The Table
Fishy business
At a House of Commons cocktail party I suddenly noticed a friend’s face contorted like ‘The Scream’ of Edvard Munch. Could it be yet more bad news for Labour? No, she was being offered a plate of smoked salmon, probably her thousandth munch for the year. I entirely sympathised; the stuff usually served up is fatty and tasteless. But now that the fishing season is upon us, you can do something about it.
Salmon was once so plentiful in the British Isles that a medieval journeyman’s contract specified it would be on the workshop in-house menu no more than three times a week. In modern times, c.1960, salmon stocks began to be fished out; in place of the angler landing salmon on its home voyage to spawn, dragnet operations now occurred at sea; the rivers themselves became lethally polluted. Thus the birth of the fish farm. Not all, but most, are nefarious. Like chickens in industrialised cages, the fish are cramped together tightly; they get fat from lack of exercise and the junk-food they are fed; they develop parasites.
The first rule for buying smoked salmon is therefore to spend money on quality; if the flesh of the fish is firm, chances are the farm is good. In Britain, excellent farmed salmon is widely available via H. Forman and Son, which also trades as Forman and Field; you find it in Waitrose or by direct mail order. High-quality salmon can also be mailed from small enterprises in Scotland like MacGilvray; if ordering online, you want to make sure the advertising bumpf says that the farmed fish accords with RSPCA standards.
More articles from: Richard Sennett | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Any Other Business
Martin Vander Weyer
A hot new brand, a better train service and a kinder role model for harsh times
Boldly for restoration
Byron RogersWales, by Simon Jenkins
Out of the ordinary
Carolyn BartholomewCarolyn Bartholomew talks to Tilda Swinton, an actor who has made a career out of being unconventional
Put a brave face on it
Lindy WoodheadIt’s official: make-up is recession-proof, says Lindy Woodhead
Scotland counts the cost of its financial Culloden
Bill JamiesonEdinburgh is an undemonstrative city, says Bill Jamieson, but its financial community has been mortified by the loss of two banks that have guarded its wealth for centuries
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
Free Sky Digital Offer - Order Now
Subscribe to Sky from £16 a month. Get free equipment and free broadband - Join Now. Sky HD - be amongst the first to have it - order now.
Free Sky Digital Offer - Order Now
Subscribe to Sky from £16 a month. Get free equipment and free broadband - Join Now. Sky HD - be...
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Peter
August 1st, 2008 11:48pmgood article and I learned something about a delicacy which I love.
charles mercer
August 15th, 2008 5:16pmDear Mr Sennett,
I am a 67 year old American who has been eating smoked salmon ever since I can remember. I can assure you that not only have I never eaten or been served anywhere in America smoked salmon slathered with mayonnaise but also that it is not an American habit to slather smoked salmon with mayonnaise.You must have gone to the strangest restaurant or home in America to have made such a statement.Nowhere in James Beard's American cookery does he mention serving mayonnaise with smoked salmon. Apparently you are not the only Englishman to think Americans are rubes about smoked salmon, as I was once told by a fishmonger in London that the smoked salmon he was offering was not artificially colored, when it was obvious to anyone who knew about smoked salmon that it was heavily colored. Someday you should try some fresh Copper River Salmon, unsmoked and raw, for a real American treat.