If you enjoy a good kipper, or any variety of smoked fish for that matter, you should look into getting a fish smoker for home use. Smoking your own fish is both fun and economical, and in moderation, smoked fish in your diet can offer certain health benefits, as the Omega 3 fatty acids in oily fish are shown to be beneficial to both the heart and brain.
Fish smoking is perhaps one of the most ancient methods of preserving and cooking food, though its origins are awash in legend, none of which can be confirmed. One tale has it that the art of smoking fish was discovered or invented accidentally by a peasant hanging a fish near a fire overnight and being pleasantly surprised in the morning.
The origination of kippering is also sometimes attributed to having occurred in 1843 by John Woodger at Seahouses in Northumberland, when fish were stored overnight in a room by a smoking stove. This is known to be not true as not only does the word kipper predate this, salting and smoking both salmon and herring predates 19th century Britain, and Thomas Nashe in 1599 wrote of a Lothingland fisherman discovering smoking herring accidentally. Kippered fish were also eaten in Germany during the Middle Ages.
Whenever it came to be, it makes for wonderful table fare, and more and more people are discovering the delight of using a fish smoker at home.
Hot smoking is a means of curing fish by smoking it at a temperature of 70 degrees Celcius or higher for at least 30 continual minutes. Only wet, fresh fish or frozen fish that has been thawed should be used for smoking. Oily fish are generally deemed tastier for the smoking process as the oil absorbs the wood smoke more readily than a drier flesh. Favorite fish species for domestic fish smokers are herring, mackerel, salmon, also dogfish and eels.
You should prepare your fish by thoroughly cleaning, removing scales and slime, make sure it is gutted and free of blood and that any black belly lining is removed.
Next, the fish is brined. This involves soaking the fish overnight in the refrigerator in a salt water solution of one part salt to seven parts water. Table salt is fine for this task.
Wood chips soaked in water on hot coals are what create the flavourful smoke that cooks the fish. The smoke envelopes the fish, cooking it at a fairly low temperature while the flesh absorbs and takes on the flavour dependent upon of the type wood used.
Many varieties of wood are used in domestic fish smokers, and it’s advised to get a sampling of many different types of chips and experiment until you find your favorites. Ash is a good general choice, also Alder, or Hickory, which yields a “campfire” like flavour, or any of the popular fruit woods for milder flavours, such as Apple.
Get started today, and visit FishSmokers.co.uk for a great selection of domestic fish smokers.
