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Preserve

To Smoke Herrings

A method for smoking herrings using salt, saltpetre, sawdust, and heat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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To Smoke Herrings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the herrings and lay them in salt and a little saltpetre for one night.

  2. Hang the herrings on a stick through the eyes in a row.

Smoke

  1. Prepare an old cask with some sawdust and place a red-hot heater in the middle.

  2. Fix the stick with the herrings over the smoke and let them remain for twenty-four hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Herring
The main ingredient, which is preserved and flavoured by salting and smoking.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the fish and gives it a firm, reddish colour during curing.
Sawdust
Produces the smoke that flavours the fish and dries its surface.

The step that matters

Fix the stick with the herrings over the smoke. The fish must hang clear of the heater and stay in steady smoke for the full time. Too much heat can cook the fish instead of drying and smoking it, and uneven smoke gives uneven flavour and preservation.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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