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Halltu Penwaig (Salting Herring)
Halltu Penwaig (Salting Herring) is a traditional Cymric (Welsh) recipe for a classic method of preserving herring by salting. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Welsh version of: Salting Herring (Halltu Penwaig).
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
60 minutes
Total Time:
80 minutes
Additional Time:
(+9 days curing)
Serves:
18
Rating: 
Tags : British RecipesCymric/Welsh Recipes
Original Recipe
Yr oedd y penwaig ar eu gorau cyn iddynt ‘fwrw eu brawn’ ddiwedd mis Tachwedd, a dyma’r adeg yr eid ati i’w halltu, fel rheol. Byddai’r dull o halltu penwaig yn anrywio rhyw gymaint o ardal i ardal (a daw’r rysáit draddodiadol yma lawr y ffordd o ble ges i fy magu, Aberdaron, Llŷn) ond yr un oedd y broses yn ei hanfod:
Cynhwysion:
36 penwaig ffres
halen môr
Dull:
Glanhau a thynnu perfedd rhyw ddwsin o benwaig allan cyn eu rhoi mewn dysgl bridd go fawr.
Eu gorchuddio â halen a’u troi a’u trosi ynddo am ryw awr. (Y mae’r pennog yn ystwytho wrth ei halltu a gellir plygu’r pen at y gynffon pan fydd wedi cymryd digon o halen.) Trin rhyw dri neu bedwar dwsin o benwaig yn yr un dull.
Yna rhoi haen drwchus o halen ar waelod casgen neu gelwrn pren.
Rhoi rhes o benwaig (ochr yn ochr, pen wrth gynffon) ar y gwely halen hwn a’u gorchuddio â haen arall o halen drachefn.
Parhau i’w gosod yn drefnus, haen o benwaig ac o halen bob yn ail, nes gorchuddio’r cyfan â halen.
Gadael y penwaig yn yr halen am ryw naw niwrnod: erbyn hynny byddant yn nofio mewn heli.
Codi’r penwaig allan o’r heli, eu golchi a’u sychu.
Rhoi’r pysgod yn rhesi yn ôl yn y celwrn glân drachefn, a’u gorchuddio â dŵr a halen. Y tro hwn dylid toddi digon o halen mewn dŵr berw fel y bo wy yn medru nofio ar ei wyneb, ac yna ei dywallt dros y penwaig.
Gadael y penwaig yn y ‘picil’ hwn a’u defnyddio ohono fel y bo’u hangen. (Dylid newid y picil yn achlysurol.)
Cadw’r penwaig rhwng haenau o halen sych oedd yr arferiad yn siroedd de Cymru – ni fyddai’r halen yn toddi rhyngddynt yr ail dro,
English Translation
Herrings were usually preserved in salt towards the end of November when the quality of the fish was at its best. The process of salting them varied a little from district to district (and this traditional recipe comes from down the road from where I grew up, Aberdaron, Llŷn), but basically it followed a similar pattern:
Ingredients:
36 fresh herring
sea salt
Method:
Take about a dozen fresh herrings, and split them open.
Remove their entrails, clean them thoroughly and put them in a large earthenware dish.
Cover them with salt, tossing and turning them in it at regular intervals for about one hour.
When it has absorbed sufficient salt, the herring becomes pliable, so that it is possible to bend it, head to tail.
Treat some three or four dozen herrings in this way.
Put a thick bed of salt at the bottom of a wooden cask or tub, lay the herrings tightly, side by side and head to tail on the salt, and cover them with another layer of salt.
Continue to arrange them in alternate layers until all the fish are well covered with salt.
Leave for some nine days until the salt has turned to brine.
Then lift the herrings out of the brine, wash and drain them well.
Re-arrange the herrings in layers in a clean tub.
Dissolve sufficient salt in boiling water so that an egg will float in it and pour this solution over the herrings, to cover them.
Store the herrings in this ‘pickle’ and use them, when needed. (The solution should be changed periodically.)
The salted herrings were stored between layers of dry salt in South Wales – it would not turn to brine the second time,
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