Out Of The Way Travel

Out Of The Way Travel

Out Of The Way Travel

Kippers – The easy and simple approach to cooking and eating.

A little bit of History

Originally fish were kippered, because they had spawned and were not particularly good to eat. Sophie Grigson in her book ‘Fish’ describes how Kippers come from the Dutch word ‘Kippen’ meaning to hatch, and kippers were originally salmon rather than herrings. The original kippers were a much stronger taste than those we have today, and were used to feed West Indian slaves on plantations. Smoked fish is still used today in lots of West Indian cookery.

In 1848 John Woodger started smoking herrings in Northumberland. The fish were split, brined and hung on wooden rods or ‘tenters’ and cold smoked. Once widespread along the North East coast of England, this method of smoking fish has all but died out with the exception of Craster in Northumbria and off the West Coast of the Isle of Man.