Smoked herring - a happy accident?

A riddle, a riddle a-ree: what has fine bones galore, a deeply pungent smokey taste, super peppery, salty and can be eaten with just about any type of carbs? Plus, it’s another Diana power mint classic. Any guesses?

Classic smoked herring

Herring is a small oily fish. Smoked herring is a smoke- and salt-cured preparation of herring fish that is imported into Trinidad. They are often eaten for breakfast in the United Kingdom, Belgium, The Isle of Man, Japan, and a minority of North American regions. Smoking and salting of fish—in particular of spawning salmon and herring which are caught in large numbers in a short time and can be made suitable for edible storage by this practice, predates 19th century Britain. It can be purchased relatively cheaply, prepared simply and does not need refrigeration. Is this another throw-back to our colonial history then?

Dried smoked salted herring fish

It goes with just about any carbohydrate- from dumplings, ground provision, crix, roti, bake, hops bread, green fig, to dhal and rice… To cut the saltiness, several cooks boil the fish first- similar to salt-fish preparation, de-bone, flake the fish, then sautee in oil along with a variety of vegetables to both enhance the flavour and to cut the saltiness e.g. tomatoes, grated carrots, finely sliced onions, minced garlic, chives, chadon beni and hot pepper. Some add a little thinly shredded cabbage too. Serving it with avocado or cucumber slices cools down the taste-buds nicely.

Smoked herring and corneal dumplings

Smoked herring pizza anyone?

http://www.getmecooking.com/recipe/smokedherring-pizza

Dhal and rice and smoked herring

According to Mark Kurlansky, "Smoked foods almost always carry with them legends about their having been created by accident".