page_title: Traditional Grimsby smoked fish
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Traditional Grimsby smoked fish / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Alfred Enderby, Fish Smokers, Cross Street, Grimsby
context_page_description: Traditional Grimsby smoked fish are regionally processed fish food products from the British fishing town of Grimsby, England.
  Grimsby has long been associated with the sea fishing industry, which once gave the town much of its wealth. At its peak in the 1950s, it was the largest and busiest fishing port in the world.
  The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, defines Traditional Grimsby smoked fish "as fillets of cod and haddock, weighing between 200 and 700 grams, which have been cold smoked in accordance with the traditional method and within a defined geographical area around Grimsby. After processing the fish fillets vary from cream to beige in colour, with a characteristic combination of dry textured, slightly salty, and smokey flavour dependent on the type of wood used in the smoking process. Variations in wood quality, smoke time and temperature control the end flavour. The smoking process is controlled by experienced cold smokers trained in the traditional Grimsby method.
  In 2009, Traditional Grimsby smoked fish was awarded Protected Geographical Indication status by the European Commission.
context_section_description: Grimsby benefits from cool, dry winds from the North Sea and Humber estuary, which aid the process of cold smoking fish overnight by keeping the mean summer maximum temperatures below 20 °C (68 °F), which is significantly cooler than inland.
  The characteristics of traditional Grimsby smoked fish are linked to the geographical area on the basis of tradition, reputation, the smoking process and the skills of those involved in the process, skills which have been passed down from generation to generation.
  Traditional smoking is a specialist process. The quality standards laid down by the EU Protected Geographical Indication mean producers of traditional Grimsby smoked fish must adhere to strict controls and measures to ensure the authenticity of their process. Mechanical smoking has a quantitative approach. Mechanical smokers smoke both hot and cold fish, meat, cheese and even garlic. With fish as just a small component in their repertoire, they are less likely to buy their fish direct, which means they will not have seen it and it will probably be older coming from further down the supply chain. Using older fish negates any advantage gained from a quicker mechanised smoking time.
  Being based in Grimsby is of significant advantage to smokers. Grimsby fish market has one of the highest throughputs of haddock and cod in the world. This means smokers can buy fresh fish from Iceland, Norway and Faroe every morning.
  According to the criteria established by the Grimsby Traditional Fish Smokers Group, the production of traditional Grimsby smoked fish is outlined as follows:
  "Fresh whole fish are usually sourced from Iceland, Faroe and Norway but can be sourced from other areas. Skilled filleters fillet the whole fish by hand. The filleted fish are then immersed in brine, for 10 to 15 minutes and then drained on metal rod racks known as speats at the end of the working day. The fish on the speats are put into the smokehouse chimneys at heights that suit the cold smoking process.
  The base of the smokehouse is laid with a covering of sawdust where 'fire' is introduced to start the sawdust smoldering. The rate at which the fish is smoked is dependent on the size of the fish, but also to a great degree by the ambient temperature and humidity. This means that in summer the sawdust needs the oxygen removed and only a small amount of 'fire' is needed to start the sawdust smoldering. In winter the sawdust needs less or no oxygen removed and more 'fire' is needed to start the sawdust smoldering. The fillets are left overnight for a minimum of 8 hours. Regular monitoring of the smoking process by skilled smokers is carried out to ensure the fish is smoked evenly, moving and removing fish when necessary. There is no heat involved, this is because the fish would start to cook during the smoking process and would start to flake and fall from the speats.
  The fish are then removed from the smokehouses and allowed to cool. Once cooled, they are packed into interleaved shallow purpose built cartons or in individual vacuum packs for transportation to a range of outlets both within the UK and abroad".
caption: Alfred Enderby Grimsby smokehouse
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "SAMSUNG TECHWIN", "Image Model": "NV24HD, VLUU NV24HD, LANDIAO NV106HD", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:04:10 22:43:36", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "300", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "946", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5637", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "59/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:04:10 14:58:42", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:04:10 14:58:42", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "113/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "113/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "750", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "820", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "6652", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "6652", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "64", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}