On Kippers; The Breakfasting Arts V

Living in Northumberland offers a variety of beautiful places to visit. One of the more picturesque is Craster, a small fishing village. There are still a bare handful of fishing boats and crab cages line the harbour sides. You can follow a path up the sea’s edge to Dunstanburgh castle. It’s a gentle walk through the salt-brushed fields and between the rather friendly resident sheep and it offers some great views.

Craster is famous for its kippers, cold smoked herring, made at the Robson and Sons smokery. Once the herring were fished locally, but with decline in fish numbers and generations of political choices which were detrimental to Britain’s fishing fleet they are now imported. I do need to make clear that these are simply fish which are oak smoked - they are not tinned as that’s something several American friends have asked. They are also not dyed the lurid orange that supermarket kippers can be. I bought them direct from the smokery shop on this occasion, though they are present at fishmongers and markets in the region. Craster is of course not the only place known for smoked herring in Britain - Mallaig, Stornoway, Arbroath, Peel and Loch Fyne all have their own claims.

The main use of the fish is as breakfast. It’s a strong, punch one straight out of the Victorian and Edwardian era. It’s been commented before that Edwardian England was the summit of the cooked breakfast. As one can imagine, smoked fish do come with a powerful aroma. The best way of cooking them to keep this somewhat under control is jugging - heating them for 5-8 minutes, tail up, in a jug of boiling water. On a fine day, this enables you to keep the whole enterprise outside.

They have a very rich taste, and come out with very soft and delicate flesh from this cooking method. Traditionally they are served with buttered bread and either fried or poached eggs.

If this has piqued your interest, I’ve written other missives on the cooked breakfast previously.

On Marmalade; The Breakfasting Arts

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August 29, 2022

1. No nation I've ever encountered has made as much of breakfast as have the British nations. Each of the home nations has their own specific talents and additions, from Welsh laver bread (still on my list to try) through the Scottish breakfast rolls and on to the majesty that is the Ulster fry. One of my favourite memories from visiting Belfast was a …