Kipper Tasting

Northumberland specialities that we took home with us are making our trip virtually longer! We had two kinds of kippers from two famous kipper smokehouses: Craster kippers by L. Robinson & Sons in Craster (a photo above) and kippers by Swallow Fish in Seahouses (a photo below). I wonder why the latter isn't called Seahouses kippers... 

L. Robinson & Sons is the only smokehouse in Craster, operating the family business over 100 years. They still use the traditional smoking method: hang split (not by hand anymore but with splitting machine these days) and brined (in plain salt water) herring on hooks, place smouldering fires made of whitewood shavings and oak sawdust under the rows of herrings, and smoke them for up to 16 hours.

Swallow Fish has been the original smokehouses in Seahouses since 1843. Some say Craster is the birthplace of the kipper; according to Swallow Fish, their site is credited as being one of the possible places where the modern Kipper was actually invented. Also they use traditional oak sawdust which has no additives, preservatives or colorings of any kind. They don't mention whitewood shavings or how long to smoke. 

Both kippers looked similar although Swallow Fish's were larger and thicker than Craster's. Both tasted like kipper but interestingly we both preferred Swallow Fish's kipper. Swallow Fish's had a nicer smoke flavor and tasted somewhat sweet, perhaps because its salt level was just at what we liked. The texture was very good, too. Conclusions: both kippers were the best of kippers we have ever had, and Swallow Fish's was the best of best! 

I would like to confess that I had thought that kipper was another name of herring. However, I have just learned that kipper is "a herring (= type of fish) that has been preserved by being treated with salt and then with smoke" according to Cambridge University. Which means "smoked kipper" that I had sometimes mentioned before was wrong because kipper is supposed to be smoked! Ah, my life is a process of learning.