Vorschmack or forshmak (from archaic

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

''Vorschmack'', "foretaste"Gil Marks. Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010
Forshmak
/ref> or "appetizer" ) is an originally

East European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

dish made of salty minced fish or meat. Different variants of this dish are especially common in

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

cuisine. Some varieties are also known in

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

cuisine.

In Jewish cuisine

According to

Gil Marks Gilbert Stanley Marks (May 30, 1952 – December 5, 2014) was an American food writer and historian noted for his reference and cookbooks on the subject of Jewish food. He was the founding editor of ''Kosher Gourmet'' magazine. He moved to Israel a ...

, the German name points to the possible Germanic origin of this dish.

William Pokhlyobkin William Vasilyevich Pokhlyobkin (August 20, 1923 – April 15 (burial date), 2000) (russian: Ви́льям Васи́льевич Похлёбкин, Viliyam Vasilievich Pokhlyobkin) was a Soviet and Russian historian specializing in Scan ...

describes it as an originally

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

n hot appetizer which was made of fried

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

.В. В. Похлебкин. ''Национальные кухни наших народов''. Москва, изд. Пищевая пром-сть, 1980
Еврейская кухня
(

. ''The Ethnic Cuisines of our Peoples''. Moscow, Food Industry publishing house, 1980; Russian) The dish was adopted and brought eastwards by

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

which transformed it into a cold appetizer, a

pâté ''Pâté'' ( , , ) is a paste, pie or loaf filled with a forcemeat. Common forcemeats include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef; fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy (often cognac or armagnac). It is often served ...

made of chopped brined herring. While the name ''forshmak'' became common in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

( yi, פֿאָרשמאַק, uk, форшмак),

and

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

Jews usually called it gehakte herring ("chopped herring"). Traditional recipes include chopped hard-boiled egg, onion and grated fresh apple. Sometimes potatoes are also added. The appetizer is usually served as a salad or as a spread on bread, crackers or kichlach (cookies). It may also be eaten for breakfast or as a main course, usually with boiled potatoes.

In Russian cuisine

Although nowadays vorschmack is mainly associated with Jewish cuisine in Russia, historically different versions of this dish (russian: форшмак) were known there. These were usually hot

zakuski Zakuski (plural from Russian: закуски ; singular zakuska from закуска; Polish: zakąski, zakąska) is an assortment of cold hors d'oeuvres, entrées and snacks in food culture of Russia and in Slavic-speaking countries. It is ser ...

(appetizers) or breakfast dishes. ''

A Gift to Young Housewives ''A Gift to Young Housewives'' ( rus, Пода́рок молоды́м хозя́йкам, r=Podarok molodym khozyaykam) is a Russian cookbook written and compiled by Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets (née Burman; ) and usually referred to as "Molokho ...

'', a classical Russian cookbook by Elena Molokhovets, provides three recipes of hot vorschmack in its first edition (1861) and further variants were added in subsequent editions. In one recipe, meat (veal or beef), herring,

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. This milling pro ...

and onions are minced, mixed with smetana (sour cream) or

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and baked. Other recipes include only herring (without meat), as well as other ingredients, such as potatoes, eggs and apples. Even more elaborate recipes with further details on cooking techniques are given in another classical Russian cookery textbook, ''The Practical Fundamentals of the Cookery Art'' (1899–1916) by Pelageya Alexandrova-Ignatieva. It was in particular proposed to place the mixture of minced ingredients inside a kalach, cover it with grated cheese and bake it au gratin. Similar recipes also appear in ''Cookery'' (1955), a major cookbook of

Soviet cuisine Soviet cuisine, the common cuisine of the Soviet Union, was formed by the integration of the various national cuisines of the Soviet Union, in the course of the formation of the Soviet people. It is characterized by a limited number of ingredi ...

In Polish cuisine

As a cold pâté or a hot baked appetizer, various recipes of ''forszmak'' (the same pronunciation) are found in old Polish cookery. The recipes are similar to the Russian ones described above. Another variety, a meat stew named ''forszmak lubelski'' is known in East Poland (

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

region), usually made of chopped meat (beef, pork, or chicken), pickled cucumbers, and tomato paste.

In Finnish cuisine

In Finnish cuisine, vorschmack is usually prepared out of

ground meat Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, includi ...

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

or herring and

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

s. The dish is usually garnished with potatoes,

pickles Pickles may refer to: Dogs * Pickles (dog) (died 1967), a dog that found the stolen World Cup trophy in 1966 * Pickles (pickleball), a dog often cited as the name origin for the sport of pickleball * Mr. Pickles, the titular demonic dog in an ...

and smetana (sour cream).

Snaps Snaps ( ) is a Danish and Swedish word for a small shot of a strong alcoholic beverage taken during the course of a meal. A ritual that is associated with drinking snaps is a tradition in Scandinavia, especially in Denmark and Sweden, where it ...

is usually served in combination with eating vorschmack. Some recipes include

cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cog ...

. There are several stories regarding the origin of the dish, but it has become a traditional Finnish dish as it was one of the favourite appetizers of the Finnish president, statesman, war hero and gourmand Marshall

Gustaf Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as comma ...

. Some sources say Mannerheim brought the dish to Finland from Poland or Russia, but there have not been any definite sources for these claims. The restaurant

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

at the top floor of one of the buildings around the

Esplanadi Esplanadi ( sv, Esplanaden), colloquially known as Espa, is an esplanade and urban park in downtown Helsinki, Finland, situated between the Erottaja square and the Market Square. It is bordered on its northern and southern sides by the Pohjoisesp ...

in central

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

is famous for its vorschmack. The restaurant used to be frequented by Mannerheim and Mannerheim's table at the Savoy was always reserved and, out of respect, no one would ever consider demanding to be seated there. Savoy still today keeps a similar style decor and menu as in the days of Mannerheim.

References

{{Herrings Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Shabbat food Ukrainian cuisine Finnish cuisine Russian cuisine Appetizers Herring dishes Spreads (food)