(Photo by Shelby Herbert/KFSK)
Petersburg locals are preserving the Northern European holiday tradition of… preserving fish in brine. The town crowned four champions this month at its 49th annual pickled herring contest.
As KFSK’s Shelby Herbert reports, it was a time of merriment and cheer — with an undercurrent of fierce competition.
Rain lashed the exterior of Petersburg’s Sons of Norway Hall on the night of December 13th. But inside, it was toasty and dry. The air was zested with the smell of pickling spices: peppercorns, mustard seed, and dill — as well as other carefully-guarded secret ingredients.
Heidi Lee was arranging bowls of brined seafood on a long table for tonight’s event — and all the while, she was resisting the urge to sample their contents.
“I think that pickled herring is soul food,” said Lee. “I can’t wait till I can start eating some of this stuff!”
The warm glow of Christmas lights illuminated plates of artfully-arranged delicacies. The spread ranged from classic Scandinavian fare — slices of jewel-toned salmon and pillowy lefse — to the unconventional: a side of smoked eel and a tureen of pickled tanner crab decorated with the crab’s own claws, and looking somewhat like an alien life-form. Both were hits with the crowd.
And then, the star of the show: bowls of pale cuts of pickled herring.
The atmosphere was cheerful, with friends and neighbors coming in from the cold to hobnob over giant plates of food. But it was a serious night for the contestants.
Glorianne Wollen is one of them — she’s also the MC for the contest. She was mingling in the crowd with a big smile on her face.
But her head was still in the game.
“Oh yeah, my fierce competitors are Helmer and Sig,” said Wollen. “Every once in a while we have somebody else that jumps into it. But I caught Sig’s eye at the post office and we gave each other a little wink.”
Pickled fish isn’t the only salty thing in the Sons of Norway Hall. Katy Brantuas one of tonight’s judges. She said, some years, folks have cried actual tears over the contest.
“It’s competitive, it’s great, it’s beautiful… It’s competitive!”
It’s so competitive, in fact, that the organizers had to tweak the rules this year. Brantuas said judges used to be able to recognize their friends’ dishes by how they were plated. That put the contest in a bit of a pickle, as far as fairness goes. Now, every contestant has to serve up their entry the same way.
“They’re gonna put the pickled herring in the same bowl, which is new this year,” said Brantuas. “Therefore, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I know that’s so-and-so’s bowl!'”
Appearance aside, there are lots of different ways to evaluate brined seafood. The contest’s judges and participants spoke up about what makes a champion pickled herring dish.
“Flavor and texture, probably in that order,” said pickled herring judge Scott Hursey.
“It’s a multifaceted thing,” said judge Katy Brantuas. “For herring, you want firmness, and then a good pickling.”
“It’s all about the taste,” said contender Glorianne Wollen. “Taste, taste, taste.”
When the judges complete their rounds, Wollen steps up to announce the winners.
There were four different categories this year — and not all of them are focused on herring. Jim Edgars won first place in the smoked salmon category with his smoked winter king. Helmer Olson and Kurt Kvernvik tied for the best pickled fish and seafood category. Both of them entered their pickled black cod.
And the winner of the 2023 Petersburg Pickled Herring Contest is Sig Mathisen — announcer Glorianne Wollen’s rival.
“He’s taking home the trophy!” Wollen called to the crowd. “Come on, Sig. Come on forward!”
(Photo by Shelby Herbert/KFSK)
Mathisen took home two first-place trophies. He won the smoked-cured fish category with his gravlax and the pickled herring category with his South of the Border sauced herring. Mathisen insists there’s not much of a secret to his success.
“I do the same recipes, year after year,” said Mathisen. “I might do some things a little different — little touches, to fine tune what I do. But I try to be traditional and try to smoke and pickle and do things the way my family has done for years and years.”
Mathisen is a third-generation Norwegian American, and he said the contest is about preserving more than just cuts of fish.
“It’s important to be in this building, the Sons of Norway, doing things that my grandfather did,” said Mathisen. “My recipes, I learned from my uncle, and my cousin Andy. And I’m more than happy to keep the traditions going.”
Mathisen said, in order to carry the pickled herring tradition into the future — he’s even willing to pass on his award-winning recipes. Eventually.
