Russian Herring under a Fur Coat Salad Recipe

Herring is a wide spread ingredient in cuisines of numerous countries. If you are lucky to visit Russia on New Year holidays you would be eagerly treated by a traditional salad with herring called a Russian Herring under a Fur Coat Salad or simply ‘Shuba’.

This salad has got quite a long history. It first appeared in 1919 in the Soviet Russia. 

Once upon a time there lived a merchant named Anastas Bogomiltsev. He was an owner of several taverns, in Russian “traktir”, that were situated in Moscow and Tver. To reduce the number of drunken fights his cook Aristarkh Prokoptsev created a new recipe of a nutritious salad. It contained useful ingredients that prevented haunters from getting drunk very fast. Luckily the idea was a success. The salad got even the political-oriented abbreviation of Sh.U.B.A. that sounded like the Russian word “shuba”. (It means a fur coat.)

The abbreviation itself can be translated as the Boycott and Anathema to Chauvinism and Decadence. As you can see, everything was very seriously taken that time.

Now let’s speak about the meaning of the ingredients. The main product was herring, it meant the Proletarians, beets stood for the blood and the red colour of the Bolsheviks’ standard. Boiled potatoes signified the Peasants and the last component was mayonnaise symbolizing the French Revolution. 

Nowadays the author and the origin of the salad are almost forgotten, but the recipe remains the same. If you want to make Shuba at home yourselves, you will need:

-3 boiled unpeeled potatoes,

-2 boiled unpeeled carrots,

-2 bolied eggs,

-2 medium boiled beets,

-Fillet of herring (1 fish),

-200 gm Mayonnaise,

-1 onion.

bolied carrots and potatoes with peels

The time of preparation is about 3 hours. The boiled ingredients should be separately grated. An onion must be chopped into tiny pieces. In its turn the fillet of herring should be cut into small pieces. After cutting and grating, you should put all parts of Shuba together to get a brilliant result. However, everything must be put layer by layer. At first you place one half of the grated boiled potatoes, then put the cut fillet on a dish. Add a layer of onion and spread some mayonnaise. After that put a layer of carrot, eggs add some mayonnaise. Then complete the salad with the layer of another half of potatoes and beets. Again mayonnaise goes above. Decorate the salad with a leaf of parsley. Leave the salad to cool for 2-3 hours. Enjoy your meal!

P.S.: Serve with vodka and red caviar ;)