Forshmak

It is a well-known dish of Old Russian, Swedish (fore smack), German (vor schmack), and Jewish cuisines. Advantage of forschmack is that is possible to cook this appetizer in multiple variations.
Everywhere herring is caught, forschmack is cooked, and it is possible to make forscmack with other kinds of sea fish.
So,

Ingredients of a basic recipe:

1 large herring or 2 herring fillets
2 hard-boiled egg
1 sour apple
1 medium onion
2 peaces white bread, soaked in milk or water
1’4 lb butter

Method:

If the herring is too salted, soak it in milk or water for 2 hours. Clean the whole fish (if you have a whole one.) and carefully take its fillets avoiding the bones. Peel and cut the apple, onion, and eggs
Grind it all together, including the soaked bread. Blend very well.
Cool in the refrigerator.

This is a cold variation of forschmack.
Hot (baked) forscmack usually contains meat.
In Jewish cuisine, any kind of forscmack has to contain the following ingredients:
Herring, eggs, bread, apple, onion.

Baked herring forscmack (19 century Russian recipe)


Ingredients:

3 herrings
1 lb boiled or baked meat
2 tbsp sour cream
1 lb meat broth
3 eggs
1 medium onion
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp bread crumbs
Add grinded black pepper on taste

Method:

Take off fish fillets, cut them into very small pieces.
Cut the onion into small cubes.
Put the butter in the pan, set heating to low.
Cut meat into small cubes.
Whip eggs.
Add onion, sour cream, broth, herring, whipped eggs, pepper, and then the meat in the pan.
Mix very well.
Heat until it is hot, 170 F -180 F.
Pour the mix into the forscmack form with the breadcrumbs, and bake in a medium-low preheated oven until crumbs are gold or lightly brown.
Serve hot.