Springs Smoked Salmon

The Springs, Edburton, Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9LN 
Order contact: 01903 815066  Quoting: 5066

Special Offer: Springs Scottish Farmed Smoked Salmon
Smoked in the same way as the Wild Smoked Salmon over those traditional oak logs, this salmon has a lovely, smooth slightly oily texture. Perfect for all sorts of recipes, or for just serving as it comes. Available in 227g packs, sliced or whole sliced sides with a minimum weight of 1000g.

Special exclusive offer for Delia Online: buy 2 or more farmed,oak-smoked, sliced sides of salmon for just £30.00 each when you quote 5066 (usual price £33.10 each – saving £3.10 on each side). For more smoked products visit www.springsmokedsalmon.co.uk and to take advantage of the above offer please advise of your order by telephone using the code 5066.

Call 01903 815066. Last order dates for Christmas delivery : 14 December 2010 lastest delivery dates 17 December 2010.

A small and affluent little village in the folds of the South Downs is a fairly unlikely place to find a shop with a gobsmacking range of frozen shellfish and filleted fish, plus an excellent salmon smokery. Owned by the friendly Harris family, from the front, the only clue to the smokery’s existence is a delicate scent of wood smoke on the breeze.

Springs salmon is smoked in square brick ovens with shutters on the site that can be adjusted for ventilation – dozens of sides of salmon hang in the tarry gloom, perhaps with some herring morphing into kippers for company.

How the smoke is made and directed is where the system differs from others, and where Martin Harris, who showed me round, clams up. 

‘I had someone from France recently trying to persuade me to teach him our method. He went on and on saying, “I am hardly going to be a rival to you in France.” But that isn’t the whole point. My father had to spend his summer holiday cutting reeds for my grandfather before he was allowed in on the secret.’

Martin’s grandfather was Richard Pinney, of Butley Orford Oysterage in Suffolk, who worked out a way of keeping hardwood logs burning but controlling the temperature so that the fish is cold-smoked, rather than cooked, and also, a way of dispersing the smoke fairly evenly through the ovens (the Harrises have since improved on the latter operation).

Most salmon is smoked using woodchips or sawdust. The combination of this design, plus whole oak logs from Arundel, results in exquisite flavour without risking the texture and translucence of the finished product.

Listening to Martin, I learn that there as a particular knack to judging each step of the process. Nothing is done by the clock alone – the salmon is ready when just the right amount of oil is drawn to the surface. 

They cure three different kinds of salmon at Springs; wild Scottish (bought through a specialist dealer), arguably the finest fish in the world; farmed Scottish salmon; and wild Canadian salmon. In all three, salt, moistness and delicate smokiness are beautifully balanced. Because I’ve seen the Canadian salmon being caught and immaculately handled, I was not surprised to find that I enjoyed it as much as our native wild thing – and I loved the price.

Our way: ’Every Christmas we have wild smoked salmon as a starter, with brown bread and butter, a squeeze of lemon and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Only recently, I read that cayenne pepper was the proper seasoning for smoked salmon – I’m nt convinced and don’t think our family will be changing!’ Martin Harris