now usually a noun but formerly also a verb, meaning a method of curing herring (formerly also salmon) by splitting open, salting, and smoking (see smoking foods). The kipper is lightly salted, sometimes dyed, and cold smoked.
The best kippers are produced on an artisanal basis in Scotland, the Isle of Man, and a few places (such as Craster in Northumberland) in England. Those made on a larger scale may be quite acceptable, but suffer by comparison with the best and will have been treated with an artificial dye (permitted but undesirable).
The Craster or Newcastle cure was the first to appear, but mention should be made of the Manx (undyed), the Scottish (often dyed, quite salty) and the Whitby (split through the back rather than the belly, lightly salted but quite smoky in flavour). The herring season used to revolve round the British Isles in a clockwise direction, and the fish had varying degrees of fat or oil depending on the time of year. The fish caught off Northumbria were small but had good oil content. The modern decline in fish stocks and changing patterns of fishing have meant that most curers are now supplied from much further afield than was the case when these local recipes were developed (see Mason and Brown, 1999).
The kipper is a British institution and is perceived as part of what a gastronomic writer of the French sort would call ‘Britain's culinary heritage’. However, in its present form, as applied to herring, it only dates back to the first half of the 19th century. It was in the 1840s that a Northumbrian curer, after years of experiment, launched his kippered herring on the London market. He borrowed his term from a cure applied to salmon, but how far that went back is not clear. (References to ‘kippered salmon’ are known from as early as the 15th century, but there is room for doubt in interpreting them since ‘kipper’ was a term for a spent salmon, i.e. one which had done its spawning and survived in poor, emaciated condition. It may be, as Cutting (1955) suggests, that such salmon were made more readily saleable by the kippering process, and that this was how the process got its name.)
Kippers are easily cooked, by frying or grilling (US broiling) or ‘jugging’ (see jug).
A stir was caused in the 1990s by the publication of a French official work which seemed to suggest, while acknowledging the existence of British kippers, that a similar product made in the north of France was the original or dominant version; but the suggestion disappeared from the next printing. The incident does, however, point to the need to acknowledge here that there is such a thing as a French kipper.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Cutting, C. L. (1955), Fish Saving, London: L. Hill.
