66 THE FISHING INDUSTRY 



more complete combustion, the proportion of resinous 

 constituents in the smoke is liable to be considerably 

 diminished. When oak billets are used, therefore, 

 curing takes place much more slowly. 



The temperature in the smoke house will also depend 

 very much upon the prevailing weather temperature 

 outside. In cold weather it is difficult to keep the 

 temperature up sufficiently. The curing takes longer, and 

 results in a hard cured product. In very warm weather, 

 on the other hand, it is difficult to keep the temperature 

 down, and a " fired " fish is sometimes produced, i.e. 

 one which is half-cooked and soft. Such a fish is 

 clearly unsuitable for packing for export. 



Generally speaking, the temperature of the smoke 

 should be such that the curing takes about 10 days. 



After smoking, the fish are taken off the speets and 

 selected according to quality. Those which are large 

 and perfect fetch a better price, and command an entirely 

 different market from those which are damaged or broken. 



During the smoking of red herrings, the fires are lit 

 each night, and simply allowed to burn themselves out. 



Bloaters. There are two kinds of bloaters : those 

 intended for the home trade and those intended for the 

 Mediterranean trade. For the home trade the herring 

 is lightly salted by immersing it in brine for two hours 

 or less. It is then dried in the smoke-house for one 

 night, using billets. Unlike " reds " or kippers, it is 

 not cured by the smoke, but simply dried. The bloaters 

 for the Mediterranean trade are salted in concrete tanks 

 in exactly the same way as red herrings, but, instead 

 of being smoke-cured for 10 days or so, they are simply 

 smoke-dried for two days. 



Kippers. Kippering is the only process in the herring 

 industry in which the fish are split before curing. Fresh 

 herrings (sometimes over-day herrings) are bought 



