Dried, salty, smoke-cured herring that keeps without refrigeration — soaked down, flaked, and fried with onions and peppers. Poverty-proof protein dense in omega-3 and B12.
Smoked herring was working-people's protein across the Black South and the broader Caribbean diaspora — cheap, shelf-stable, and full of flavor. A small amount seasons a whole pot. It fed families through lean weeks and shows up at breakfast tables as 'herring and bakes' or over grits.
Herring is one of the richest omega-3 fish in the sea and among the highest natural food sources of vitamin D and B12. The smoking and salting preserved that nutrition in eras and households without refrigeration — a survival technology that happens to deliver heart and brain medicine. Soaking before cooking removes most of the cure's salt while keeping the omega-3 intact.
Soak the dried herring in cool water (or briefly in boiling water) for 20-30 minutes, changing the water once or twice, to draw out the heavy salt. Remove skin and bones, flake the flesh, then sauté with plenty of onion, bell pepper, tomato and a little hot pepper. Serve over rice, grits, or with boiled provisions.
Free, no account needed to ask.