5 minute read
Sally Ferns Barnes
Sally Ferns Barnes
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
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BY KATE RYAN
Sally Ferns Barnes is one of the original pioneer women of West Cork food, settling in that rugged land in the 1970s and going on to create delicious things of true artisanship that shine brightly in the firmament of Ireland’s most iconic foods.
Since 1979 Sally has been perfecting the art of smoking wild Irish fish from her modest smokery perched atop a windy hill near Castletownshend in West Cork. It began with mackerel, a fish that was cheap and abundant. “I had a tea chest with a hole in the bottom where I put a little metal pan filled with wood shavings, lit the shavings, and hung the mackerel across the top of the tea chest with a wet sack over it. That’s how I started to teach myself about smoking,” Sally recalls.
By a convoluted turn of events, Sally acquired a kiln and taught herself how to use it. The ambition was to master cold smoked salmon to raise extra income at Christmas when fishing was lean. In the 40 years since she began smoking wild fish, Sally has acquired great knowledge on everything that links the ocean and its bounty, smoke curing and working with nature and natural processes.
In her hands each regal fish is an individual. Sally reads their lithe and muscular bodies to reveal their story: where they came from, journeys undertaken, enduring cycles of smoltification from freshwater fish to saltwater fish and back again. “The salmon,” she says, “is a very smart creature indeed!”
Of all the foods of Ireland, the salmon is the one that reaches farthest back into ancient folklore where man, fish, and landscape are as one. Like the magnificent salmon of Irish folklore, Sally is a modern day Fionn brimming with an excess of knowledge and driven to place as much of that knowledge in other people – inviting us to devour the salmon and receive all the knowledge of the world. The Keep, established adjacent to the smokery in 2020, is where that knowledge is shared
through masterclasses in the art of curing and smoking wild fish. Sally has also been working with the Italian -based Slow Food University of Gastronomy, taking in students as temporary interns, teaching them about fishy life, foraging, cooking and introducing them to Irish culture.
Sally is the last person in Ireland that exclusively handles wild fish - not just salmon, but mackerel, pollock, haddock, and tuna are all transformed in her hands through the careful application of patience, time, a little salt, and gentle smoke.
In 2021, Sally was included in the chapter on wild Atlantic salmon for Dan Saladino’s shuddering book, Eating to Extinction. Saladino quotes Sally as saying, “I feel like I’ve become a wild salmon myself, a creature swimming against the tide.” This is the essence of who Sally is, her craft, and her unique knowledge of the majestic wild salmon. She is a keystone in the age-old traditions of our Irish food culture.
www.woodcocksmokery.com
Sally’s Smoked Pollock with Beet Tartare
Recipe by Caitlin Ruth.
West Cork-based chef Caitlin Ruth likes to use nice, fresh raw beets for this recipe, and not to use the vac-packed, pre-cooked kind. There are two ways to cook them: baking whole or simmering whole, with the former being preferable. To bake the beets, scrub them, sprinkle with sea salt, wrap in tin foil and bake at 180˚C until very soft when pierced with a knife. To boil, cover with salted water and simmer until soft when pierced. If Sally’s smoked pollock is not available, her smoked haddock makes an admirable subsitute.
SERVES 6 AS A STARTER.
600g roasted or boiled beetroot
3 small shallots, peeled and finely chopped
2 gherkins, very finely chopped
Big handful of fresh dill and/or chives, finely chopped, a few reserved for garnish
40g small capers, rinsed and roughly chopped, a few reserved whole for garnish
Juice of 1½ medium lemons
Zest of ½ lemon
180ml best quality extra virgin olive oil
1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard or prepared horseradish
3 tbsp warm water
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
150g Sally Barnes’ smoked pollock
Begin by slipping the skins off of the beetroot, and use a sharp knife to chop the beetroot finely into equal, beautiful little cubes. This is the most time consuming part, so it’s worth spending some time getting the cubes as small as you can.
Put the chopped beets into a small bowl, stir in the shallots, gherkins, herbs and most of the capers, and set aside.
Make the dressing: put the lemon juice and zest, the olive oil, Dijon mustard and warm water into a jar and shake well. Season to taste. Pour three-quarters of the dressing over the beetroot mix, stir well and keep at room temperature until ready to serve.
To serve: Slice the smoked pollock as thinly as you possible can. Divide the dressed beetroot mixture between six big starter plates and drape the smoked fish over the little piles of beetroot. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the pollock, sprinkle with reserved capers and chopped herbs. Serve with buttered sourdough.
