Oseledets Recipe: Herring for Ukrainian Christmas Eve

Name: Traditional Oseledets
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 26 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: 400 g (14 oz) lightly salted herring fillets, about 4 fillets (weight is an estimate); 2 medium onions, about 250 g (9 oz), thinly sliced into rings or half-rings (weight is an estimate); 250 ml (1 cup) water; 50 ml (about 3 tbsp) 9% table vinegar; 1 tbsp sunflower oil; 1 tsp sugar; ½ tsp salt; 2 bay leaves; 5 allspice berries; 5 black peppercorns; ½ tsp coriander seeds (estimate within the published range); 2 whole cloves; 1 tbsp sunflower oil (amount is an estimate); Boiled potatoes, optional

Active time: ~20 minutes | Total time: ~26 hours, including soaking and marinating | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy

Quick Overview

Soak the salted herring fillets in cold water if they are very salty, then pat dry and cut into pieces
Slice the onions into rings or half-rings
Boil water with salt, sugar, sunflower oil, and whole spices, stir in the vinegar, and cool the marinade completely
Layer the herring and onions in a jar and pour the cold marinade over them
Refrigerate for 24 hours
Lift the herring out, drizzle with sunflower oil, and serve cold

What Oseledets Is

Oseledets (оселедець) is the Ukrainian word for herring. At Sviata Vecheria, the Christmas Eve Holy Supper, it comes to the table as salted or pickled herring, served cold with onion and oil.^3,4,7 It fits the rules of the supper: the dishes are meatless and milkless,¹ and cooked with vegetable oil rather than animal fat.⁴

The recipe below is the marinated form: sliced herring layered with onion and covered with a cooled marinade of water, vinegar, salt, and whole spices. The published Ukrainian recipes listed at the end of this article share that method, and it needs no cooking beyond boiling the marinade.^7,8,9,10,11

The other dishes of the supper are collected on our Sviata Vecheria menu.

History & Cultural Roots

Oseledets belongs to Sviata Vecheria, which the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine describes as a meal of twelve ritual meatless and milkless dishes. He adds that the dishes and their order are not uniform, because every region keeps its own tradition.¹ Fish fits that pattern. The Kyiv Independent notes that fish are cold-blooded and have historically been part of fasting meals throughout the Christian world, and it lists herring among the fish found on Ukrainian tables.² Euromaidan Press calls fish an ancient Christian symbol.⁴

Whether herring itself is required is another matter, and the sources do not give a single answer. The encyclopedia’s entry on traditional foods says that cold appetizers are made from salted herring and that fish is one of the basic dishes of the Christmas supper.³ Euromaidan Press says the fish might be pickled herring with onions, baked carp, or pike, depending on the region and what is available.⁴ A Galician cooking site, panistefa.com, takes a firmer line: the festive Christmas table, it says, cannot do without herring.⁵

How herring reached Ukrainian tables is partly a trade story. The book Ukraine: Food and History (2020) notes that salted fish was once a valuable trade commodity and that brine-curing suits herring best. They report that herring from Crimea and from the Don and Danube rivers was widely available through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and that documents from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century found in Lviv mention Danube and Baltic herring imported in barrels. The fish was eaten as a separate dish with a drizzle of oil and vinegar, after soaking in water or milk to draw out the excess salt.⁶

The recipe site picantecooking.com describes that plain form as the Ukrainian traditional one: salted herring laid out with fresh onion, dressed with oil, and sometimes given a little vinegar just before serving.⁷ The recipe here is the marinated version because that is the method the published recipes share.^7,8,9,10,11 Soaking the fish and dressing it with onion and oil is the simpler option.

Traditional Oseledets Recipe

This recipe was compiled by Heritage Healthy Kitchen from a comparison of published recipes; the sources are listed at the end of this article. Figures that are Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s own estimates rather than taken from a published source are marked as such.

The method and proportions below follow the published recipes listed at the end of this article.^7,8,9,10,11

Ingredients (Serves 4)

400 g (14 oz) lightly salted herring fillets, about 4 fillets⁷ (weight is an estimate)
2 medium onions, about 250 g (9 oz), thinly sliced into rings or half-rings^5,8,9,10 (weight is an estimate)

For the marinade

250 ml (1 cup) water^7,11
50 ml (about 3 tbsp) 9% table vinegar^8,11
1 tbsp sunflower oil⁸
1 tsp sugar^9,10
½ tsp salt^7,9
2 bay leaves^8,10
5 allspice berries¹⁰
5 black peppercorns^8,9
½ tsp coriander seeds (estimate within the published range)^7,8,11
2 whole cloves⁸

To serve

1 tbsp sunflower oil (amount is an estimate)
Boiled potatoes, optional⁸

Use plain salted fillets, not herring already packed in a marinade or sauce. If those are hard to find, lightly salted fillets in brine or vacuum packs from a deli or fish counter are the closest match.

Instructions

Soak the herring. Taste a small piece of fillet. If it is very salty, cover the fillets with cold water for 1–2 hours, changing the water once (the soaking time is an estimate). Soaking to draw out excess salt is the old way of preparing salted herring.⁶ Use water rather than milk, since the supper is milkless.¹ Pat the fillets dry and cut them into pieces about 2 cm (¾ in) thick.⁸
Slice the onions. Slice the onions into thin rings or half-rings.^5,8,9
Make the marinade. Combine the water, oil, sugar, salt, bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns, coriander, and cloves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, take the pan off the heat, and stir in the vinegar.⁸ Let the marinade cool completely.
Layer the jar. In a clean 750 ml (3-cup) glass jar (the jar size is an estimate), alternate layers of herring and onion.⁸
Pour and marinate. Pour the cold marinade over the herring and onions, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours.⁸
Serve. Lift the herring and onions out with a slotted spoon, arrange on a plate, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil. Serve cold, with boiled potatoes if you like.⁸

Kitchen Tips

Cool the marinade all the way. A hot or warm marinade makes the protein on the surface of the fish set, which shows in both the taste and the look of the herring.⁸

Go easy on the cloves. Clove turns more bitter in combination with vinegar, so only a little goes in.⁸

Taste the soaked herring before adding salt. One published herring dressing scales its salt to how salty the fish already is,⁵ so decide on the marinade’s ½ teaspoon only after tasting.

Cut the pieces to a similar thickness so that they marinate evenly.

Make sure every piece is fully submerged in the marinade, pressing the layers down if needed.⁷ Fish left above the liquid stays unmarinated.

Choose firm fish, without odd spots and without an unpleasant smell.⁵

If the fillets are frozen, thaw them in the refrigerator rather than on a plate at room temperature: the outer layer warms up while the middle is still frozen, and bacteria can start to grow on the surface.⁸

Variations

Tea marinade. One published recipe boils black tea in the marinade (300 ml of water, 1 tea bag, 1 tablespoon of salt, a pinch of sugar, allspice, bay, and pepper), with no vinegar or onion. The tannins in the tea add firmness while the flesh stays tender.⁸

Sweet-sour spiced marinade. Another uses apple cider vinegar, sugar, and warming spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, and star anise, with red onion, and rests for 48 hours.⁷

Plain with onion and oil. Soak and slice the fish, then dress it with raw onion and oil, and a little vinegar if you like.⁷

Nutritional Information

Oseledets with Onions and Oil, Per Serving (1 of 4 Servings)

Calories: approximately 222–272 kcal
Protein: approximately 17–21 g
Total fat: approximately 14–17 g
Carbohydrates: approximately 6–8 g
Sugars: approximately 3–4 g

Nutritional values are estimates based on standard ingredient databases (USDA FoodData Central) and will vary with the fish, the onions, and how much marinade and oil end up on the plate. Sodium isn’t listed because it depends too much on how the herring was cured and how long it was soaked. Boiled potatoes and other sides are not included.

Storage and Reheating

Keep the herring in its marinade, in a covered jar in the refrigerator. About four days is Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s own conservative estimate for this mild marinade; one published recipe with a much stronger, sweeter marinade gives up to two weeks.⁷

The dish is eaten cold, so there is no reheating.

Traditional Recipe Card

Traditional Oseledets

Prep ~20 minutesCook ~10 minutesServes 4

Ingredients

Ingredients (Serves 4)

400 g (14 oz) lightly salted herring fillets, about 4 fillets (weight is an estimate)
2 medium onions, about 250 g (9 oz), thinly sliced into rings or half-rings (weight is an estimate)

For the marinade

250 ml (1 cup) water
50 ml (about 3 tbsp) 9% table vinegar
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
2 bay leaves
5 allspice berries
5 black peppercorns
½ tsp coriander seeds (an estimate)
2 whole cloves

To serve

1 tbsp sunflower oil (amount is an estimate)
Boiled potatoes, optional

Instructions

Soak the herring. Taste a small piece of fillet. If it is very salty, cover the fillets with cold water for 1–2 hours, changing the water once (the soaking time is an estimate). Soaking to draw out excess salt is the old way of preparing salted herring. Use water rather than milk, since the supper is milkless. Pat the fillets dry and cut them into pieces about 2 cm (¾ in) thick.
Slice the onions. Slice the onions into thin rings or half-rings.
Make the marinade. Combine the water, oil, sugar, salt, bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns, coriander, and cloves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, take the pan off the heat, and stir in the vinegar. Let the marinade cool completely.
Layer the jar. In a clean 750 ml (3-cup) glass jar (the jar size is an estimate), alternate layers of herring and onion.
Pour and marinate. Pour the cold marinade over the herring and onions, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Serve. Lift the herring and onions out with a slotted spoon, arrange on a plate, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil. Serve cold, with boiled potatoes if you like.

More authentic heritage recipes at heritagehealthykitchen.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the herring soaked in water and not milk?
Historically, salted herring was soaked in either water or milk.⁶ Because the Holy Supper is milkless,¹ this recipe uses water.

Can the recipe start from fresh or frozen herring instead of salted fillets?
The published recipes do both. A marinade for thawed, unsalted herring needs far more salt, about 1 tablespoon to 200 ml of water, and gives a lightly salted result,⁸ while the ½ teaspoon here assumes lightly salted fillets.⁷ For unsalted fish, use the higher amount.

How long should the herring marinate?
The published recipes range from 8 hours to 48 hours, and some call for at least two days for larger skin-on pieces.^7,8,9,10,11 At least a day is also advised elsewhere.⁵ This recipe uses 24 hours.

What is served with oseledets?
Boiled potatoes, aromatic oil, and pickled onion are described as the classic pairing.⁸ The plain form is served with fresh onion and oil.⁷

Are there other ways to dress herring for the supper?
A Galician cooking site gives four. One is a vinegar marinade with onion rings, close to this recipe. Another is a lemon-and-rosemary dressing, blended with the fish’s milt or roe when the herring has it. The third is oil with cranberries. The fourth is herring on a bed of grated sour apple and onion mixed with sour cream,⁵ which would not fit a milkless supper.¹

Is oseledets vegetarian?
No, it is fish. The Holy Supper is meatless, and in the Lenten tradition meat means the flesh of warm-blooded animals, so fish is allowed.²

Can other fish be marinated the same way?
A published recipe for marinating fish at home uses herring or mackerel in a spiced brine of water, salt, and whole spices, and another uses silver carp, which the author calls a more affordable alternative.¹¹

Is Christmas Eve on 24 December or 6 January?
Both dates are in use. The Kyiv Independent news desk reported on 24 May 2023 that the Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine had approved moving to the revised Julian calendar, which puts Christmas on 25 December instead of 7 January, and that parishes can continue using the old calendar.¹² By December 2023 the Church had officially made the switch.² Christmas Eve falls on the evening before Christmas, so 24 December for parishes on the revised calendar and 6 January for those on the old one.

Disclaimer

The information in this article is provided for educational and informational purposes only. Heritage Healthy Kitchen makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of any content on this site. Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on the specific ingredients, brands, and measurements used. This content is not intended as dietary, medical, or professional nutritional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding any dietary needs or health conditions. Heritage Healthy Kitchen is not responsible for any outcomes resulting from the use of recipes or information published on this site.

Cook by Occasion

This recipe is part of our Sviata Vecheria menu.

Traditional Oseledets Recipe: Marinated Herring with Onions for Ukrainian Christmas Eve