HALF DAY SMOKING COURSE

Time: 9.30 am to 2 pm

The half-day interactive smoking course is all about learning the fundamentals of preparing, curing and smoking a variety of wild fish with Sally Barnes. This hands-on masterclass will focus on hot smoking, where participants get to fillet, cure and smoke wild fish. It is suitable for home cooks as well as chefs who want to learn more about smoking. Participants will also learn the principles of smoking and curing other products like meat, poultry, cheeses, and vegetables.

Questions throughout the day are encouraged. Note-taking is advisable.

“The filleting was great fun, but my favourite was hot-smoking that delicious John Dory!! Thank you for such a great day” - Colm

What to expect

• Welcome coffee/tea/well water on arrival

• A talk about Woodcock Smokery and Ireland’s vibrant culinary heritage

• Learn the Basic Hygiene principles of safe food production

• Discussion of choosing raw materials - wild fish, salt and wood

• Hands-on filleting, curing and hot-smoking fish

• Tastings of Sally Barnes smoked products such as cold smoked haddock, hot and cold smoked Albacore tuna

• Casual sharing lunch of your hot-smoked fish, salads, West Cork cheeses, bread, pickles and more

• Something sweet

• Well water and homemade cordials

• You will get to bring home some of the hot-smoked fish you created

• Other smoked fish products are available to purchase directly after the course

Full description of course schedule below

9:30 am

You will be welcomed into the famous Smokery of Sally Ferns Barnes for coffee and tea. Then, you will be introduced to Woodcock Smokery and the Sally Barnes Method, including a description of the traditional techniques of hot and cold smoking wild fish developed over 44 years.

10 am

You will enter the workshop, change into work clothes and learn the Basic Hygiene principles of safe food production.

Please note that the course starts at 10 am SHARP, as time and weather play a part in the smoking process.

10:15 am

Your first lesson will be about selecting good fish and identifying quality in the raw product, including aspects of seasonality, provenance and the physiology of wild fish from local waters.

10:30 am

Your second lesson will be hands-on filleting and learning about the tools of the trade for preparing raw, wild fish. This will include knife skills and filleting techniques. 

Depending on what is fresh and caught by local boats, you could be working with mackerel, whiting, gurnard, pollack, john dory, plaice, haddock or sole.

11:30 am

Your third lesson will be on salt-curing: the effects of different brine vs dry salting and how these affect different species of varying size, fat content, and musculature for the required preservation of salt-cured wild fish.

Your fish will be salted accordingly in preparation for the smoking process.

12 pm

Your fourth lesson will involve learning about the smoking process using simple equipment which may be available in your kitchen. You will also learn about the variables of any given day, like humidity, temperature, and weather, and how these affect the fish during the smoke cure. You will also cover different types of hardwood, burning temperature, and the release of esthers for flavour.

You will begin to hot-smoke the fish, which will be ready for you to eat for lunch.

1 pm

Your course will finish with a long table lunch featuring your hot-smoked fish alongside some of Sally Barnes’ hot and cold-smoked products, local artisan cheeses, salads, pickles, chutneys and bread.

Weather permitting, we might stroll to the neighbouring Ringfort to soak in the West Cork fresh air.

2 pm

Time to go home and practice what you have learned with friends, colleagues and family.