SILLSALLAD (Herring Salad in Sour Cream Sauce)

One of the finest seafood treats of Scandinavia is smoked Baltic herring, and nowhere is it quite so delicious as on the Danish island of Bornholm. Here the herring are caught, cleaned and smoked on the same day, and then shipped by fast boat to Copenhagen, often arriving still warm, with juices and flavor intact. It is their tender fragility, however, that is the "Bornholmers" greatest drawback, for they do not travel well and must be sampled in Denmark or not at all.(recipe from the book,The Cooking of Scandinavia - Time Life Books)

SILLSALLAD

1 cup finely chopped herring (salt, matjes, pickled, Bismarck)

1/2 pound finely chopped cooked tongue or veal (optional)

1/2 cup finely chopped cold boiled potatoes

3 cups finely chopped apple, cored and peeled

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped dill pickle

4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

DRESSING

3 chilled hard-cooked eggs

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream

SAUCE

1 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons beet juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

In a large mixing bowl, combine the finely chopped herring, optional meat, potatoes, beets, Apple, onion and pickle. Mix three tablespoons of the dill with the vinegar, and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the salad ingredients and toss gently with a wooden spoon.

DRESSING: Remove the yolks from the hard-cooked eggs. Mince the whites and set them aside. Force the yolks through a sieve into a small bowl with the back of a large spoon, then mash them to a paste with the tablespoon of prepared mustard. Gradually beat in the vinegar and oil, then the cream, a tablespoon at a time, until the sauce has the consistency of heavy cream. Pour over the salad, mix lightly but thoroughly, cover, and chill for at least two hours.

Just before serving, transfer the salad to a large serving bowl or platter and sprinkle it with the minced egg whites and the remaining chopped dill.

SAUCE: Stir the beet and lemon juice into the sour cream until it is smooth and well blended. Pass this sauce separately.