A MUCH WIDER NET FOR SMOKED SWALLOW FISH (June 2007)

The growing influx of visitors to the Northumberland coastal resort of Seahouses has seen a soaring demand for herring and salmon smoked in the traditional way in the 19th century smoke houses of Swallow Fish Limited, a family business run by ex-fisherman Patrick Wilkin and his wife Karen.

Despite the fact that the local fishing fleet has been badly hit by restrictions on North Sea catches, such is the demand for Seahouses kippers that Patrick is now ordering more than 50 tons a year of herring caught and frozen aboard Norwegian and Icelandic trawlers fishing in the waters surrounding the two countries. The herring are transported by road to Swallow Fish where they are split, brined, then hung on tenterhooks for 12 to 15 hours, being smoked over mounds of oak sawdust – no dyes or additives - emerging as sought-after kippers.
Among those who have praised the quality of Swallow Fish produce is top chef Rick Stein who acclaimed the company as one of his Food Heroes on BBC-2.
The Wilkins’ fresh fish shop in South Street is to be extended early next year to provide more space for displaying its impressive range of fish and to provide more room for customers who come from all over the UK and abroad on holiday to the North East coast and who follow the Seahouses’ heritage trail, which takes in Swallow Fish and its historic links with the past.

Having tasted Seahouses’ traditional smoked fish which also includes cod, haddock, prawns, mussels and salmon, visitors often ask if they can order the fish when they get home. To help them and many others around the UK and abroad, Swallow Fish has launched a new website – www.swallowfish.co.uk - to enable customers to order smoked fish on-line and have it posted to them, refrigerated, and by sealed vacuum pack. Patrick says a kipper will normally keep fresh this way for about 10 days and smoked salmon for about three weeks. The new website includes information on the history of Swallow Fish and Seahouses, including a fascinating selection of old postcards, based on an extensive collection by Karen.

The Wilkins took over the ownership of Swallow Fish Limited on April 1, 1999, from the late John Swallow and his wife Pauline, who had restored the old smoke houses and the shop to processing and selling fish in 1980 after the buildings had seemed destined to follow so many in Seahouses which have been converted into holiday homes or desirable permanent residences.

Although there are references to kippers going back to the 14th century in connection with the Thames Salmon Fisheries, it is generally believed that the present-day kipper came about as the result of an accident at Seahouses when one John Woodger around 1843 left some split salted herring in a shed where a fire had been left on overnight. It was thought that all the fish had been “ruined” by the smoke. However, one was tasted, declared “delicious”, and so the kipper was born.

Woodger has been described in various historical references as “inventor of the kipper.” It has also been claimed that he ran a pub in Newcastle and the incident with the herring happened there. He is also said to have opened a curing yard in North Shields and a shop in Northumberland Street, Newcastle. What is certain is that he died in 1876 and was buried in St. John’s cemetery in Elswick, Newcastle.