Herring/kipper help please!

[Custardslice3]

I posted this in chat, but then thought I might get more response here?

So I was drawn in by the lure of a yellow sticker at Tesco yesterday and came home with smoked herring (aka kippers) and I have no idea what I'm doing with them! I need to feed myself and DS7 for dinner, so it needs to be child friendly (though he is quite good with strong flavours, loves smoked mackerel etc). I've done some googling and have settled on kedgeree, partly because I already have some boiled eggs in the fridge, but I have no idea how to actually cook the fish as the recipes all just say to remove skin and flake the fish in, so are assuming the fish is already cooked.

Some sites seem to think I need to boil the fish to remove excess saltiness. Is this necessary/advisable? Or can I just give it a couple of minutes in the microwave?

Help please!!

You could grill them and serve with poached egg and boiled potatoes. Simple but delicious.

Grill them. Much easier. Bit smelly. Kedgeree is usually smoked haddock, no? But if you grill them you can flake the fish off the skin and pull the worst of the bones.

So I don't need to boil to remove saltiness before grilling?

They are fillets, so bones shouldn't be too big an issue. I'm going to flake it over rice (yes, kedgeree would usually be haddock, but it can be any smoked fish and I think it's the most likely way for my son to eat it) it's just how I prepare/cook it I'm not sure of!

Can you tell I've never cooked a kipper before?

Cullen Skink is gorgeous

CULLEN SKINK

I poach them, very lightly. They're smoked so only need heating up really. Grilling them stinks.

Then you flake the flesh in as large pieces as possible away from the spine otherwise you'll just be eating tiny bones.

Very nice as pp said with poached egg and/or potato, with tomatoes or a vegetable like green beans.

Thank you all - I went with poaching in the end and it worked a treat. Oh my goodness all those tiny bones though! I wasn't prepared for that faff! DS has additional needs so I was worried he would refuse to touch it if he could see all the bones, but actually he wasn't bothered and he declared it delicious, especially with the egg on top :)

@iklboo that does look amazing, but sadly DS won't eat soup :( I've only used half of the fish though, so might have a go at making that for my lunches.

Kipper pate is lovely - whizz it in the blender with parsley, a finely chopped shallot, wee bit of bread to bulk it out, splash of milk to give it a bit of liquid and generous squueze of lemon juice to cut the oiliness. Serve on toast, or, if you're me, eat it with a spoon.

@Crepuscularshadows that's a good call for the leftovers as I know DS would enjoy that too, thanks!

My granny used to cook kippers by standing them in a tall jug, filling it up with boiling water and just leaving to stand for 5-10 minutes.