Millions of housewives are busy in the kitchen at this moment and are preparing to set the table. One of the most popular dishes on the New Year's menu of Russians has been herring under a fur coat for many years.

At the same time, few people know that the "fur coat" in the name of their favorite snack is an abbreviation, and with political overtones. In any case, according to one of the legends, and there are many of them in the biography of the famous salad.

"The protocol of the President held a meeting. And the wishes were as follows: put jelly and put herring under a fur coat," says Viktor Belyaev, president of the Russian Culinary Association.

It was that rare case when high-ranking guests had to cook herring "under a fur coat", recalls a former Kremlin chef. Thousand portions, each collected by hand. But before the start of the 2000s, such a salad was not served at state receptions, only once did Viktor Belyaev see him at a home celebration at Andrei Andreevich Gromyko.

"The dish itself is not very rich in terms of the set of ingredients. There are no pineapples, hazel grouses. An ordinary simple dish. Egg, herring and vegetables," says Viktor Belyaev.

According to one version, the salad was invented during the Civil War and collected from the most simple products. According to another version, according to legend, herring under a fur coat of vegetables was first served on the streets of Moscow in the taverns of the merchant Bogomilov. By bringing together different products, this dish was also supposed to unite different social strata.

Carrots and onions in the salad symbolized the peasantry, herring - the proletarians, a layer of beets - the red banner of the revolution, and French mayonnaise urged not to forget about the enemies - the bourgeoisie. Even the name - SHUBA - was not chosen by chance, and was deciphered as "Chauvinism and Decline - Boycott and Anathema."

This legend was checked by historians, but Anastas Bogomilov was not found in the lists of the Moscow merchants. There is also not a word about herring under a fur coat in old cookbooks. Culinary critic Olga Syutkina managed to find only the progenitor, as she believes, of the popular New Year's dish - fish vinaigrette.

"Dutch or royal herring is overlaid on the sides with round slices of beets and potatoes - a row of one and a row of the other," he quotes old recipe Olga Syutkina.

One way or another, a herring under a fur coat quickly won its place on the festive tables and became the same attribute of the New Year as the Christmas tree, Santa Claus and tangerines.

The editors of a magazine for women, which has been writing about family, life and cooking for almost a hundred years, call this salad a symbol of the time and try to explain why it is such salty fish became its basis.

"The herring was a public product that did not need to be obtained. It was sold both in iron cans, which everyone remembers, and by weight from large barrels. Naturally, recipes for herring appeared in the New Year's issues, as the main product that could be offered for festive table," explains Tatyana Titova, editor of the magazine.

Of the publicly available products, each Soviet housewife had her own recipes, of course, one is better than the other. They were cut out, copied into cookbooks and sometimes shared secrets.

The Kremlin version of a herring under a fur coat is vegetables, fish and mayonnaise. The former chef of the special kitchen decorates his dish with red caviar. He says that he saw - they did this at one private reception, but at public dinners - never. And speaking about the secret of the popularity of the salad, the culinary specialist remarks whether this dish is proletarian or not - it does not matter. The main thing is always a hearty snack. That is why it is appreciated.

The New Year is approaching, and what kind of New Year is it without a herring under a fur coat? A wonderful salad that has a long history and absolutely does not age.

Herring under a fur coat is everyone's favorite salad, which often decorates festive table our citizens. The combination of salted and oily fish with sweet vegetables gives the dish a unique taste. If earlier in the Soviet Union there were few products to create culinary masterpieces and people used beets, carrots and potatoes available to everyone, now the choice is simply huge. New recipes are available that are full of the Internet, but such a simple salad is still present at all feasts.

In addition, over time, this dish acquires many legends about who invented the herring under a fur coat, when this dish appeared on the tables of our parents, which preceded its appearance as a beautifully decorated festive dish.

norwegian roots

The history of herring under a fur coat goes far from our country to the northern Scandinavian countries, which have always been famous for the abundance of this tasty fish.

In Norwegian cookbooks from 1851, you can find a similar recipe called Sillsallad, which in Russian means herring salad. The recipe included herring, which was placed on the bottom of a large plate, boiled beets, carrots, and eggs cut into thin circles were laid out on top of it. However, all ingredients were not mixed.

English equivalent

Many culinary historians have been looking for an answer to the question of who invented the herring under a fur coat. A similar recipe was found in an 1845 cookbook in England called Swedish Salad. The components of this salad also have similarities with the dish we are studying. This is Norwegian herring, which was peeled, cut into pieces and laid out on a dish. They covered it with layers of sliced ​​beets, potatoes, finely chopped eggs, more pickles and a grated apple were added.

Recipe in Russian sources

Since the second half of the 19th century, and in Russian cookbooks, one can trace the history of the salad recipe "herring under a fur coat." Although this dish was created, of course, without mayonnaise and more like a vinaigrette. The ingredients present in such a salad are incredibly similar to herring under a fur coat. These are the same boiled beets, diced potatoes, and carrots.

Much later, mayonnaise sauce, which is used by people all over the world, is gaining popularity. This salad also did not escape the addition of this popular sauce, and since about 1960 a variant of the modern, so traditional for the Russian feast puff dish with mayonnaise has appeared.

Beautiful legend of the Soviet era

If you are interested in the question of who invented the herring under a fur coat, then on numerous Internet sites you can read the legend about the origin of this popular dish. It sounds like this.

In Moscow and Tver, a certain innkeeper named Anastas Bogomilov in 1918 thought about the state of affairs in his establishments. Many visitors, after a good portion of booze, began to brawl and fight, thus sorting out relations on a political basis. After all, people of different classes visited the tavern, naturally, that alcohol quickly unleashed their tongues, and eternal disputes began.

A certain Aristarkh Prokoptsev worked as a cook in the tavern, to whom the owner gave the task to come up with a salad that would be nutritious and high-calorie so that people would not get so drunk and fight in his taverns. He suffers terrible losses, because after the fight there are broken dishes, furniture, windows, etc. Not to mention the fact that people are simply afraid to go to his taverns and bypass them.

Aristarkh Prokoptsev approached the matter creatively.

He deciphered the composition of the selected ingredients as follows:

herring is a symbol of the proletariat, as the workers often ordered and loved it;

beets - a symbol of the revolutionary red banner;

the rest of the vegetables are root crops (onions, carrots, potatoes), which symbolize the land, which means the peasantry;

mayonnaise is a French sauce that pays homage to the French revolutionaries.

Deciphering the word "fur coat"

If you are interested in the history of a herring under a fur coat, you may come across statements that the word "fur coat", which covers the fish on the plate, turns out to be an abbreviation. It is decoded as follows:

Sh - means chauvinism.

U - respectively decline.

B - stands for boycott.

And - in the full version - anathema.

The combination of words sounds like this:

"To Chauvinism and Decadence - Boycott and Anathema"

The legend ends just fine. The visitors of the establishment, having tasted the salad for the new year 1919, were incredibly satisfied, no one got drunk anymore, everyone ate the herring under a fur coat, which had become a popular salad, and things in the tavern improved.

Exposing the legend

Since then, many have been interested in the question: "Who really invented the herring under a fur coat?" Culinary historians have studied old Russian and Soviet cookbooks and come to a disappointing conclusion: the beautiful legend has absolutely no evidence of its veracity. There was no innkeeper Anastas Bogomilov and no cook Aristarkh Prokoptsev. And in the first edition of the cookbook in Soviet Russia, there was no such recipe.

The first mention of such a salad occurs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was during this period that mayonnaise sauce gained popularity, in many countries they began to use it, replacing ordinary salads with layers. Each ingredient was crushed, stacked separately and smeared with mayonnaise.

Recipe

After we have clarified the origin of this dish in detail, let's look at how it should be prepared. This is a layered salad, which includes, in addition to herring, several other ingredients. Beets should be taken sweet, maroon, fresh, not sluggish.

Light and unsweetened beets can significantly affect the taste characteristics of the dish. You also need to boil the carrots. Potatoes are chosen of the same size and variety, which does not boil soft. Before chopping vegetables for salad, they must be cooled.

How to choose a delicious herring?

Before buying the ingredients for the classic "herring under a fur coat" salad, you need to learn how to choose a herring. It comes in 3 types of salting. Salted herring have red eyes. She is usually fatter. Medium salted fish should be firm to the touch. There should be no "rusty" brown spots on it, no cracks or scratches. If they are on the body of the fish, this means that it was overexposed in salt, and the temperature regime of salting was not observed.

If the fish's eyes become cloudy, it may be with caviar. Many people love it, but be prepared that there will be less pulp and fat content. The herring gave all her life reserves for the maturation of offspring. If the fish is covered with a white coating, this indicates poor-quality salt, in which harmful impurities were present.

Most delicious herring are males. They can be recognized by their narrow and elongated mouth. They are fatter and meatier. If a herring has a round mouth, it is a female. She may have caviar in her stomach, which means that there will be very little meat, mainly on the back. And as mentioned above, females are not so fat.

Also, when buying herring, you need to pay attention to the state of the brine in which it was salted. It must be transparent. If you see a cloudy liquid, and even smell an unpleasant smell, do not risk it, but look for it in another store.

Stages of cooking salad "herring under a fur coat"

After you have purchased necessary products, well-salted herring, potatoes, onions, carrots and dark beets, then you can start cooking the dish. First you need to thoroughly clean the herring, remove the skin, select all the bones and rinse it under sewage. Clean boneless fillets should be cut into slices. This will be the first layer of our layered salad.

Onion is placed on top of the herring. You can use onion, some like fresh green onions. The onion is cut into thin half rings or cubes and poured on top of the fish. You can pre-pickle the onion using water, vinegar and a spoonful of sugar, or you can simply scald it with boiling water to get all the bitterness out of it. Mayonnaise is spread over a layer of fish with onions.

Next are layers of potatoes, carrots, which are also smeared with mayonnaise. Beets are traditionally placed on top. Some people sprinkle finely chopped egg or green onions on top of the mayonnaise layer.

Salad is prepared in different ways: some cut vegetables into cubes, and some rub them on a grater. The herring looks beautiful under a fur coat in the form of a roll. Decorate the salad before serving with olives or vegetable figurines, draw a grid with mayonnaise, add greens.

W.U.B.A.: the history and recipe of the famous salad

On the eve of the New Year 2016, housewives all over the country are thinking about what will be original and author's in their kitchen. But among the unusual delicacies, a few salads will be well known to every guest in any Russian home. Among these "favorites" is the famous appetizer herring under a fur coat. WHO INVENTED HERRING UNDER A FUR COAT?

It is believed that the author of this salad was the merchant Anastas Bogomilov. At the beginning of the 20th century, he was the owner of a network of Moscow canteens and taverns. In difficult revolutionary times, many guests of his establishments allowed themselves to drink too much, started loud disputes about the fate of their homeland and behaved aggressively. Heated discussions and fights did not please the owner of the taverns: because of them, he regularly received bills for broken dishes and damaged furniture.

Then Bogomilov decided to come up with a salad that would allow guests not to get drunk for a longer time and would become a symbol of national unification.

WHEN DID THIS SALAD FIRST APPEAR?

The famous herring under a fur coat was first served on New Year's Eve 1919.

All about the decoration of the festive New Year's table

HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THE INGREDIENTS?

Interestingly, the ingredients of the salad were not chosen by chance. The main component was herring - the food of the proletarians. The merchant supplemented it with onions, boiled potatoes, carrots, and on top added a layer of grated beets, which was supposed to resemble a red proletarian banner. In order not to forget about the enemies of the Soviets, the salad was dressed with French mayonnaise sauce.

This is how everyone's favorite herring under a fur coat appeared.

WHAT DOES THE NAME OF THE SALAD MEAN?

According to an urban legend, the merchant himself came up with the appetizer's name: "Chauvinism and Decadence - Boycott and Anathema", or simply "SH.U.B.A." Over time, the name of the author of the recipe popular salad was forgotten, and the dish began to be called a herring under a fur coat.

Salad "Herring under a fur coat" is not a gastronomic perversion (although some foreigners think so), not a figment of the imagination of our harsh hostesses, who sometimes create salads that are surprising in their composition. It does not have such a detective story filled with secrets and mysteries, like Olivier or other famous dishes. "Herring under a fur coat" - an elegant salad in its simplicity, like the people for whom it was created, this is a "Dish of the World", aimed at class unification and calming the visitors of the tavern, agitated by the revolutionary events in the country. We know the name of the creator, we know the specific composition of the salad, but it is a reflection of the spirit of that time. And it's 100% New Year's dish because it was presented on New Year's Eve 1919.

No intrigue, you say. But this is a ready-made funny story for a family and friendly feast to set a playful tone for the conversation and keep the fun going! And it's interesting to learn the usual dishes from a new side.

By the way, do you know that a fur coat for herring is an abbreviation? More in my small but funny article :)

(Picture Maria Skorodumova)

So, 1918 in Russia. In the country, do not understand what is happening, in the minds of people it is not clear what is happening. At that time, as now, peasants and young men gathered in taverns, and if the male sex climbs into a fight for a harmless reason, then imagine what happened in a turbulent revolutionary time, and even with the disappearance of products and the rise in price of the remaining ones.

And who in the first place bears the losses in such cases? That's right, restaurant owners. Understandable, right?

So Anastas Bogomilov, a Moscow merchant and owner of several taverns, suffered from such fermentation in the minds, which means he suffered losses. And what if food becomes more expensive, but the men did not drink less? Moreover, with a small amount of snacks get drunk faster than usual? That's right, come up with a cheap one, but hearty snack, which was done by the cook of one of the taverns of the aforementioned merchant Aristarkh Prokoptsev.

They say that at that time herring was one of the cheapest products, so the cook made a salad from it, potatoes, onions and beets, flavoring it all with mayonnaise, which Russian citizens love immensely to this day. In our time, there is a legend about the political component of the salad, which says that this salad is a "dish of the world" and was created to combine the powerful classes on which the revolution relied: herring as a symbol of the proletariat, onions and potatoes - as representatives of the peasantry, and beetroot, with its red color, personified the revolution itself, but mayonnaise is assigned either the role of a devoured enemy, or they pay tribute to the revolutionary past of France. So we got a salad-slogan, a salad-manifesto, a salad-symbol. So it was or not, no longer know.

Do you think "Herring under a fur coat" is the original name of the salad? No matter how. The first name of the salad was consonant with the spirit of that time and the passion of our people at the beginning of the century for the abbreviations - S.U.B.A., stands for "Chauvinism and Decline - Boycott and Anathema!". But, as usual, such a strange name was simplified and turned into "Herring under a fur coat."

This salad was invented in 1918, but was presented just on the eve of 1919. He was so fond of the visitors of the tavern that despite the cheap products that make up the salad, he remained festive. Moreover, it has become one of the main symbols of the Russian New Year.

The revolution has subsided, the Soviet Union has sunk into oblivion, the twenty-first century has come, and the love of Russian people for "Herring under a fur coat" does not decrease. Now on our New Year's tables more and more foreign wines, overseas products, fresh fruits from outlandish countries appear, but in many houses in the neighborhood with all these delights, the Herring under a fur coat salad occupies an honorable place.

I suggest you, my friends, listen to a short program (only 3 minutes) from Radio Zvezda about your favorite salad.

Well, according to the Russian tradition, there are a great many variations on the classic composition of "Herring under a fur coat" in our country.

Moreover, the salad "Herring under a fur coat" has become the hero of many anecdotes, photo jokes and illustrations.

Illustrator Nikolai Anikeev has a nice informative leaflet on the theme "Fur Coats".

The most common joke is the story about a cat and a herring.

Or one of the most popular photos on social media:

Sometimes the humor about a herring under a fur coat goes into a different plane and borders on art:

Our beloved women have an amazing sense of humor on the verge of a foul. This photo has not lost its popularity for several years now.

This article is not a serious text and is educational and entertaining.