---
title: "Herring in Oatmeal · Rampant Scotland"
description: "Traditional Scottish Recipes - Herring in Oatmeal Combining two items which formed a staple of Scottish diet over many centuries, herring coated in oatmeal is a"
canonical: "https://rampant-scotland.pages.dev/recipes/blrecipe_herring.htm"
last-updated: "2026-11-09"
date-basis: "git-content-change"
---

# Herring in Oatmeal · Rampant Scotland

Recipes

# Herring in Oatmeal

[Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20250216210121/http://www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/blrecipe_herring.htm)

*Traditional Scottish Recipes*
 *- Herring in Oatmeal*

*Combining two items which formed a staple of Scottish diet over many centuries, herring coated in oatmeal is a tasty, nourishing dish.*

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## Ingredients

- Allow 2 herrings per person
- Coarse oatmeal
- Salt and pepper
- Dripping or cooking oil

## Method

Depending on how your fishmonger supplies the herring, you may have to remove the bones yourself - cut along the underside of the herring, lay it on a table, cut side down and hit across the backbone in a few places with a rolling pin or your hand. Remove the backbone and as many of the smaller bones as possible. Scrape the scales from the fish with a knife, remove heads and tails.
 Sprinkle with salt and pepper and either toss them in a plastic bag with plenty of oatmeal or put the fish on a plate and coat them with oatmeal - you may have to press the oatmeal into the fish to ensure it is fully covered. Fry in meat dripping or cooking oil - put them in with the skin side upwards first. Fry until lightly brown, turn and cook the other side. It should take 5/7 minutes. Drain the fish on kitchen paper (paper towels).
 Modern books suggest serving with lemon and parsley - old Scots would not have known such refinements!

## Source

From Rampant Scotland, restored from the page as it stood on 16 February 2025. [Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20250216210121/http://www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/blrecipe_herring.htm).

Links to pages not yet restored here lead to the original page or elsewhere on the web.