Jam Jar Jan

Did you know that salmon skin can be dried and used as a material as strong as leather? That’s one of the many nuggets of info we learnt on a recent tour of premium smoked salmon producer, Forman and Sons, at their salmon-pink production site, shaped like a D shaped salmon darne. It’s based on aptly-named Fish Island by the side of the River Lea, (surely I should have travelled by boat from Hertford?) and close to the area that is now known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park a short hop from Hackney Wick station, with its incredible graffiti-covered walls.

The business has survived food, fire and a compulsory buy out, so they have proved their resilience. Their aim is to produce top quality products with minimal waste or mechanisation, by traditional methods.

Every part of the fish is used; from flesh hand-scraped from the bones to use in pate, to innovative uses for the skin, making wallets, flasks and even a dress. Turns out this is no new phenomenon, when by chance we discovered a coat of salmon skin on display at the V&A East museum nearby after our factory tour. Described as a ‘Gilyak marriage coat’ made by a tribe based in Eastern Siberia it was made from 60 Pacific salmon, weighing 6.8-9kg. A great use of natural resources and essential protection against the elements in dangerously cold environments.

There’s no Pacific salmon at Foreman’s mind you, they insist on the freshest of Scottish fish for their smoked salmon, predominantly from the River Tweed. It is, of course, prepared in a cold environment, but this group of enthusiastic food writers was given thin white paper coats rather than a version of the beautiful coat above (bottom middle pic), which gave little protection from the cold, so I was glad of the scarf I’d been told to take, despite the glorious weather outside.

We effectively spent an hour chilling in a fridge alongside the salmon (and those who had coincidentally chosen to wear salmon-pink jumpers peeking through the paper coats looked at home in the room), but the time flew by as we were entertained by charismatic Guinness world record holder, Darren. Turns out he’s a Pin-bone Wizard (cue The Who ringing in my ears here), who can remove  all 33 pin-bones and cut 40 perfect slices from a side of salmon in just 1 minute 11 seconds.

Darren has worked for this 4th generation company for 30 years, so he’s had plenty of practice, but it’s a testament to Lance Forman’s leadership that staff are so loyal. He took the helm of the business his great-grandfather started in 1905, and has continued to uphold the traditions and values Aaron ‘Harry’ Forman  brought from Eastern Europe as a Russian émigré and the ‘London Cure’ that they developed, consisting only of rock salt and oak smoke. Lance has long resisted mechanisation, preferring to keep to hand cutting, which is why Darren is such an asset. 

Here smoking is a means of preservation alone - more controllably produced by friction from one large oak log rather than burning wood chips - and the aim is for the flavour of the fish to shine through. If it’s the smoke flavour you like then it’s the pellicle that you will covet, the outer layer that is most exposed during the air drying and oak smoking which is carved off to reveal the cured fish ready to slice, but these top strips are similar to jerky and make a salty, smoky snack. But if it’s the succulent melt in the mouth flesh you want, the succulent Royal fillet is your prize.  We were surprised to discover that it is possible to choose between lean or fatty fish, depending on the cut and its proximity to the skin after cold smoking. As you’d expect, the leaner slices are carved from the top of the fillet with a drier texture, the flesh nearer the skin is oilier with a creamier natural salmon flavour. Darren’s deftly sliced D-cut (so named because of the shape) offers a mix of the two.

Back in the warmth of the restaurant we were treated to a plateful of beautifully presented delicacies across the range to taste the quality for ourselves, with a glass of fizz to wash it down.

An on-site kitchen gave the company their get-out-of-jail card during Covid, and it’s possible to buy a range of premium value-added products sold under the name Forman & Field, which includes their specialty cured salmon ranging from gin & tonic or mojito to cinnamon and orange to wasabi & ginger.

I brought some home to taste, to share with Hub, and we discovered we prefer the leaner fish and that all smoked salmon is definitely not equal.
The maple-glazed hot-smoked salmon was particularly delicious in a noodle broth dish with miso and edamame, and we finished off the smoked salmon slices in a carbonara-style pasta dish with green beans and leeks and a silky egg sauce (Top right).

We were lucky to do this tour for a fraction of their usual price, but I’d thoroughly recommend this insight into a business determined to survive every obstacle thrown in its way to continue to produce this premium product.

And who knows, we may even be wearing salmon-pink coats courtesy of Foreman’s in the future, as they continue to innovate and grow.

WHAT'S IN JAN'S FRUIT & VEG BOX

Fruit & Veg are very much back on the menu now we are cooking for just ‘we two’, and the veg box is being used to max potential (too much ad hoc shopping rather than using what was already available).  An Abundance of autumnal gems is always a great addition to the table:

Black Figs

From my veg box, plus some homegrown ones as part of a foodswap glut (green beans for figs) put to good use in a Fig and goat's cheese salad drizzled with pomegranate molasses, and fig meringues to use up meringue nests left by our Personal Patisserie Chef. 

Leeks

I made a Camembert and Leek Galette with a walnut pastry recipe I wanted to try from the Waitrose paper. This free-form pie is so easy to put together.

Butternut Squash

We entertained on the first weekend of October - the weather was still glorious and we sat outside and cooked on the ceramic grill. We did a long slow cook for some pork belly and I prepared salads in advance, the secret to successful entertaining. No-one wants to miss out on their guest’s gossip whilst beavering away in the kitchen. I roasted cubes of butternut squash the night before to accompany our sea bass, then used the remainder in a salad with black beans, perpetual spinach from the veg patch and crumbled feta, combined with a spicy harissa dressing, ideal to cut through the fattiness of the pork.

Purple carrots

I love the vibrancy of these carrots. I used them in a recipe inspired by Ceri Jones in her book It starts with Veg - roll cut and roasted, served with nutty tasting smoky freekeh with the quick pickled onions left from the chefs last burger meal and some ready prepped garlic herb butter (Ceri recommends tarragon).

Leftovers next day were delicious reheated and served with baked feta.

What’s on Jan’s Soapbox

Food education at its best, and a little rant from a passionate food lover.

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Hackney School of Food and was blown away by the facilities there. If only every child had that opportunity to immerse themselves in food. These primary school children are introduced to all kinds of veg growing in the garden, and (shock horror) they prepare them with real knifes, cooking on hot hobs with boiling pans. No mollycoddling, just the skills to avoid the inevitable cuts and burns - what better way to learn than with practical real life skills.

Our visit was part of the Big East visit organised by the Guild of Food Writers: two events in one to make it well worth the trip into the Big Smoke.

We had walked 45 mins along the canal from the recently opened V&A East (well worth the visit) following our tour of Forman’s factory, and were beginning to wonder where we were going, as the scenery started to change and we still hadn’t arrived. We crossed the river into a housing estate, turned the corner and finally found the door to the garden, where the friendly face of Tom, head food educator and founding member  welcomed us into his green garden oasis.

With sensory garden full of fragrant herbs, fruit trees, every type of vegetable characteristic of many different cultures, egg-laying chickens, a wormery ( what child doesn’t love worms?), bee hives producing honey for the school (even playing its part in teaching the children marketing and economics), composting areas, wood-fired oven and outside dining area, and well equipped kitchen and teaching areas. What parallel paradise had we stepped into from the streets behind the brick wall? 

We were shown the bed with the buried underpants too.  An experiment to test the quality of the soil and a good way to show what materials are biodegradable - one that every 5-101 year old can relate to, surely.

I loved that the kids had free rein to pick their own produce, and are encouraged to identity and prepare them all themselves. Potentially underprivileged kids who may not have access to such things living in an inner city area are able to take these natural riches for granted. Tom has put together a Tool Kit so that other educational establishments can follow the model he has set up here.

In fact food is a fascinating topic - we all have a relationship with it, whether good or bad, and it’s beyond me why food education is such an issue in this country. If more money and effort was ploughed into food education, cooking and nutrition awareness we could go some way towards reducing obesity and helping the NHS.

I trained as a Home Economist, I am a home cook. I’m proud to say that I’ve passed that love of food to my son who, surrounded by food and constant cooking in the home kitchen, decided early on that he wanted to be a chef (against my best advice, mind you, though all the more reason to pursue it if your parents try to dissuade you, naturally).  It’s one role that I’ve never pursued, despite working in almost every other area of food in my career. I’m well aware what a ruthless environment it can be, and his experiences have shown this to be sadly true. He’s incredibly passionate, committed and skilled but it’s easy to burn out so he’s ‘resting’ at the moment, taking time out to travel. But what better way to learn about food, to experience different cultures first hand. And I can be sure he won’t struggle to find a job when he returns, he has that skill for life and there are so many opportunities to work in food.  So I can never understand why ifood doesn’t hold the value it deserves in schools and is not encouraged as a career for young people. There are other avenues other than chef, as I have shown, so it depends how he wishes to use that expertise to his and others advantage.

Youngest son never felt he needed to learn to cook, with but even he sees the benefit and is a better cook than he realises. He has inadvertently been immersed in food all his life, introduced to extreme tastes through my day-job (I never held back on spicing levels and he generally had to eat what he was given. When younger he would separate out the food on the plate that he didn’t like until he realised that if he was hungry he would eat what was on his plate, and has never looked back. His own recent travel experiences have opened up the world of NZ food (particularly their penchant for pies)  and Asian foods (especially noodles). He’s not afraid to try anything.

So let’s support passion projects such as these. Catch kids early and they will make sensible eating choices.

And the school isn’t just for children - there are adult education opportunities too, with some fabulous speakers for their adult masterclasses, such as Olia Hercules and Ixta Bellfrage.

Check out the Hackney School of Food website and be inspired.