Karrysild

The story

Herring opens the Danish Easter lunch, the påskefrokost, and a bowl of curried herring is usually close by. Lex, the Danish national encyclopedia, names eggs and herring as the staples of the meal, which first marked the end of the long fast and replaced plainer fasting-season food as prosperity grew in the 1950s. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are all public holidays in Denmark, and The Local notes that the lunch usually falls on Easter Sunday, March 28 in 2027, and can run through the afternoon into the evening. Skagen Online, a Danish guide, calls herring almost a must, lists fried, curried and mustard herring beside plain marinated fillets, and says the curry salad should of course be homemade. That dressing is the whole recipe: mayonnaise and crème fraîche or sour cream seasoned with curry powder, freshened with apple, onion and pickles, and folded through sweet-sour pickled herring. The Local calls it something of an acquired taste and points out that it is a mainstay of the Christmas lunch as well. Make it the day before, serve it first on buttered rye bread, and follow it with the eggs and warm dishes.