Caroline Conran

Herrings in oatmeal

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Preparation info
  • To serve

    four

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
top 1000British Cooking
British Cooking

By Caroline Conran

Published 1978

  • About

To any Scotsman a meal without oats is a wasted opportunity; this dish of herrings coated with oatmeal has a further claim to fame: it was a great favourite with King Edward VII and enjoyed by him not only in Balmoral but when he was living his grand London life.

Ingredients

  • fine fresh herrings
  • salt
  • 4 heaped tablespoons medium or fine oatmeal (or porridge oats)
  • lard fo

Method

The herrings are nicest if you open them out along the back, like kippers, and remove the backbones. To do this, first remove head and guts in one operation (1) without opening the fish. Now scrape off the scales with a blunt knife (2) or a scallop shell – the traditional fish scaler.