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To Smoke Herrings

A method for smoking herrings using salt, saltpetre, sawdust, and a red‑hot heater.

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 overnight.

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

Smoke

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

  2. Fix the stick with the herrings over the smoke and let them smoke for 24 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

Herrings
The main fish, whose flesh is cured and then flavoured by the smoke.
Salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the fish during the overnight cure.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the fish and keeps its colour during curing.
Sawdust
Smoulders to produce the smoke that flavours and dries the fish.

The step that matters

Keeping the heater hot and the smoke steady. A red-hot heater that burns too hot or smoulders unevenly can scorch the fish or leave it under-smoked. Steady, low smoke over the full 24 hours dries the flesh and builds even 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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