German Rollmops: Tasty Hangover Cure


The best way to avoid a hangover is to control your alcohol intake. However, if you think that strictly limiting the amount of alcohol takes away from the fun, there are other ways to deal with it. Hangover is a common problem that people face when they drink too much in too little time. Of course, there are tricks like including snacks in your drinks and drinking slowly. Once you control your alcohol consumption per unit of time, the chances of having a hangover decrease.

If you find yourself with a “hangover” the next day, what do you do? Well, there are a lot of options. In fact, it is interesting to see how people cure hangovers in different parts of the world. Rollmops is a German dish consisting mainly of herring fish. It’s a good hangover remedy and it’s also tasty. It is a pickled version of herring and is usually served with sour cream and onion.

This recipe has been in use for many decades when better facilities for preserving fish were not invented. Salting or pickling the fish completely removes the water and allows it to last longer. It wasn’t rich food in those days, but it’s a luxury dish these days. Herring is a fish found mainly in the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic Sea. Even when not used as a hangover cure, they salt the herring to make it last longer. It is a common practice to add salt to this fish on the shore after catching and cleaning it. They used the salting method to transport fish to most of Europe centuries ago. Of course these days freezer compartments are used to transport the fish.

The rollmops recipe is simple but you must prepare it beforehand. You need herring fillets, cider vinegar, juniper berries, whole allspice, cloves, bay leaf, capers, mustard, onion, pickled cucumber, parsley, and cold water. You need to soak herring fillets in water overnight or all day and change the water at least once in between. Remove the bones if there are any and dry them.

Now lay the fillets flat on a slab or board skin side down. Spread some mustard followed by capers and onion rings. Cut the gherkins and place on each fillet and roll up. Use prongs to keep the fillet roll in place. Now place all the fillets in a flat-bottomed glass dish. For the marinade, combine the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Allow to cool and make a paste. Add this to the herring fillets and refrigerate for 5-6 days. You can decorate them with parsley.

If you have a night out with friends and family, you can make this tasty hangover remedy dish a week in advance. You can even have your friends over for lunch the day after the big night! With a little preparation in advance, the day after the big night can also be equally enjoyed.