On May 1, 2014, thousands of fermenting canned herring were stored in a warehouse in Woodicksville, and unfortunately for special reasons, the cans exploded violently, and then the "terrible" smell wafted downwind for dozens of miles, making the surrounding residents want to die for a while, this incident was once hailed as "the second Chernobyl of the new era", which shows the great shadow of the canned herring on the people. However, it is such a terrible thing that the Swedes can eat hundreds of tons a year.
Regarding the "famous" food of canned herring, even if you have not eaten it, most of you will not feel strange to it, and the vast majority of people have one word impression of it, that is, "smell", how smelly is it? According to the relevant calculations of Japanese scientists, the "odor" of canned herring is nearly 20 times that of stinky tofu, which is a veritable "biological and chemical weapon", and even the food itself is clearly marked with "Please wash it thoroughly before use and confirm that you have opened the vent". What do you think? Can you already feel the "oppressive force" that comes from just by looking at this label?
If you're curious enough to try a canned herring, the label can only be said to be preheating, and when you actually open it, the "honing" officially begins.
The color of a canned dish with a little powder in a patch of ash is quite unusual, of course, if you are unlucky and the temperature of the shipment is too high to cause the fish to melt a little, then you may see some silvery-white fish scales reflecting in a cloudy yellow juice. Compared with the color, its smell is more exaggerated, some people say that it is "the smell of ammonia after the rot of the meat", some people say that it is "the fishy smell that has been exposed to the sun for a long time", and some people directly describe it as "a mixture of rotten eggs and the smell of dead mice", which is simply a stinky sentence.
If it is only like this, the key non-canned fish itself is raw, if you want to use it, you must heat it again, and in the process of heating, the taste will spread rapidly and directly upgrade, if you do not do a good job of exhaust work, it is easy to cause vomiting. After heating, the canned herring can also be eaten.
Since the raw material of this canned food is swedish tender herring from April to June, it is very tender in taste, and it can also be said that it is "rotten in the mouth". At the same time, in a fishy smell, you can also eat a sense of aroma and mellowness that ordinary fish do not have. But here is not recommended friends to try easily, because according to the Internet reports that the "legacy" of the herring smell is very strong, if you do not really like its "taste", then for a long time after use, its smell will echo in your lips, teeth, stomach cavity, so that you have to "repeatedly reminisce".
Swedish canned herring is the same "local specialty" as Norwegian salted fish and Icelandic stink sharks, and there is even a set of herring marinating processes that have been passed down for nearly 300 years in Norway. Doesn't that sound incredible? This "magical" food has been circulating for hundreds of years and has not disappeared?
In Sweden, herring spawning season is from April to June, and herring is the most delicious and suitable raw material for canning. In the first time after the herring is salvaged, the Swedish people will refrigerate it and send it to the room at "room temperature of 4 degrees" for salt water salting, in the process of salting, the Swedish people will also use the local dry and cool alpine spring water to continuously reconstruct the flesh of the herring, with a typical "45 degree sigma industrial start-up style", using the friction of the water to discharge the blood water inside the herring. After that, the herring undergoing agitation is cleaned, and the "corpse separation" and internal organs are removed step by step, and then marinated in light salt water.
It is said that the most traditional way to eat herring, which is popular in Sweden, is to find a wild forest with a stream, wash the herring upstream of the stream, and then cook it. This traditional approach is still feasible in the sparsely populated Swedish region, but it is somewhat unrealistic in China. So if you want to eat it at home, simply prepare some butter, cream, onion potatoes, and thin chips.
"Use a thin chip as the base of the cake, pour the canned cooked herring with butter, then apply the cream in turn, put the potatoes and onions, and finally cover with another thin piece."
It is said that using non-canned fish in this way will not feel much of a strong odor, but in view of the different canned herring tastes different, it is still recommended that you choose carefully, do not blindly follow the trend, "challenge your own limits".
It is worth mentioning that canned herring can not be carried on the plane in many countries, and the reason is that high pressure will cause it to rupture and explode. As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, unlike ordinary cans, once the canned herring explodes, the small confined space in the plane will soon be filled with the smell of "horror", and this situation is just a fantasy, which makes people shudder...
You may be very confused, since the "herring" canned food does not taste good, so why do Swedes still eat hundreds of tons a year? In fact, behind this bizarre phenomenon, there are three fundamental reasons.
First, a unique production history. In the past, the Swedish economy was very difficult, and in that case, the tender and delicious "herring" was not only a delicacy, but also a means of generating income for the locals. But what if the "herring" that can be caught in large quantities can't be eaten? After much deliberation, the Swedish people decided to make it into a can. In order to reduce the production cost, the Swedes only salted the herring and let it ferment on its own, which gradually derived the final "canned herring". In this regard, the locals eat canned herring is actually more of a souvenir.
Second, long-term habits. For those of us who rarely use canned herring, the herring developed by the Swedish people can be said to be quite "smelly"; but the Swedes who have been using it for a long time do not think so, and their first reaction to canned herring is "acid". That is to say, while developing a set of pickling processes that have been followed for hundreds of years, the Swedes have gradually developed a strong resistance to the taste of canned herring, and some people have even indulged in it.
Third, better use of means. Due to geographical and demographic reasons, Swedes can eat canned herring can be disposed of outdoors, and the smell of the treated herring can will dissipate a lot, and in this case, the herring is naturally less difficult to swallow. Coupled with some condiments unique to the locals, it can be said that it can even be said to have a different flavor.
From here, we can also see that the swedish people have been able to use herring for a long time and in large quantities, which is completely understandable due to habits and customs. For us, canned herring is more of an attempt to satisfy curiosity, and we have to be fully prepared before eating.