Traditional Grimsby Smoked Fish

Appearance & taste

The fillets weigh between 200 and 700 grams. They are cream to beige in colour, dry in texture and have a slightly salty smoked flavour.

Production

The fresh fish usually comes from Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway, but can also come from other areas; it is normally bought at the Grimsby fish market. Skilled filleters fillet it by hand. The fillets are dipped in brine for 10 to 15 minutes and laid out in the evening to drain on metal rod racks, the speats.

The racks are pushed into the smokehouse, whose floor is covered with sawdust; this is made to smoulder with “fire”. In summer the sawdust must be starved of oxygen and only a little fire is needed, in winter a stronger one. The fish is smoked overnight for at least eight hours; exactly how long depends on the size of the fish, the temperature and the humidity. Skilled workers monitor the process so that the fish is smoked evenly, and move it if necessary. No heat is involved, as otherwise the fish would cook, fall apart and drop off the speats. After cooling, it is packed in flat boxes with interleaving or individually vacuum-packed.

Origin & history

The area is the town of Grimsby within its administrative boundaries in the borough of North East Lincolnshire. The port lies on a headland between the Humber estuary and the North Sea. According to the specification, cool, dry winds from the sea and average summer maximum temperatures below 20 °C favour traditional smoking; at the same time, the east coast is the least exposed to the damp south-westerly winds. Because the weather can change from day to day, a great deal of experience is needed, often passed down from generation to generation.

From 1850 the railway brought smoked fish quickly to London and later to the whole country. Without refrigeration and ice, curing, drying and smoking were the ways to preserve it. Traditional smoking continued in Grimsby when mechanical kilns were already preferred elsewhere. According to the specification, Grimsby was the largest fishing port in the world in the first half of the 20th century; the town is still the largest centre of fish processing in the United Kingdom today.