Classic pickled herring is the sweet-and-sour version that's typically served at a Midsummer dinner party, but there's also a heavier sour version, such as soused, which involves pickling herring ...

Pickled herring is known in Sweden as sill, and it's not to be confused with fermented herring, or surstromming, famous for being one of the stinkiest foods in the world.

The herring, sweetened and tamed by the beets, is served with crisp Swedish crackers, potato salad and pickled vegetables. “You can have so many different variations,” Stefansson said.

Arrange the herring fillets in a large, shallow heatproof glass baking dish. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the hot pickling liquid over the fish; reserve the remaining liquid. Let the herring and pickling ...

Round, disc-like lentils resemble coins. The silvery scales of pickled herring give off the glint of wealth. Pork comes from pigs, an animal rich with fat.

Most pickled herring uses a two-step curing process. First, herring is salted to extract water. Then the fish are soaked in cold water for several hours to remove the saltiness.

From pickled herring with onion and bay leaves to whole smoked herring, "silakka"—herring in Finnish—has been an important part of Nordic culinary tradition for centuries.

Before New York was a bagels-lox-and-cream-cheese town it was a herring town. The founding Dutch were pickled-herring addicts to a one. The English and Germans were smitten with the stuff, too.