8 of the best smokehouses in the UK
Rooted in medieval farmhouses, where families kept a fire smouldering to preserve meat, fish and cheese, smokeries have flourished even after the advent of refrigeration. One theory is that smoked food taps into the brain's limbic system, reminding us of cooking with fire. Or it could just be the juicy deliciousness, layered with the scent of the wood used. Across the UK, blackened stone smokeries light their pits for hot- and cold-smoking, using processes that can take days to reach the optimum result. Here are eight to visit.
London's oldest working smokery opened in 1880 behind the fishmonger of the same name in Crouch End. It's still family-run, using recipes dating back six generations to cold-smoke oily fish from British ports. The process takes hours, with the fish suspended high above smouldering wood shavings to stay cool. Pop into the shop for salmon, mackerel, herring and trout, or the house speciality: kippers.
This micro-smokery on a homestead in Wales's Cambrian Mountains specialises in dry-curing smoked bacon and lamb using a process that takes two weeks. Look out for interesting flavour combinations, such as smoked rum and molasses bacon, or a barbecue rub containing smoked salt and sugar. Owner Claire Jesse also runs workshops (including streaky bacon to take home) and offers accommodation in a 200-year-old stone barn.
The speciality at this award-winning smokery — set up by former chef John Corfield in a cleit (storage hut) with stone walls and a peat roof — is perfectly flaky, alder-smoked salmon. It's sustainably sourced and Atlantic-farmed, and after being brined and infused for 24 hours, undergoes a nine-hour hot and gentle smoking process. The organic cold-smoked salmon and smoked trout are also packed with flavour. Tours and tastings are available to book.
The smoky-oak scent of kippers can be traced throughout Craster thanks to local L Robson & Sons smokehouse.
Photograph by Clearview, Alamy
Clad in old stone on Craster harbour, L Robson & Sons has been infusing this Northumberland fishing village with the smoky-oak scent of fabled Craster kippers since 1856. Go home with oak-smoked kippers (fat herring smoked in a 16-hour process, perfect for breakfast), kipper fishcakes and traditional smoked salmon, haddock and cod, or buy kipper pâté to slather onto oatcakes and enjoy on a coastal ramble to nearby Dunstanburgh Castle.
Using a method passed down by his grandparents, Bill Spink has been producing Arbroath smokies — North Sea haddock that's salted, dried and hot-smoked over hard wood — since 1965. Visit his smokery and shop overlooking the small but busy harbour in the Scottish town of Arbroath to pick up this protected local speciality, along with crab, salmon, mackerel, prawns, kippers, halibut and herring.
On a 300-acre cattle and sheep farm, in the rippling hills near southwest Scotland's self-proclaimed 'food town' Castle Douglas, James and Karen Baird smoke their own lamb over dried Scottish hardwood in a hand-built smoker. Available roast or pulled, the meat is smoked 'low and slow' in small batches and sells out very quickly online.
Based on traditional smoking techniques learned in Germany in the 1980s, the master smokers at this business on the Somerset Moors burn an open oak fire to hot-smoke mackerel, trout and local meats, including delicious chicken and watercress sausages. Cold-smoking takes up to 20 hours in a brick kiln, delivering flavours like salmon with orange and fennel. Visit the shop and restaurant or check dates for open days throughout the year.
For 30 years, Terry and Chris have been catching eels in the wispy tributaries of The Wash and River Humber, then gently smoking them over beech chippings. The only company in the UK to catch and smoke its own eels, Smith's is a fixture at regional farmers' markets, including in Lincoln and Grantham. Check out the online shop too, for smoked salmon pâté, made with cream cheese and butter, as well as silky fillet of smoked trout.
Food by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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Published in Issue 26 (winter 2024) of(UK).To subscribe to(UK) magazine click here . (Available in select countries only).
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