German · Authentic-ish German
Matjes
400 kcal a serving, against 563 for the traditional version. That is 163 kcal off, or 29%, with 36.3g of protein. Serves 4. 20 minutes plus 24 hours' curing.
What the traditional version is
Matjes is brined young herring fillets cured for a day or two, then eaten cold with sliced onion, thick soured cream, sometimes a little diced apple for sweetness, and rye bread on the side. It's a sharp, fat, and frankly outrageous lunch, best with a cold beer by a canal.
What changed, and what each change costs
250g soured cream to 250g fat-free Greek yoghurt
The cream is about two-thirds fat. That gets the numbers all wrong, so I use fat-free Greek yoghurt instead. It's thick, tangy and not watery like the usual low-fat suspects.
What it costs you. The sauce is sharper and lacks a dairy richness. It does the job, but yoghurt has one note where cream has three. If you crave the lush finish, this isn't it.
Keep the herring, but use less bread: 240g rye bread down to 120g
The usual side is a huge slab of rye bread, sometimes even potato. Herring gives all the protein and omega-3 you could want, so you don't need a whole bakery. Less bread means you fill up on fish.
What it costs you. You might miss the big hunk of bread to mop up the sauce, but there's still enough to keep the onions from hurting your dignity.
Dial the salt down a bit in the cure: 35g to 25g
A traditional Matjes cure is brutally salty, to keep the fish for weeks. If you're eating it immediately, you can use a little less and it won't go off on the plate.
What it costs you. The fish is milder, so you get more actual herring flavour. If you demand maximum punch, stick with the salt - but your kidneys will thank you for this one.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 563 | 400 |
| Protein | 34g | 36.3g |
| Fat | 27.7g | 14.9g |
| Saturated fat | 9.8g | 3.3g |
| Carbohydrate | 43.8g | 29g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 6g | 9.1g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish German prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. fish, gluten, milk.
The method is in the book
This is a straight trade: swap the cream for yoghurt, keep the fish front and centre, and lose some bread. The numbers look far better and you still get everything great about Matjes, minus the plush sauce. You can't pretend Greek yoghurt is as satisfying as soured cream, but the fish is so good it barely matters. Eat it outside, ideally somewhere breezy with a beer. That fixes everything.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish German, along with 54 more. It is not out yet. The swap kit is free in the meantime.