BRINE FERMENTED CUCUMBERS

Different types of picles are an old culinary art to prepare vegetables for wintertime. Most traditional picles, especially those for long storing, are made with vinegar. However, Latvians have developed a taste for sour pickles, most traditionally used to prepare cucumbers and cabbages. Our picles are prepared in brine (salt + water) with natural (wild) fermentation that occurs spontenously and makes them slightly sour. And there is no vinegar added at all. Nowadays our brine fermentation traditions are kept for rich flavours it brings to our meals.

Brine fermented cucumbers are sold in all food markets and even biggest supermarkets in Riga. Look out for skābēti gurķi.

Typically, small (6-10 cm) freshly harvested field cucumbers are placed in a canning glass jar or like in old times in a wooden barrel, together with a variety of spices. The strength of brine varies in different recipes; it is recommended to use 40-50 grams of sea salt per 1 liter of water. Ready-made bouquets of pickling spices are sold at all farmers' markets in different shapes and sizes.

Among those traditionally used spices are garlic cloves,  horseradish root and/or leaves, whole dill stems with umbels and green seeds, sour cherry leaves, blackcurrant leaves and/or young shoots. Sometimes tarragon sprigs are also added.

  

Garlic 

Horseradish leaves

Horseradish roots 

Blackcurrant leaves

Sour cherry leaves 

Dill stems 

Dill umbels

The jar is filled with cucumbers and pickling spices

Naturally occurring Lactobacillus bacteria that normally cover the skin of a growing cucumber started its work. 

Difference between fresh field cucumber and fermented one is notable.

cucumbers
50g (3 tablespoons) sea salt
boiling water

Bouquet of pickling spices:
dill stems with umbels and green seeds
cherry leaves
blackcurrant leaves or young shoots
garlic cloves
horseradish leaves and/or root

For salt solution combine salt and boiling water and stir it until salt dissolves, then let it cool to room temperature.

Place at the buttom of canning jar dill stems and umbels, garlic cloves, fresh sour cherry and blackcurrant leaves, and slices of horseradish root. Then place the layer of cucumbers closely together with sides. On the top place additional layer of pickling spices and then again next layer of cucumbers. Finish the jar with layer of spices. The jar is then filled with cooled salt solution and kept under a non-airtight cover in a cool room temperature. If cucumbers are not huddled together or jar is not filled until the top and cucumbers start to float,  stones are placed on top of the cucumbers to keep them under the salt solution.  Length of fermentation depends on  external temperature and cucumber size. The smaller cucumbers will be ready to eat first ones, so it is advisable to place them in a top layer. Avoid storing the jar in direct sunlight and summer heat. After few days salt solution becomes cloudy and small bubbles appears. It is purely natural process and indicates that  Lactobacillus bacteria that normally cover the skin of a growing cucumber started its work. Also colour of cucumbers will change from bright green to dark green (in Latvian called moss green). Taste the cucumbers, eventually after 4-5 days they will be slightly sour. Move them to the cellar or fridge to slow down fermentation. In a 2 weeks cucumbers will have a pleasantly tangy sour flavor.

One quality prized in a good brine fermented pickle is an audible crunch. 

Some additional tips:
Do not picle long cucumber varieties grown in greenhouses.
If cucumbers are not fresh, soak them for a couple of hours in very cold water to freshen them.
Rinse cucumbers, not to bruise them, and removing remaining blossoms.
Salt with added iodine is not suitable for brine and may spoil all your efforts.
Soft and unappealing cucumbers become because the brine is not salty enough or fermentation temperatre is too high.
For longer cucumber shelf-life (to keep for wintertime) stronger brine concentration is recommended.

SMELTS EN ESCABECHE

The smelt (Osmerus eperlanus (L.)) is easily distinguishable from all other fish by its very characteristic raw cucumber-like aroma. The anadromous smelt occurs in the coastal waters of Latvia, wintering near the river mouths and entering lower reaches of the rivers for spawning. In wintertime as soon as sea coast and rivers are covered by ice some kind of a unique reality show starts. Ice fisherman, penguin-like figures are squatting on the ice and awaiting to catch the golden fish. For some reason nearly all of them are men. They hope for any kind of catch: roach, perch, pike and other fish. But from January to March, at the mouth of the Lielupe, the Venta, the Daugava in downtown Riga (few hundred meters away from the Old Town) and the Gulf of Riga (Baltic Sea), hundreds of ice fishermen are out to catch some smelt. Sometimes the passion for their hobby is awarded with a significant catch. For locals it is not surprising to see them fishing when the snow and ice have already begun to melt. This year as many as 223 ice anglers were trapped on break-away sea ice floes in the Gulf of Riga necessitating a full-scale rescue operation. Luckily such reclesness did not result in drawnings. Since ancient times a similar operation, usually of lesser scale, is typically required annually. Novella In the Shadow of Death (Nāves ēnā) written in 1899 by the famous Latvian writer Rūdolfs Blaumanis is based on a newspaper account of several fishermen lost at sea on an ice floe. The novella portrays the characters of fourteen fishermen and their reactions as they encounter a life-threatening situation on a dwindling ice floe.
 

The smelts are winter and early spring meal. Most of the smelt recipes on the internet without much variation call for deep frying but I would recommend lighter treatment for the smelts' delicate flesh. Latvian traditionalists would say smelt is best enjoyed hot smoked or pan fried before dipped into the beaten egg and coated with breadcrumbs or flour. My spirit of experimentation led to creation of my fusion dishes, in which recipe (culinary technique) from one country interacts with ingredients from another (usually Latvian local ingredients). Escabeche originated in the Mediterranean and is traditionally prepared with fish from that region, such as sardines and anchovies. Nevetheless mild escabeche is perfect match for bigger size smelts.

 

 

 

 

 

1kg smelts

for escabeche:

1 orange
1 carrot
5 shallots
2 garlic cloves
5 bay leaves
pink peppercorns and white pepper
allspice
50ml Moscatel white wine vinegar
100ml extra virgin olive oil
few thyme springs
Maldon sea salt

Prepare the fish. There is no need to scale the smelts. Cut off the heads and slit open the belly, leaving the tail intact. Push out the guts and lift out the backbone. Wipe the smelts with a damp cloth, and lay them skin side down on a baking sheet and open out like a butterfly. Season with salt and white pepper. Preheat the oven to 180C. Bake for 5-7 minuts depending on the size of fish. Remove from the baking sheet with spatula on to the serving platter and leave at room temperature.

Prepare the escabeche. Slice the carrot lengthwise, slice shallots into rings, finely slice garlic and grate zest of an orange and squeeze it. Heat the olive oil in the frying pan. Add the carrot, garlic and shallots and sweat over a medium heat for a minute. Add orange juice and zest, vinegar, bay leaves, thyme springs, pink peppercorns and allspice. Bring to the boil and let it bubble for a minute. Take off the heat and leave until cold (room temperature). Pour the escabeche over the smelts, then refrigerate overnight.

Bring the escabeche to room temperature half an hour before serving. Smelts en escabeche pair well with Petit Arvine from Valais and fino or manzanilla sherry.

If you are turning 40 and looking forward to midlife crisis starting reflect your life...don't panic you still can experience thrill of horror angling smelts in a good company on the ice floe adrift in the sea. And if you are lucky enough afterwards prepare smelts en escabeche! Alternatively, smelts are sold at Fish Pavillion of Riga Central Market.

BRIS(T)LINGS OR EUROPEAN SPRATS IN BRINE

Latvia has 531 km of sandy (Kurzemes coast) and pebbly (Vidzeme coast) coastline along with fishing villages, lighthouses, brineries, smokeries, ports, beaches, dunes, bluffs and capes. The bris(t)ling (both spellings are used in English) or European sprat (Sprattus sprattus balticus) is a small and tiny marine fish resembling herring and found in abudance in the Baltic Sea. It has silver grey scales and white-grey flesh, not to be confused with its "big brother" Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras (L.)) also belonging to the family Clupeidae.  European sprats have high commercial importance in Latvian economy. And the most tradicional and ancient way of preparing them and also preserving them for harsh winters is soaking in brine. In Latvian raw sprat is called brētliņa while cured in brine changes its name to ķilava. Similarly in English cured herring bears the name of bloater or kipper.

Brining is an ancient and simple type of food preservation using salt and water (in this recipe equal parts of water and white wine are used). It has been practiced by almost every seafaring culture throughout time with the only difference being the type of fish used. In contrast to fish brining some type of vegetables (cabbage) are soked in brine until spontaneous fermentation occurs. The amount of time needed to brine depends on the size of the fish but ususally brining is suitable for small fishes. In old times containers used for brining were oak barrels but inox or enamel container (bowl) is fine for small quantities. Nowadays sprats in brine are manufactured on the commercial scale and for longer shelf life they are canned and then sold in supermarkets. Home brined sprats are the best bait!

Today home brined sprats is an abandoned culinary tradition especially in urban areas and metropolis like Riga. However, this tradition is still alive in small fishing villages along Kurzeme coast (Western coastline). So I decided to revive the tradition of home brined sprats (ķilavas).  Several generations of my family have lived in Riga and I can truly call myself Rigan (inhabitant of Riga) and therefore I do not have my grandma's recipe of brined sprats. I followed general rules of brining but created my own mixture of spices that most probably differs from very authentic recipe. That was the most challenging task as spices add twist to the salty solution where sparts are cured. In season (October to April) raw sprats are sold in Fish Pavilion of Riga Central Market included in UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In developing the spice mixture I felt a bit like the attar, mixer of epic Moroccan spice mixture ral el hanout. At the end my spice mixture contained as many as14 different spices in order to safisty my taste buds. Spices were ground just before brining and I do recommend grind them in small amounts because once you grind spices, they begin to die. During blending I added spices, mixed them well and tasted a mixture, then added other spices or more quantities and tasted it again untill I came to final mixture. I was very creative culinary pleasure but unfortunately I can not give precise amount of each spice in the final mixture because I never weighted them during blending. But still I can name all spices included in the final mixture.

1kg European sprats
100ml cold water
100ml dry white wine
1/2tsp.sugar
5tbsp. sea salt (non-iodized)
splash of anise-flavoured liqueur (sambuca, pastis)
spice mixture - black pepper, allspice, pink peppercorns, coriander seeds, dried orange peel, fennel seeds, dried ginger root, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, nutmeg, mace, bay leaves, rose petals.

Grind the spices and blend them into spice mixture.

Even sprats do not need to be gutted and whole fish may be cured I prefer to gut them due to the long soaking time in brine. Gut the sprats, wash and drain, then place them tightly side by side in a bowl. When the first layer is formed sprinkle over sea salt and spice mixture, and form the next layer and again sprinkle over the salt and spice mixture. Form as many layers as necessary.

To make preserving liquid in a saucepan bring water to a boil, add sugar and simmer for a minute untill sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool. Mix together cool water and white wine. Pour the preserving liquid over the sprats, making sure that they all are covered. Sit a saucer on top, and apply pressure by weighing it down with a big tin or weight. Store in a cool place or fridge until they are ripening for at least 5 to 7 days. They are best eaten 5 to 10 days from brining, but will keep for up to a month or longer. All the times sprats shall be covered by preserving liquid. To serve, cut off head and tail and remove backbone of the sprats, pin bones are too small to be removed.

Brined sprats are served cold, usually as a starter on the buttered slice of rye bread or accompanied with a boiled egg, a few slivers of onion and some greens. European sprats in brine are considered a difficult food to be paired with wine. It should be wine that cope with both saltyness and pronunced taste of cured fish. Traditionally Latvians would pair ķilavas with a beer or even dry cider rathen than wine. I think that ķilavas work well with a chilled white that is high in acidity and not too oaky. Grenache Gris from Roussillon or Pinot Blanc or Riesling from Alsace can help to balance the salt and the high acidity helps the wine stand up to the intense flavors.

There is nothing like the taste of ķilavas at this time of the year!