Kitchen Essential

As I have already mentioned, the addition of salt to the raw material is an essential part of the smoke curing process. The product is either completely covered in dry salt for a period, or soaked in brine of varying strengths according to what is being processed.

Dry salting is favoured by the commercial fish smoking concerns, particularly in the case of salmon, as the dry salt attracts moisture from the tissues of the fish, causing a weight loss of up to 9% during this part of the process. It follows, therefore, that the time the fish will need in the smoking kiln will be much reduced, as about half the weight loss required in the finished product will already have taken place. So the whole process can be speeded up, and of course in any commercial enterprise time means money. To home smokers, speeding the process is not important, as in any case they will be conducting the operation partly as a hobby. I have no hesitation, therefore, in recommending the use of brine as opposed to dry salt (but see ‘Dry Salting and other methods’). Continue Reading »

Salmon farming in Scotland has become a new industry. Farmed salmon are excellent to eat but muscle tone is flaccid compared to wild fish, which continually exercise their bodies in the normal course of their existence. Farmed salmon may tear under their own weight when hung, so it is recommended that the fillets are smoked flat on wire racks.

The ribs can either be left intact until the sides are smoked, or can be removed at this stage by taking them out along with a thin layer of flesh. I favour the former course in the case of frozen salmon, as I believe the less the sides are disturbed before smoking the better, to avoid damage. Continue Reading »

Some time ago, I had a commercial association with a North Country farmer who, as an expanding sideline, had a smoked food business, supplying many first-class hotels, mainly in the western half of the country. He did not process smoked foods himself but had it custom smoked for him by people like myself. He was particularly keen to put smoked beef on the market — what type or how processed, he did not specify. The idea was left in abeyance for some time, as in any case I was fairly well occupied in smoking ducks, quail and pheasants for him, and it was not until the matter of smoked beef was raised by a first-class butcher of my acquaintance, who had enjoyed my smoked quail, that I pursued the matter further. Continue Reading »

The herring, which of course is what the kipper is before it is processed, is seldom the quarry of the sea angler in Britain. The Swedes and the Norwegians traditionally fish for herrings with hand lines from small boats at the mouths of their fjords, often making good catches, particularly when night fishing. Nevertheless, although as a British home smoker you are unlikely to catch your own herrings, if you live close to a port where these fish are landed, you may well decide to smoke your own kippers. If so, you will be able to make certain that you only obtain the freshest of fish. Continue Reading »