Note that the herring is eaten raw and not cooked. The Dutch herring available in your country is more salty than in Holland. This is due to the fact that the preserving salt has gone through a longer permeation process. In Holland the fish is eaten almost as soon as it is brought ashore. In your country it is advisable to soak the herring in milk or water 24 hours before serving, renewing the liquid at intervals and to do this after the fish has been cleaned and skinned. Serve Dutch herring an small toasted canapés as an appetiser, on ice cubes, with boiled new potatoes and green salad.

Ingredients:

1 small cooked beetroot

2 cooking apples

some (pickled) onions and gherkins

8 cold cooked potatoes

2 hard boiled eggs

some lettuce or curly endives

2 tbsp. Salad oil

2 tbsp. Vinegar, salt, mayonnaise

3 fresh salted herrings.

Preparations:

• Soak the herring as indicated in the previous recipe. Bone the herring and cut them up in small pieces. Keep a few pieces for decorating. Cut the peeled beetroot, gherkins and potatoes and one egg. Wash the lettuce or endives an shred it very finely. Put all these ingredients in a big bowl. Mix it well with salad oil, vinegar and salt. Put the salad on a flat dish and smooth the top with a wet spoon. Coat the salad and decorate with quarters of egg, pieces of hering and surround it with very small bits of "yellow" lettuce (the inside leaves). Serve it with toast and butter or, if dished up at lunchtime, with bread and butter.