Has anyone smoked any herrings (kippers)

[IanB]

Here in the north of England we (they) smoke herrings (called kippers once smoked)
has anyone tried smoking herring, i know they are cold oak smoked but not sure of
if they are salted first


Ian

[Tenpoint5]

Ian if you check the recipe site I do believe that there is a recipe for that there or atleast something close that you could use to smoke herring

[Mr Walleye]

Here's a link from the recipe site....

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?132-Brine-Smokey-Smelt&p=154#post154

Mike

[manxman]

Hi Ian,

Only just seen this post, apologies for not posting earlier.

When I got started making kippers I did some research on websites such as this:

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5925e/x5925e01.htm

The biggest problem I have is getting good quality herring, the ones we catch around the Isle of Man are generally too small with too low a fat content to make good kippers so I generally end up buying imported herring.

The commercial smokehouses here on the IOM tend to use Icelandic or Norwegian but depending on time of year North Sea herring are fine,the Irish Sea stock was fished out a long while ago and it is rare to be able to get hold of good local ones.

The best bit of advice I can give is use large plump herring with a high fat content and avoid small thin spent ones.

I tend to brine in an 80 deg salinity brine solution for about 15 mins although I have a friend who used to work in a kipper house who reckons brining is not necessary! (never tried this)

Smoke for between 6 and 8 hours using oak or apple, smoking time depends on personnel preference and needs experimenting with.

In all honesty the kippers I have produced have been good (in my opinion!) but no better than those produced traditionally by the local smokehouses using old fashioned techniques so I tend not to do kippers as often nowadays as it is a lot of time and effort for something I can buy which are just as good. When smoking I now tend to concentrate on producing things that are better than the shop bought equivalent beit smoked fish or meat. (BS produces superb bacon)

The Bradley is also very good for smoked mackerel, pollock, cod, haddock and mullet for example be it hot smoked or cold smoked.

Hope this helps.

[IanB]

Yep cheers manxman, i'll be smoking bacon/meat mostly (being a butcher) i got the BD6 rack for the shop ;)

[manxman]

Where abouts is your shop Ian?

I have started using Black Pig, make the most lovely back bacon.  :)