This product is found in the health food/organic aisle in my Giant.
Health food. Herring in sour cream. Does not compute.
I’ve had my eye on this one for a while, but the fear has always stopped me. It is extreme. This week I put on my big girl panties and grabbed the jar. Pray for me.
Smell: Like pickles and fish. The pickled scent comes from the vinegar listed on the ingredient list. For the first time I seriously considered not eating a product. I knew I had to perservere.
Appearance/Texture: It looked like creamy baby vomit with large silvery chunks. The cold sour cream felt like death and sadness on my tongue.
Taste: When I started this column, I made a promise to Eick that I would not swear. I don’t think he is watching so I am letting it rip: this was the most fucking disgusting shit I have ever eaten. The fish and the vinegar and the creaminess made me gag. I am a woman with a strong constitution and I nearly lost my dinner.
Final Verdict: Are you kidding me? Really?! Step away from the fish in a jar.
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Lemmonex writes almost daily about food, life, and her fear of children on her blog, Culinary Couture.
32 responses so far ↓
1 On Nature « Culinary Couture // Jan 14, 2009 at 11:07 am
[...] forget to check out So Good this week…I ate something particularly foul this [...]
2 Jessica // Jan 14, 2009 at 11:12 am
Yes, please. Stay away from the fish in the jar.
This is a traditional Vigilia (Christmas Eve) dish for my Polish family – I won’t go so far as to say that it’s actually *tasty* when made fresh, but it’s definitely more palatable. I’m so sorry I couldn’t spare you the pain ahead of time.
3 Julie // Jan 14, 2009 at 11:53 am
This has to be the funniest thing all morning. Seriously though, why would you have even attempted this!!!
4 charlotteharris // Jan 14, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Awesome! Though, I wonder even more than ever now… who actually eats this stuff?
5 Marissa // Jan 14, 2009 at 12:37 pm
O.M.G.
That is the sickest looking thing I’ve ever seen. I would barf on site if I came across this in real life. Seriously. Gnarly.
6 Lemmonex // Jan 14, 2009 at 12:51 pm
People, have you not figured out I am insane and have a masochistic streak? This choice makes sense to me.
7 Jim // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hilarious! :0
8 Eick // Jan 14, 2009 at 3:00 pm
You may have promised not to swear, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t ask you not to. Let ‘er rip.
9 Eick // Jan 14, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Also, you should be commended for the courage to try such a foul product. This might be the worst you’ve faced since Potted Meat.
10 rossitron // Jan 14, 2009 at 3:25 pm
this looks pretty bad. i’m curious, though, to see how a herring in sour cream lover would go about eating this. somebody has to like it, right? hell, i can imagine a bubba gump moment: herring in sour cream on bread; herring in sour cream potato salad; herring and sour cream pasta salad…
okay, so i couldn’t think of more than three possibilities and it still doesn’t sound appetizing. but there HAS to be a delicious way to eat this. why else would it exist?
11 barred owl // Jan 14, 2009 at 3:45 pm
my dad loves this stuff!
i actually enjoy a bite or two on special occasions…
we usually serve it on dark wheat crackers or rye bread.
12 not that weird // Jan 14, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I actually like this stuff. Not buy this brand. And not in this variety.
I forget who makes it, but there is one that comes in wine sauce and it’s not bad. You need to eat it with bread/crackers. Really not that bad. If I was really, really drunk, I think I’d say it’s actually really good. Its got a lot of character, this food.
13 eli // Jan 14, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Growing up, they served this in synagogue on Saturdays for the post-services spread. I love it, but it must be some kind of childhood psychological affection.
14 Shawn // Jan 14, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Oh my gosh.. That is so GROSS! Where do people come up with ideas like that. Who would honestly put fish in sour cream?
15 Oxen Cox // Jan 14, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I hate to admit it, but I’ve tried it and liked it. I am also the girl that got caught eating ketchup with leftover chinese takeaway white rice. I like really good food, but I also like when the food I eat ends up tasting good… to me at least.
16 melkozek // Jan 14, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Unfortunately you picked a bad brand of herring in sour cream. We get ours from a local market and it is much better.
The best way to eat creamed herring is to put a piece on black bread (or Russian rye) and wash it down with ice cold vodka or even better, akavit.
We have it every year on Christmas Eve and my Jewish, French and Norwegian friends love it.
I guess it’s a Baltic Sea thing.
You got the stuff that would be like Velveeta to a cheese fancier.
P. S. My grandmother used to pickle her own herring when I was a kid, or you could go to the store and get them from a big wooden barrel.
17 Rose'sLime // Jan 14, 2009 at 9:04 pm
As a herring eating 3rd generation Jew my first instinct is to be insulted, but I have to admit, part of the reason I like herring in sour cream is that it’s both good and gross. There’s the sweet and sour.. yum. Then there’s the vinegar and onion and fish and cream… yuck. The last time I tried putting on a big brunch spread I balked at the herring in sour cream and got herring in vinegar instead.
I remember eating it on miniature square pumpernickle. Served alongside sturgeon and gravelax. I’ve had it after temple and also at a Norwegian friend’s x-mas party.
If you’re in New York City, check out Russ & Daughters on Houston in the LES. They alwasy have a good variety of gourmet pickled herrings.
18 Rose'sLime // Jan 14, 2009 at 9:06 pm
In response to melkozek, if you didn’t grow up eating this, I don’t think a better brand is going to help very much.
19 KITCHEN EXP // Jan 15, 2009 at 11:10 pm
I love it tooooo:)
20 Weekend Odds & Ends: Obama Bonanza! « Capital Spice // Jan 17, 2009 at 9:07 am
[...] week, our food heroine Lemmonex tries (gulp) vita herring in real sour cream for our reading entertainment. Which we call: nasty fish in [...]
21 Ace // Jan 17, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Would it be offensive if I made a joke about self-loathing Jewish people? Ah crap, too late.
22 Lee // Jan 19, 2009 at 12:38 pm
that’s an awesomely disgusting photo. i give you credit for trying!
23 Anonymous // Jan 20, 2009 at 10:28 am
Clearly, most people didn’t grow up eating at “kiddushes” at synagogue on Saturday morning. These are a staple there (though I do personally prefer the herring in “wine” sauce), and, like certain nostalgic favorites, may be objectively “coarse,” relative to what we’re used to (see, e.g., grilled cheese with american cheese product and tomato soup from a can, for most “mainstream” Americans)
24 lew // May 27, 2009 at 12:59 pm
You’re a sick lady!! You have no business being a food tester anytime anywhere for anything. That creamed herring is delicious& not unhealthy. Your background shows! Go away and stay there.
25 Anonymous // Jul 15, 2009 at 12:16 pm
This woman is dumb and shouldn’t discourage other people not to try it.Reading her so called most miserable experience of her life dared me even more to go to the store and try one of these just to find out.Well all I can say is she is soooo wrong, are you kidding me it tastes delicious especially if you are seafood lover you will love it guarantee.Plus it’s healthy and rich in Omega3 fatty acids and what else to say.
26 Bert // Nov 19, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I happen to enjoy creamed pickled herring as well.
Last year I was in the Netherlands on the first day of herring season so I tried the raw herring. That, too, was delicious. A fatty fish, the raw herring tasted smooth and creamy. I look forward to going to NYC this spring for some raw herring.
27 Steph // Dec 8, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I grew up eating this! I love it and I’m neither Jewish or Norweigian. In fact I just had some. My mom introduced me to it. She grew up in the early 1900’s on the Upper West Side in a very multi-ethnic apartment building and probably had Jewish neighbors that probably gave her some. If the sour cream gets to you, just try the “homestyle” in wine without sour cream. Herring is a mainstay of the Meditterranean diet and is very high in vitamin D and Omega-3 oils, more so than salmon. Hey, anyone that thinks its yucky just leaves more for ME!
28 matto // Dec 23, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I prefer MaBaensch with sour cream/chives. Traditional festivus fare at our house. Its always fun to see a newbie try it for the first time, and we wont let you live it down if you don’t partake. Better to grin and bear it, but most come back for more. Pickled turkey gizzards and cannibal sandwiches round out the essential ‘appetizer’ tray. (at least you wont have to worry about the kids raiding it)
29 Gregc // Dec 24, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Everybody in my family loves this. We can’t keep a bottle in the fridge for very long. When I was growing up, my dad kept trying to get me to taste it and I thought it looked disgusting. Then one day I tried it. Later…. my dad looked down into the empty jar and said “Hey! Who ate all my herring!” I like the pickled herring plain, in wine, or best in the sour cream. I guess it’s just something your tastebuds are wired for or not. BTW, we’re not jewish at all, so our liking it didn’t come from that background.
30 Kevin // Jan 8, 2010 at 12:07 pm
This stuff is great. I love it. You just eat it right out of the jar. Keep a big jar at work in the fridge, and have some for lunch every day.
You must not like great tasting stuff. No food is pretty after you chew it.
31 Anonymous // Feb 8, 2010 at 4:34 pm
32 Gina // Mar 11, 2010 at 2:13 pm
I actually love this stuff! Vita also makes it in red wine sauce which is really yummy on crackers!
YUM!
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