The  most authentic Ashkenazi Jewish recipe of the Old World is probably forshmak. Forshmak is an Yiddish word meaning “foretaste”, or “appetizer” that most likely originated from the German word “vorschmack”. Originally, it was a hot appetizer made from fried herring in Prussia.

As it moved East, it got changed into a cold appetizer made of brined or pickled herring. Old Russian cookbooks, however, feature hot or baked forshmak made with meat, fish or a mix of both. The Finnish version of forshmak is famously made of ground meat and anchovies and is a signature appetizer in the Savoy restaurant in Helsinki.

The forshmak recipe described below focuses on the cold Ashkenazi recipe.

They say there were as many forshmak variations as cooks in Eastern Ukraine and Lithuania, where it was associated with “gehakte” herring which means “chopped” herring. Since it was originally chopped, it’s okay to have small pieces of herring in forshmak. The last thing you want to do is make it taste like paste. In other words, it’s not a “herring pate”.

Chopping is preferred, but it may be substituted by blending in a food processor. Just make sure you don’t over-blend it.

I learned the recipe below from my husband who grew up eating a lot of forshmak. He learned the recipe from his mother who learned it from her mother. It seems like many generations ate forshmak. Rumor has it, herring is good for your brain. So there are more than enough reasons why forshmak has been popular in my family.

I adjusted the recipe to my liking, but it is essentially my mother in law’s forshmak.

To prepare forshmak, you need fillet of three brined or pickled herrings, three soft-boiled (4 min) eggs,  one chopped onion, two sticks of butter, a tablespoon of Lemon juice, a teaspoon of sugar and one peeled and grated Granny Smith Apple.

My mother in law added a piece of white bread without crust soaked in milk (optional) (it should be soft but not soaking wet). Some add a few drops of cognac and a pinch of grated lemon zest.

Using blender, roughly mix all the ingredients, except for the eggs. They should be thinly chopped and incorporated into the herring mixture. Refrigerate.

Traditionally, it is served on a toasted rye bread, or Passover-friendly Matzo topped with chopped scallions or dill (optional). You can garnish it with hot small boiled potatoes served with butter or sour cream.

It goes well with beer or a shot of vodka, or your drink of choice.

And now an old joke.

A man goes into a gastronomic store and asks, “What makes you Jews so clever?” The owner replies, “It’s because we eat so much pickled herring.” The man comes back every day and buys herring. One day he comes in looking angry and says, “For four months now you’ve been charging me twice as much as they charge next door”. ‘You see”, the owner says triumphantly, “it’s working already!”

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.