Swedish fish dish 'surstromming' is so pungent it should be opened outdoors

As chef Malin Soderstrom opened the can, the trapped air escaped with a hiss and filled the balcony of her waterside restaurant with the pungent odour of Sweden's infamous delicacy, surstromming. | Above: A can of fermented Baltic herring, known as surstromming, sits on a table in Soderstrom's restaurant.

Likened to the smell of rotten eggs, surstromming - fermented herring - has gained a following online where daring gastronomes film themselves trying the seafood, which should be opened outdoors because of the stench, and preferably underwater in a bucket.

From her seaside restaurant (pictured) in the small fishing village of Skarsa more than 200 kilometres north of Stockholm based in a former herring processing factory, Soderstrom tries to defend the delicacy's reputation.

"The sourness with the saltiness together with the bread, potato and butter and onion, it's just fantastic," the 51-year-old said outside the restaurant, dressed in her black chef's uniform.

Soderstrom's grandparents lived in one of the village's squat red-wood fishermen's houses near the water and she ate surstromming, directly translated "sour herring", from childhood. | Above: Soderstrom prepares tomatoes, dill and chives as a garnish for the surstromming.

Herring caught in the Baltic are salted after being caught and left to ferment for months in barrels before they are canned. |Above: Friends of Soderstrom arrive to eat on the terrace of her restaurant, when she invited them to try the delicacy of surstromming, fermented herring, with cans of the food placed on a table seen in the foreground.

Surstromming hails from northern Sweden, where it is most commonly eaten, but tins of the seafood are available from most large supermarkets across Sweden. From her seaside restaurant in the small fishing village of Skarsa based in a former herring processing factory, Soderstrom tries to defend the reputation of Sweden's foul-smelling delicacy Surstromming.

In recent years a museum has been dedicated to the divisive dish, and some restaurants dedicate a whole day to eating it to avoid offending other customers' noses.

But with customers down due to COVID-19, Soderstrom and her sister Anna called off their own surstromming day this year.

Instead they organised a small demonstration of how the dish should be enjoyed, inviting a handful of friends and colleagues to sample the culinary delight.

Opening the cans away from their tables, Soderstrom served it to the visitors on Swedish flat bread along with chopped red onions, boiled potatoes, dill, tomatoes, chives, sour cream and hard cheese. | Above: Chef Joseph Netzler tries surstromming, on hard bread with onions, tomatoes and sour cream at a lunch at the restaurant where he works organised by its owner Soderstrom.