342 THE SEAS 



application of salt. Dehydration or drying in a scientific 

 manner has recently been introduced in Germany. 



In the case of salting the cleaned fish are packed in barrels 

 in salt; after they have settled the resulting liquor is run off, 

 and a few more layers of fish and salt are placed on top. 



Smoking is a combination of salting and drying, and 

 upon the degree of either process the flavour of the cured 

 fish depends. When being smoked the fish are hung up 

 in special smoking houses. The smoke is produced by 

 burning sawdust, which only smoulders and gives off dense 

 volumes of smoke. Hard woods are best for the process, 

 because soft woods contain oils and resins which vaporize 

 and impart a taste to the fish. For this reason oak, hickory, 

 and mahogany, among others are used. 



Red herrings, bloaters and kippers, are all smoked 

 herring, the only difference being that the degree of salting 

 or smoking varies for each kind. 



Of the three the red herring is the most strongly salted. 

 They are thoroughly buried in salt for at least five days 

 in large tanks and are then hung up in the smoke houses 

 where they remain about ten days. The fish are not 

 cut open more than is just necessary for cleaning. By 

 remaining so long in the smoke houses they become 

 " cured " by the antiseptic vapours arising from the burning 

 sawdust. By this means they are fit for sending to the 

 Mediterranean and warm countries where less thoroughly 

 cured fish would not keep. 



The bloater is much the same as a red herring except that 

 the salting is milder, and the smoking merely for a long 

 enough time to dry the fish and not to cure. They are only 

 immersed in brine for a couple of hours and then smoked 

 for a night. 



A kippered herring is split down the back and then 

 immersed for a short time, half an hour to an hour 



