Forshmak (the Yiddish word for ‘foretaste’) is a staple of Soviet-Jewish cuisine. While initially it was a term used to describe any cold starter made from finely chopped salty fish or meat, in Russian culture it is known as a pâté of salted herring, green apples and onions. Light, creamy and tangy, it is often served on a slice of rye bread or as a filling for devilled eggs. For me, forshmak is a word that I always associate with my great-grandma Rosalia. Pronounced with her heavy Ukrainian accent, this magical word was a source of endless silly giggles to me as a kid. I would ask her over and over again to say ‘forshmak’, and like clockwork the giggles would follow. Even to this day, I sometimes forget its real definition and think it’s my family’s code word of sorts.

Recipe adapted from Salt and Time, Mitchell Beazley £25 

• Place all the ingredients, apart from the cooked egg white halves but including the cooked egg yolks, in a food processor, making sure to squeeze out the excess milk from the bread, and blitz on high speed for 5–8 minutes until you get a smooth pâté.
• Taste for seasoning and acidity and adjust if needed, adding more salt, sugar or lemon juice.
• To make the devilled eggs, place the forshmak in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (or with the corner snipped off) and pipe the mixture into the hollow of each egg white half.
• Alternatively, you can serve forshmak as a pâté on a slice of rye bread toast, in which case you don’t need to remove the egg yolks from the whites. I love a bit of retro devilled eggs, so that would be my preferred way to serve forshmak at a dinner party.