Smoked Fish - Types

Types

Pacific halibut filets hot smoked with a blend of mesquite and alder woods

The most common types of smoked fish in the US are salmon, mackerel, whitefish and trout, although other smoked fish is also available regionally or from many ethnic stores. Salmon, mackerel and herring are universally available both hot-smoked and cold-smoked, while most other fish is traditionally preserved by only one of the smoking methods.

A common name for cold-smoked salmon is lox, of which many different types are available, usually identified by point of origin (e.g., from Scotland, Norway, Holland, the Pacific, and Nova Scotia, Canada—the latter usually identified as Nova lox or just Nova). Traditionally, lox designates brined rather than smoked salmon, but the linguistic boundary between the two types of products has long been erased. Gravad lax or gravlax remains the only type that is unmistakably not smoked fish. However, commercial labels still identify most smoked products as "smoked salmon" rather than "lox".

Most other smoked fish in the US is hot-smoked, although cold-smoked mackerel is always available in East-European delis, along with cold-smoked sturgeon, sea bass, halibut or turbot and many other varieties. Jewish delis often sell, in addition to lox, hot-smoked whitefish, mackerel, trout, and sablefish (also sometimes referred to as black cod in its fresh state). Along the Mississippi River, hot-smoked locally caught sturgeon is also available. Traditionally, in the US, cold-smoked fish, other than salmon, is considered "raw" and thus unsafe to consume without cooking. For this reason, in the US, cold-smoked fish is largely confined to specialty and ethnic shops.

In the Netherlands, commonly available varieties include both hot- and cold-smoked mackerel, herring and Baltic sprats. Hot-smoked eel is a specialty in the Northern provinces, but is a popular deli item throughout the country.

Smoked fish is a prominent item in Russian cuisine, Ashkenazi Jewish Cuisine, and Scandinavian cuisine, as well as several Eastern and Central European cuisines and the Pacific Northwest cuisine.

English, Scottish and Canadian cuisine incorporate a variety of strongly brined, smoked herring that used to be known as "red herring". With the increased use of the idiomatic expression "red herring", references to the smoked fish product in this manner declined. A more common contemporary name for it is kippers, or kippered herring. Kippered herring traditionally undergoes further processing (soaking and cooking) before consumption. Arbroath Smokies (haddock) and Traditional Grimsby smoked fish (haddock and cod) have both received Protected Geographical Indication status from the European Commission, which restricts use of the name to fish that is processed using specific methods within a defined geographical area. Other smoked fish products from the UK include Finnan Haddie and Bloater.

• Smoked eels

• Smoked sturgeon

• A kipper is a herring which has been split from tail to head, eviscerated, salted, and smoked.

• Still Life with Kippers, Oysters and Smoker's Accessories – Floris van Schooten, 1590–1655