MAX BERGIUS is holding a pair of kippers aloft. ‘Here they are, the quintessentially British breakfast,’ he beams, brandishing them triumphantly like the spoils of war. It’s early on a Wednesday morning and we’re under a railway arch in east London—home to Secret Smokehouse, which he founded in 2016. Alongside the sides of salmon being carefully pin-boned by his team are sleek and silvery herrings fresh out of the water. ‘We take big, beautiful, chunky ones, remove the guts and gills, hand-split and fillet them and then smoke them over oak sawdust,’ Mr Bergius explains. According to him, they have ‘a lovely, delicate flavour’— which might come as news to anyone who came of age pushing them around their plate.
For much of the 20th century, smoked herrings were a superior way to start the day: inexpensive, plentiful and nutritious. ‘It was with a merry cry that I greeted Jeeves as he brought in the coffee and kippers,’ says Bertie Wooster in 1946’s Joy in the Morning, speaking for the tens of thousands of Britons who breakfasted on fish landed off the Isle of Man, Northumbria (the ‘kippering’ process was formalised here in 1843), Scotland’s west coast or North Yorkshire. They always evoked strong feelings: in the early 1970s, Laurence Olivier was apoplectic when the Brighton Belle that ran between London and the coast threatened to stop serving them in its dining car (the kippers stayed, but the train was decommissioned in 1972; there’s a moral in there somewhere).
Denne historien er fra November 27, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra November 27, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
