Herring Shuba Salad (Селёдка под шубой)
2024-11-20- Cuisine: Russian
- Course: Appetizer
- Skill Level: Intermediate
- Servings: 6
- Prep Time: 60m
- Cook Time: 60m
- Ready In: 12:00 h
Herring Shuba Salad gets its name from “Shuba” – a very warm heavy traditional Russian fur coat. In this recipe, pieces of pickled herring are covered with a thick layered coat of vegetables topped with mayo. This way the herring ends up under quite a heavy “shuba,” so be sure to keep it in the fridge! As with many recipes, there are many individual variations, and you are welcome to experiment. For example, try using smoked salmon instead of pickled herring, especially since smoked salmon is easily available everywhere whereas herring may not be. (The herring typically sold in supermarkets is marinated with vinegar rather than pickled).
As far is serving methods, restaurants often make individual “mini salads” in cups. That makes more sense for them because that way the salad looks more presentable and standardized. We believe mini salads is unnecessary for a homemade meal. You’ll save time by making your Herring Shuba Salad in a single dish and then cutting it in pieces. You’ll also get a better flavor thanks to better mixing of the ingredients.
Here is a good instructional video on making Herring Shuba Salad. You don’t need to speak Russian to find it useful! (Plus you can auto translate it).
Ingredients
- 2 potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 4 medium-sized beets
- 1 small sweet onion
- 1 pickled herring
- 5 tbsp. sunflower or olive oil
- 16 oz mayonnaise
- 1 cup chopped scallions
- 1 egg
- salt (optional)
Method
Step 1
Boil or steam the potatoes, carrots, and beets.
Step 2
Hard boil the egg
Step 3
Let the vegetables cool, and then peel them.
Step 4
Finely chop the onion.
Step 5
Cut the carrots and potatoes into small cubes. You can save a small piece of a carrot and slice it to decorate the salad at the end. Keep all the vegetables separate.
Step 6
Coarsely grate the beets. If you are good at vegetable carving, you can save 1 beet to make a rose or any other decoration.
Step 7
Clean the herring: remove the head, tail, fins, guts, bones, and skin. This will be the most time-consuming step although an extremely important one. Make sure you completely remove all the bones. Once done, cut the herring in cubes.
Step 8
Find a deep dish about 9-10 inches in diameter and lightly coat it with olive or sunflower oil.
Step 9
Cover the bottom of the dish with herring cubes, cover them with the chopped onion, and evenly sprinkle with oil.
Step 10
Add a layer of chopped potatoes and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Salt is optional since the herring is already pretty salty.
Step 11
Add a layer of chopped carrots and then the final layer of grated beets.
Step 12
With your hands, lightly press down the salad and smoothen the top beet layer.
Step 13
Generously and evenly spread mayonnaise on top of the last layer of vegetables.
Step 14
Decorate the salad with slices of beets and carrots, chopped egg, or chopped scallion. See the photo and use your imagination! Learn to make a beet flower here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aVVUF6U-zGM
Step 15
Cover the salad without touching its surface and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Overnight is best.
Step 16
When the beet color starts showing through the mayo, your Herring Shuba Salad is ready!
Step 17
Slice it like a cake and serve. Make sure all the layers are included in each serving.
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