Processing – Smoking Smoke on the water
ONE OF THE OLDEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE VALUE-ADDED PROCESSES FOR FISH IS SMOKING
F
ish has been smoked throughout history and was originally done so as a way of preserving it in the days
before refrigeration. It comes from the combined effects of salting, drying heating and smoking. Typically the smoking of fi sh can be either cold (28-32o (70-80o
C) or hot C); in the former the fl esh
is not cooked. Fish can either be smoked traditionally – suspended in smokehouses suspended over smouldering wood shavings, or in an industrial process using a mechanical kiln. Scotland is renowned for its small, independent artisan smokeries, who use the same traditional methods that have changed little in genera- tions. For example, award winning smoker, John Ross Jr from Aber- deen, cold smokes its salmon in red brick kilns that date back to 1857. A couple of years ago Gigha halibut decided to add value to the product and alter the image of smoked halibut which, up till then, had been tarnished by the use of Greenland halibut, which was too salty and tasted like fi sh. ‘We want- ed to show that smoked halibut could be good’, explains Alastair Barge, MD of Gigha Halibut. ‘So we used our own, fresh halibut. If you use the right fi sh it makes a dra- matic difference to the product.’ Initially, Gigha worked with Argyll Smokery, to perfect the recipe, get the right balance between salt and sugar in the cure. They now use Murray Smoked Products, an artisan smoker based Loch Awe. ‘The halibut is harvested on the Sunday and cut on the Tuesday’, explains Barge. ‘It is then cured with salt and sugar for 18 hours, before being cold smoked in whisky barrel chips from Kilchoman distillery on Islay for eight hours.’ ‘The fresher the produce the bet- ter it is smoked’, says Barge, ‘which is why we don’t put a long shelf-life on smoked Gigha halibut. Custom-
ers include Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir, Peat Inn, Three Chimneys, and 100kg is being supplied to the Ryder Cup. ‘We are targeting the ‘planned special occasion market’, so that when the halibut does arrive, it’s top notch’, adds Barge. Once smoked, the halibut works out at around £50 a kilo, which sounds a lot but it actually works out at around £3 a portion.’ FF
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
Top: Cold smoking salmon at John Ross Jr, Aberdeen’; Above: Gigha smoked halibut’
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