IRELAND THE SEAFOOD ISLAND

“You can’t separate the artisan food business in Ireland from our geography… our landscape is at the heart of what we create. What we have in Ireland is wonderful raw material and we have the skills to bring those raw materials on, through husbandry”

FRANK HEDERMAN

IRISH SALMON FROM CLARE ISLAND & THE WEST COAST

It’s extremely important to us to source the best quality locally from a sustainable supply. From 1982 when fish stocks were abundant, Frank smoked only wild Irish salmon caught at sea. Since 2006, when drift netting at sea was banned, we have been smoking Irish salmon farmed sustainably in some of the world’s most remote and untamed sites in the Atlantic Sea, off the west coast of Ireland.

Draft net wild fish, caught in estuaries with a net shot in a loop from the shore is a centuries old tradition that continues to this day, sustaining fisherman and their families during the short summer season. From May to mid August we buy fish caught by local fishermen in the estuary of the River Lee, County Cork, where quotas are tightly controlled and stocks monitored year on year. After a slow start, 2024 has been a surprisingly good year, with fishermen reporting abundant fish, particularly in July. Our revised price reflects this. We have been working with Inland fisheries Ireland to carry out genetic sampling of the wild fish as they are landed.

SUSTAINABLE SALMON

All year round we also source salmon farmed in Ireland. Compared to Scotland and Norway, where mass production dominates in still-water loughs and fjords, Ireland’s small, farms on the wild Atlantic coast collectively produce a tiny one per cent of Europe’s fresh salmon.

Irish husbandry and the conditions for deep sea cultivation are amongst the best in the world and from our experience produces the only farmed fish that is good enough for hang smoking. We buy the finest grade from the most experienced producers, and we are proud of our association with MOWI.

Strong currents, the exposed sites of the west coast, and low stocking densities practiced by our suppliers are essential to healthy fish with toned flesh. These conditions also reduce the risk of disease and environmental degradation. The salmon are fed a natural marine and vegetal feed, free from GM products and chemical additives or preservatives, and they are matured for a minimum of three years. The result is non-fatty, flavourful fish with good muscle tone, ideal for hanging.

Small Batches

Within a day of harvesting the fish are in the smoke house in Cork being filleted and cured, so they are smoked when as fresh as possible. We use a pure, dry-salt cure which kills any bacteria, flavours the fish and acts as a natural preservative. The sides are then washed and hung in small batches on tenterhooks in the smoke house for as long as they need.

Anything other than the best quality fish cannot withstand our hanging process. Indeed our method is the litmus test for our raw ingredients. In turn, we are confident that the unique conditions of our smoke house, and our hanging tradition make the fish the very best it can be.

For more information, please visit SmokeHouse

Made entirely by hand

When we say hand made, we mean hand made. Experienced people, rather than automated machines, fillet the fish for salting. We do not skin our fish, nor remove the collar bone as these add flavour and are the means by which we hang the salmon. We trim and pin bone by hand, all of which takes time, but which conserves the delicate flesh. We only offer cuts which preserve the natural seals of the smoked salmon sides and are less wasteful. You can see the quality of the fish by the healthiness of its skin and the firmness of its lean flesh.

Similar quality simply cannot be achieved with industrially farmed fish pummeled through machines, ultra-trimmed, or sliced and interwoven with plastic.

Irish Mackerel

Our mackerel are wild, winter fish, caught by trawls in the Atlantic Sea. Crucially they are not feeding which means they are digestible as well as delicious. They are frozen at sea to preserve their freshness as naturally as possible, which also means they are available year-round.

Wild Irish Eel

Our wild eels come from Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Co-operative in Northern Ireland. They are silver (mature) eels, caught in traps on the river Bann, and by local fishermen. We buy in season and freeze them whole, unsmoked so we can produce year round. We smoke it whole, on the bone, and sell in unfilleted pieces for our local shops and markets. Generally we have some available but tend to smoke to order so you receive it as fresh as possible. Please contact us directly by email if you would like some. We cannot send smoked eel outside the EU.

 "We are a Co-operative, protecting the livelihood of fishermen and building a sustainable, viable future for fishing on Lough Neagh.”