Herring Under a Fur Coat (Shuba)

About this dish

Shuba — “fur coat” — is a layered salad of the Soviet era: cheap, storable vegetables and a salty fish, built up in a dish and dressed in a wall of beetroot. The tidy story that it was invented in 1918 by a Moscow restaurateur, with the name an acronym of a political slogan, is a legend; nobody has found proof, and the salad is more probably a home cook’s answer to the herring-and-vegetable plates of older Slavic tables. What is certain is the logic: salt fish needs something sweet and soft against it, and it has to be made a day ahead, which is exactly what a holiday kitchen wants.

• Gluten-free
• Lactose-free
• Not vegetarian because of Salted herring fillet

• 400gSalted herring fillet
• 400gPotatoes
• 250gCarrot
• 600gBeetroot
• 3piecesEggs
• 120gOnion
• 300gMayonnaise
• 4gFine sea salt
• 1gGround black pepper (optional)
• 10gFresh dill (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Scrub the beetroot and boil it whole in its skin for about 1 hour, until a knife slides in easily. In a second pan boil the potatoes and carrots, also in their skins, for 25 minutes in salted water. Drain and cool everything completely.

   60 min

   Tip: The skins keep the colour and the sugar inside; a peeled beetroot bleeds into the water and tastes flat. Cooling is not optional: warm vegetables grate to mush and melt the mayonnaise into oil.

2. 2

   Boil the eggs for 10 minutes, cool them under cold water and peel them.

   10 min

   Tip: Ten minutes gives a firm but not chalky yolk. A grey ring around the yolk means they have gone too long.

3. 3

   Cut the herring into small cubes, about 1 cm, picking out every bone you find. Chop the onion very finely. If the onion is strong, pour boiling water over it for a minute and drain.

   10 min

   Tip: Small pieces mean the herring is spread through every bite instead of arriving in a single salty slab. The hot water takes the harshness off the onion without losing its crunch.

4. 4

   Peel the cooled vegetables and grate the potatoes, carrots and beetroot on the coarse side of a grater, each on its own plate. Grate the eggs on the same side.

   10 min

   Tip: Keep them apart. Beetroot stains everything it touches, and if it gets onto the potato the layers lose their clean colour.

5. 5

   Spread the herring and onion in an even layer in a deep dish. Cover with a thin coat of mayonnaise. Add the potatoes, salt lightly and coat again. Then the carrots, then the eggs, each with its own thin layer of mayonnaise. Finish with the beetroot, press it gently level and cover the top and sides with the rest of the mayonnaise. Pepper if you like.

   20 min

   Tip: Thin is the point: the mayonnaise is a seasoning between layers, not a filling. Pressing lightly stops the layers sliding apart when you cut. Salt only the potato — the herring and mayonnaise already carry plenty.

6. 6

   Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Garnish with dill and serve cold, cut in wedges so each portion shows every layer.

   240 min

   Tip: Resting is what turns a pile of ingredients into shuba: the beetroot juice seeps down, the herring flavours the potato and the whole thing cuts cleanly. Eaten straight away it tastes like its parts.