Captain Ron's

Sailing and Cruising Pages

Solomon Gundy Recipes

These are old English or New England in origin, stolen from some website ... they are featured in the Aubrey-Maturin novels written by Patrick O'Brian also.

Title: Solomon Gundy
Yield: 4 Jars

Ingredients

     12    salt herring
      6 md onions,sliced
3 1/2 c vinegar
    3/4 c sugar
      4 tb pickling spice

Instructions

Clean herring, remove heads and tails, skin and de-bone. Cut the herring
into bite size pieces and soak overnight in cold water. In morning
drain and place in jars layered with the slices of onion. Heat
vinegar, pickling spice and sugar. Pour over the herring. Seal and store
in fridge for 10 days.

Solomon Gundy

5-6 Salted Herrings
110g (4oz) Anchovies, finely chopped
Large Apple
Small Onion or Shallot, finely chopped
Mushrooms
Pickled Oysters
Lemon Peel
Capers

Wash the herrings well, soak overnight in a large amount of water to remove the saltiness.
Boil the herrings until tender.
Carefully remove the flesh from the bones, do not break the bone into pieces, leaving on the head and tail and retain.
Mix the flesh with the anchovies, onion (or shallot), apple and finely grated lemon peel together well.
Place over the retained bones, in the shape of a herring.
Pare lemon peel very thinly into long strips and lay over the fish decoratively.
Garnish with a few pickled oysters, capers, and mushrooms and serve them up.

To make Solomon Gundy to eat in Lent

Take five or six white herrings, lay them in water all night, boil them as soft as you would do for eating, and shift them in the boiling to take out the saltiness; when they are boiled take the fish from the bone, and mind you don't break the bone in pieces, leaving on the head and tail; take the white part of the herrings, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, a large apple, a little onion shred fine, or shallot, and a little lemon peel, shred them all together, and lie them over the bones on both sides, in the shape of a herring; then take off the peel of a lemon very very thin, and cut it in long bits, just as it will reach over the herrings; you must lie this peel over every herring pretty thick.
Garnish your dish with a few pickled oysters, capers, and mushrooms, if you have any; so serve them up.
English Housewifry - 1764