April 21, 2009: Sill vs. Strömming
Swedish has two words for herring, and until I went back to the US I was unable to find someone to tell me the difference. (Not that I’ve asked everyone I know in Sweden, not even a small percentage really, but whenever herring would come up in conversation, I would ask.)
I was visiting my cool cousin Cynthia in Cambridge. She had dogeared a couple of pages from Mark Kurlansky’s Salt for me. I wish I had the quote here, but while describing the practice of formenting herring—not recommended—he explained in passing that “sill” is the meatier North sea variety of hearing, and “strömming” is the smaller herring variant native to the Baltic sea. So, if you didn’t already know, now you know. Thanks, Cynthia!
A jar or Abba brand sill. (kosher, delicious, and available at most Ikeas)
The fried strömming cart at Slussen in Stockholm (also kosher and delicious, but more difficult to get outside of Stockholm)
