Lightly smoked herring fillets, marinated in vinegar with onions and aromatics until tender and tangy. The quintessential Northern preserve, keeping for weeks and eaten cold on bread.

Why this dish? Boulogne-sur-Mer, Bombard's city, was the European capital of herring. Salting, smoking, and marinating this fish was the gesture that fed the port all year round — preservation turned into cuisine, in a town where the smell of smokehouses was that of daily life.

In Boulogne, the herring was our silver gold. The smokehouses worked day and night, and every home had its jar of vinegar fillets, ready for lean days. We chose the fattest fish, let it take the smoke, then bathe in vinegar with onion and bay, and after a few days it became melting and sharp. Some bread, a warm potato, and you could face the winter.

How it was made : Herring was preserved by salting in barrels, smoking (kipper, red herring), or vinegar marinade. In Boulogne-sur-Mer, these techniques sustained the port for centuries: the caught fish had to be stabilized quickly, as without refrigeration it would spoil in a day.

The contemporary twist : Roll each marinated fillet around a thin slice of tart apple and secure with a pick: an appetizer bite in the style of a revisited rollmops, sweet-sour and iodized.

Alain Bombard · Charactorium