Herring Under a Fur Coat

Method

1. 1.The whole dish hinges on cooked, cooled vegetables, so do this part ahead. Boil the potatoes, carrots and beetroot whole in their skins, in separate pans — beetroot stains anything it touches pink and you don't want pink potatoes. The potatoes and carrots want about 25 minutes, the beetroot closer to an hour. They're done when a knife slides in with no resistance.
2. 2.Drain everything and let it cool completely. Peel the skins off — they slip off easily once cooled — and grate each vegetable on the coarse side of a box grater into three separate bowls. Keep them separate; the layers are the whole point.
3. 3.Boil the eggs for nine minutes for a firm yolk, then cool, peel and grate them too. Grate the onion finely, salt it lightly and leave it to sit for five minutes to take the raw bite off.
4. 4.Pat the herring fillets dry and chop them into small dice, about the size of a lentil. If yours are very salty, give them a quick rinse first — and if you can only find fillets in oil, that's fine too, just drain them well.
5. 5.Now the layering, on a wide flat serving plate. Start with the herring, spread in an even disc the size of a small dinner plate. Scatter the grated onion over the top. Then a layer of potato, gently pressed down, and a thin, even layer of mayo spread over it with the back of a spoon.
6. 6.Next a layer of carrot, then another whisper of mayo. Then a layer of egg — just the grated whites and yolks mixed together — and another thin layer of mayo. Finally the beetroot, in a thick even layer that covers everything so the whole thing turns a uniform, improbable purple-pink.
7. 7.Finish with a generous covering of mayo over the top and smooth it with the back of a spoon. Cover the plate with cling film and refrigerate for at least four hours, ideally overnight. The flavours need that time to meet each other.
8. 8.Before serving, tidy the edges and decorate the top however you like — I usually grate a little extra egg yolk over it, or scatter over some finely chopped dill. Slice it like a cake.

Notes