Shuba Salad Recipe {Herring Under Fur Coat} (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of herring under a fur coat? ›

U.B.A ('shuba' means "fur coat" in Russian, but it was also an acronym for "to Chauvinism and Decline (in Russian "Upadok") - Boycott and Anathema"). Later this salad became known as "herring under a fur coat".

Simply put, shuba salad, or “Herring Under a Fur Coat,” is a layered salad of pickled herring fillets, finely chopped onion, beets, carrots, potatoes and dressing. In Russian, “shuba” means “fur coat,” and more specifically references the big coats Russians have to wear during the harsh winter months.

Dressed herring, colloquially known as herring under a fur coat or furry herring (Russian: "сельдь под шубой", romanized: "sel'd pod shuboy" or "селёдка под шубой", "selyodka pod shuboy"), is a layered salad composed of diced spekesild covered with layers of grated boiled eggs, vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beetroots) ...

Dressed herring salad is a delicious layered salad made with pickled herrings, boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, and mayo. This appetizer salad is a staple Christmas and New Year's Eve dish in Ukraine and other eastern European countries.

Historically, fur coats symbolized wealth and social status. Today, many interpret them as symbols of animal cruelty. The animal rights movement had an important role in this change. It supported the protection of all animals and criticized using animals for fashion.

Russians started calling the dish SHUBA—an acronym for a Russian political slogan condemning chauvinism, which also happened to mean “fur coat.” But perhaps the most nationalist ingredient is mayonnaise, a particularly beloved condiment in Russia.

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, including the Baltic Sea, as well as off the west coast of South America.

Since "shuba" coincidentally happens to be a Russian word for "fur coat" as well, the salad's name became colloquialized to "Herring Under A Fur Coat," with the "fur coat" referring to the layers of vegetables and egg over the fish.

This literal sense of the term is old, dating back to the late 1300s. Now, it's often said that the figurative red herring—referring to a distraction from a matter at hand or a misleading clue—comes from historic uses of the fish to make hounds lose their scent while hunting.

/ˈher·ɪŋ/ a long silver fish that swims in large groups in the sea and is used as food.

What does dead as a herring mean? ›

Idioms and Phrases

Also, dead as a dodo or herring . Totally or assuredly dead; also finished.

This fish is in the same family as sardines. It is considered a healthy fish with very low toxicity. Herring contains large amounts of important nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and selenium. These are important for fighting and preventing heart disease, as well as certain types of cancer.

Herring contains the vitamin B12, which supports many functions throughout the body, including proper brain function and healthy nerve cell maintenance. Together with folate (vitamin B9), it helps the body create red blood cells.

Herring was not only nutritious, it was also inexpensive and it had a reasonable shelf life. When the fish was kept in a barrel of salt, it could be consumed all winter.

Atlantic herring are one of the most important species in the Northeast because of the vast role they play in the marine ecosystem and their importance to fishermen. Herring form the base of the food web as a forage fish for marine mammals, seabirds and many fish throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1981) gives the full phrase as "Drawing a red herring across the path", an idiom meaning "to divert attention from the main question by some side issue"; here, once again, a "dried, smoked and salted" herring when "drawn across a fox's path destroys the scent and sets the hounds ...

noun. her·​ring ˈher-iŋ plural herring or herrings. : a valuable food fish that is very common in the north Atlantic Ocean. also : any of various fishes like this one or related to it.

Now, it's often said that the figurative red herring—referring to a distraction from a matter at hand or a misleading clue—comes from historic uses of the fish to make hounds lose their scent while hunting. As one account goes, hunters would drag red herring along the ground to train hounds to follow a scent.