A brick kiln in the yard: kippers, haddock, salmon and mackerel smoked over oak and beech, undyed, two or three times a week
The smokehouse
Behind the shop is a brick kiln Gethin's father built in 1984. Herring become kippers over oak; haddock is brined and cold-smoked pale, without the dye; salmon is cured and cold-smoked for a day and a night; mackerel is hot-smoked with pepper. Smoked on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; the smokehouse page says what is in the kiln this week.
The kiln is a brick box the size of a wardrobe with a fire pit at the bottom and rods across the top, built by Gethin's father in 1984 from a drawing of one in Craster. It smokes two or three times a week depending on what the boats land, and the shop smells of it on those mornings, which is how people on Holton Road know what day it is.
Kippers are the reason it was built: whole herring split, brined for twenty minutes, hung on tenterhooks and cold-smoked over oak for fourteen hours. No dye, so they are the colour of a kipper rather than of a traffic cone. Haddock is brined and cold-smoked for six hours and comes out pale gold, which is what undyed smoked haddock looks like; people who have only had the yellow kind take a moment. Salmon from the one farm is dry-cured in salt and brown sugar overnight, then cold-smoked for a day and a night over oak and a little beech, and sliced by hand.
Hot-smoked mackerel with cracked pepper is the thing we sell most of, and the one to try first; hot-smoked salmon with honey on Saturdays; smoked cod roe when the cod are running; smoked eel twice a year from a Severn fisherman; and, on request, a whole side of salmon or a trout you have caught yourself, smoked for £12 and ready in two days. The smokehouse page lists what is in the kiln this week and what day it comes out. Everything keeps a week in the fridge, longer vacuum-packed, and we will post smoked fish anywhere in Britain on a Monday.
What you get
- A brick kiln built in 1984, oak and beech, no dye, no liquid smoke
- Kippers, smoked haddock, smoked salmon, hot-smoked mackerel
- Smoked cod roe, smoked eel twice a year, hot-smoked salmon on Saturdays
- Your own catch smoked for £12, ready in two days
- Vacuum-packed to keep; posted anywhere in Britain on Mondays
- The kiln rota on the smokehouse page
What it costs
Kippers £4.20 a pair, smoked haddock £19.50 a kilo, hot-smoked mackerel £3.80 a fillet, smoked salmon £48 a kilo or £9.80 for a 200g pack, smoked cod roe £6.50. Whole smoked sides to order. Today’s board has every line with its price and whether it has gone; the order page takes a Friday box, a counter order or a seat at fish school.
Questions about smokehouse
Why is your smoked haddock not yellow?
Because we do not dye it. Smoked haddock is pale gold; the bright yellow kind has had a dye added before smoking, which does nothing for the taste. Ours tastes of haddock and oak.
Can you smoke fish I caught?
Yes: bring it gutted and we brine and smoke it in the next run, £12 for up to two kilos, more by the kilo. Trout, bass, mackerel and sewin all smoke well. Two days.
Fish and chips at home this Friday, from this morning's boat.
A box for two, four or six: haddock or cod landed that morning, batter mix, blanched chips, mushy peas, tartare, a lemon and the card. Order by Thursday 6pm, collect Friday four till seven or have it delivered within five miles. The same form takes a counter order, a lobster, or a seat at fish school.