7 minute read
FOOD Alfred Enderby’s smoked fish
SMOKED
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FISH IN GRIMSBY
Alfred Enderby’s beautiful cold-smoked haddock and salmon is now available for consumers to buy directly from the smokehouse. It’s the same protected-status local product favoured by chefs like Marco Pierre White, Rick Stein and even Raymond Blanc...!
“YES. WE COULD...” says Patrick Salmon. “But we don’t.” He’s referring to cutting corners. It’d make things much easier to use more modern industrial equipment, rather than their 104-year old smokehouses. It’d make things much easier to smoke fish for just an hour or two, in electronic stainless-steel kilns, rather than waiting 12 hours (sometimes as long as 16 hours). It’d certainly be easier to use electricity or gas rather than smoking over wood. But that’s not what Patrick or Alfred Enderby is about. “It’s really easy to lose heritage, and really easy to sacrifice quality for volume,” says Patrick. “But cutting corners isn’t in my nature, I just won’t do that.” A reputation for quality is usually hardearned, and Alfred Enderby’s reputation is underwritten by the ambassador for fish dishes and champion of Food Heroes everywhere, Rick Stein. The company’s products are also found in the kitchens of chefs like Tom Kerridge and Marco Pierre White, as well as Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir. The business was founded in 1918 and was a fish curers in an era prior to refrigeration. Known as J W Stookes, the original owner took on apprentice Alfred Enderby who worked his way up to the position of Managing Director. Alfred purchased the business in 1961 and was joined by his sons George and Richard. Loyal customer Patrick took on the business when Richard retired and now presides over a business with over 1,000 customers right across the UK, supplying not just the country’s best restaurants and chefs, as stated, but wholesale fish markets such as those at St Ives and Brixham, as well. >>
>> Patrick’s day typically begins with a trip to Grimsby’s fish market at about 7am. On average, the company purchases 24 kits, a kit being about 50kg of fish with haddock typically caught in the waters of Iceland or North Norway where it’s nice and cold.
Back at the smokehouse, the fish is filleted, reducing its weight by about half. The offal is used to create fish meal so nothing goes to waste. Each fillet is brined and hung on racks to drip dry, before being smoked for a number of hours over wood in one of Patrick’s six operational chambers within the smokehouse.
Each is about two metres deep and a metre or so wide, and the door to each is coated with a thick layer of tar from a century of smoking. As the layer builds up, more and more of the smoky provenance is retained in the chambers and so the flavour of Alfred Enderby’s traditionally smoked fish will constantly build up, becoming richer and richer, perhaps indefinitely.
“It sounds deceptively simply, but there are some secrets to the process and there are a whole heap of variables in the industry,” says Patrick. “The weather, for instance or conditions at sea change constantly and the price of fish can sometimes double overnight.”
Even prior to the Cod Wars of the 1970s, it’s unlikely that haddock – which accounts for 80% of Alfred Enderby’s produce –would be caught in local waters, and Grimsby’s export market has always accounted for about three-quarters of its trade. Pre-war, the town was Britain’s biggest fishing port, but even post-Cod Wars and post-Brexit, Grimsby is still the UK’s biggest fish-processing town. The idea that our association with seafood is a relic of a bygone era – or that Grimsby’s role in UK food production is waning – is a misnomer; it’s simply changing, along with the rest of the food industry in a globalised era, and in accordance with changes in our diets. “In the same way that as a company we won’t compromise on quality, nor should we compromise on quality as consumers. We eat meat up several times a day, and that’s unusual compared to 50 or 100 years ago. We’re eating more than ever, but arguably poorer quality, heavily-processed food.” “What I think needs to happen is we need to eat less meat, fish and dairy, but better quality. We need to ensure that the industries that produce those foods are financially sustainable and that we slow down production to make quality better, less processed.” “A French gentleman visited the smokehouse and was musing over the fact that the British have kitchen shelves heaving with cookery books but lack cooking skills and rely instead on very processed food-oriented diets.” “In France, meanwhile they’ve better fundamental skills and an appreciation for good food, made or prepared by producers who care about what they create.” “Good food doesn’t need to be complicated. One of my favourite dishes is still baked smoked haddock with spinach, cream and mustard. Served with mashed potato, it’s one of life’s great pleasures... you just need smoked fish that’s been prepared with skill and with care!” n
Find Out More: Alfred Enderby produces Lincolnshire’s only Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI) food, in the form of the smokehouse’s cold-smoked haddock and salmon. Based on Grimsby’s fish docks, and adored by chefs like Rick Stein and Raymond Blanc, consumers can buy direct from the company’s website at www.alfredenderby.co.uk. The company’s Essentials box comprises a haddock loin, hand-sliced smoked salmon and six fishcakes for £29.99. For more information call 01472 342984.
English Wines & Prosecco
at CONEYS DEPARTMENT STORE, SPALDING
This month we’re raising a glass to summer with some exceptional English wines, plus quality Prosecco and locally produced gin, all available at Coneys Department Store
English Wine Week takes place from 18th to 26th June, and we don’t think there’s a better place to celebrate it than Coneys Department Store in the centre of Spalding. Eleanor Read heads up the store’s first floor wines and spirits department, with its indoor Prosecco bar and outdoor terrace. This month she offers a choice of wines and spirits to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee... such as our first recommendation, a crisp citrussy joy from our very own sceptered isle! Rathfinny Wine Estate’s Pinot Blanc/Gris has notes of lemon and peel. It’s light and crisp for a really refreshing taste of summer, from the chalky soils of West Sussex. Also from our own shores is Nyetimber’s Classic Cuvée. Produced with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, made using the methode champenoise, it’s a Champagne in every respect but the (geographically-protected) name, with a gentle fine mousse and fantastic baked apple taste. The retailer also has a range of super ownlabel wines, not least among which is an exceptional Prosecco, the star of the bar at Coneys, with its subtle fresh apple flavour. If you prefer a red, Coneys also offers this Grenache/Syrah blend, created in the style of a classic Rhône ranger with echoes of strawberry, plum and spice. Finally, from Lincolnshire is the Premium Pink variant of Pin Gin, made with juniper and 11 botanicals. Serve in this LSA Borough balloon glass with a handful of Fruits for Drinks heart-shaped strawberries to garnish: dehydrated, convenient and delicious! n
1. Rathfinny Pinot Blanc/Gris 2018, £19.99/75cl/11.5% 2. Nyetimber Classic Cuvée, £37/75cl/12%. 3. Coneys Red Wine, £12/75cl/13.5% 4. Pin Gin Pink, £35/70cl/40%. 5. LSA Borough glasses, £48/six. 6. Fruits for Drink dehydrated strawberry hearts, 100% fruit, £8/ twenty servings.
Find Out More: Coneys Department Store is the new name for Hills in Spalding. The retailer has been established for 60 years and includes health and beauty, fashion, homeware and furnishings ranges. On the first floor there’s a Prosecco bar and the Riverview Restaurant. Visit Coneys Department Store on Broad Street, Spalding PE11 1TB. Call 01775 767155 or see www.coneysdesignerwear.co.uk.
