Hurricanes and herrings

We've been having 90 kph wind gusts all during the night. That's not quite hurricane force, but it's getting close. I've been hearing water drip on the trap door to the attic. That's because the strong winds blow water up under the roof tiles, and it drips down onto the attic floor.

And it's all the more reason why we need to get the attic finished. Not only will we get more living space, but we'll get a moisture barrier that will keep out those wind-driven raindrops. These French roofs are simply heavy tiles hanging off slats that run between the rafters. They let the wind blow right through, unless the roof has been insulated.

Here's another picture of a Vélux-brand rooftop window
installed in a house in our hamlet.

It's just getting light and I can see that some things I didn't think about securing near the house have blown out into the yard — a vinyl outdoor table, the lids to one of the cold frames we start plants in. I hope nothing is broken, though I see that some medium-size tree limbs are on the ground. No trees have blown over, happily.

I just went outside to see the damage. The table is broken. Too bad, but it had seen better days anyway. It's still windy, but not like it was a few hours ago.

Yesterday, during the rainstorm that preceded this one, I went over to Intermarché to buy some choucroute, or sauerkraut — salted, fermented cabbage. They have it on special this week — 55 cents a kilo for "raw" sauerkraut, or 30¢ a pound. It freezes really well, so I got four kilos, or almost 9 pounds of it!

Filets de harengs saurs

I also looked at the smoked and salted fish products and found something I hadn't found elsewhere. That's a package of what are called harengs saurs — salted, smoked herring. A 200 g/7 oz. package cost 1.67 €. When the cashier rang them up, however, I saw the price 8.35 flash on the screen. I stopped her, she called her manager, and there was a conference about the correct price that held up a long line of customers for a few minutes. The correct price turned out to be 1.67.

The vacuum-packed package of herring fillets I bought earlier, which I haven't even opened yet, is labeled as hareng fumé doux, or mild smoked herring. I think it's called doux because it is less salty than the regular hareng saur. But I'm not sure. None of the clerks at SuperU could tell me with confidence.

A close-up of the label — the adjective « saur » describes
the reddish color that smoking gives to the herring.

Now I'll know. Yesterday morning I put the filets de harengs saurs to soak in milk in the refrigerator overnight, as I understand you are supposed to do, to take some of the saltiness out of them. Then I can open the package of mild smoked herring and compare the two.

These smoked herring fillets are fished in the northeast Atlantic
and processed and packaged at Boulogne-sur-Mer in France.

It matters, because most of the recipes I have specify either hareng saur or hareng fumé doux, and they don't seem to be interchangeable. Afterward, I have some recipes using smoked herring that I want to try. More about that later.