressgurka and dill. Eat it fresh; fried fish does not reheat well.
Good to know
Can I use rye flour, like Grandma did?
Yes, rågmjöl (or a mix of rye flour and breadcrumbs) is the classic coating and gives a nuttier, darker crust, at about the same score; the dish is then no longer gluten-free.
Can I make plain potatismos?
Of course: use 900 g of potatoes and leave out the cauliflower, at about 57 instead of 63. The cauliflower is there for lightness; with the butter and milk it tastes like ordinary mos.
Can I make strömmingsflundror?
Yes: press two butterflied fillets together skin side out, with dill or a little mustard between them, and fry them 3–4 minutes a side instead. Shops and fish counters sell strömming already butterflied, which saves all the work.
No strömming where you live?
Fresh sardines, sprats or small herring fillets cook exactly the same way.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 85
- Protein
- (30%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (30%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (41%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 205 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1835 kcal goes into the pot and 2388 g of ingredients comes out as about 2160 g of food: 85 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.