Smoking and salting are ancient techniques used to preserve fish, and were developed in the days when harsh, icy winters made fishing impossible. Now, smoked salmon is a popular delicacy, and, served with buttered, toasted brown bread and a squeeze of lime, it’s hard to beat as a snack or a starter.

For a long time, I have wanted to try smoking fish, but lacked the kit. In Scotland, they normally use what is known as the ‘cold smoking’ technique. Here, entire sides of fish, usually salmon but often trout, are placed on racks in a chamber, and smoke from a fire fed with hardwood is directed over the fish. The smoke is cool, and cooks the fish over at least 12 hours. The slabs are then removed, sliced very thinly and packaged. While farmed salmon is not too expensive, its wild cousin is.

The reason I could not attempt this in Sri Lanka or Pakistan is that it’s not possible to keep fish in our part of the world at room temperature for 12 hours while the smoke works its magic. So when I was presented with a ‘hot smoker’, I was delighted. This involves cooking the fish in hot smoke inside a small enclosed space, a much quicker process.

There are so many ways to cook fish that you can never have enough of it

For my new smoker’s first outing, I used seer, or surmai, as we know the large, firm-fleshed seawater fish. That morning, a six-kilo surmai had arrived, having been caught just hours ago. The eyes were clear, and the gills a bright red; both are signs of freshness. I cut off two large fillets from the centre, and divided them into pieces. Two large chunks went into the smoker. This is a rectangular box with a wire grill at the bottom to hold the fish. Just below, there is space for a fine layer of special hickory sawdust. After sliding the lid shut, I placed the contraption on a low flame, and let the smoke from the wood cook the fish for 10 minutes. The fire was turned off, and the fish sat in its coffin for another few minutes before being removed, sliced and refrigerated. This degree of smoking produced fish that was slightly underdone in the middle, just the way I like it.

While the surmai was being smoked, Ned, a guest from England and a great cook, chopped up another piece into fine bits and placed them in a bowl, together with a little virgin olive oil, some lime juice and a de-seeded, very finely diced green chilli. This is known as ceviche in South America, and is becoming increasingly popular in Europe. The lime juice ‘cooks’ the fish pretty quickly, and there are variations depending on what else is being served at the meal. So you can use chilli flakes, coriander or any green herb to sprinkle on top.

Another kilo of the surmai was sliced into bite-sized pieces, with all tissue and dark meat put aside for the cats. This would make a platter of sashimi, the popular Japanese raw fish that has taken the world by storm. Accompanied with sharp wasabi in soy sauce, this was our third starter.

Finally, a couple of kilos of the surmai was trimmed and cubed. The marinade was a mixture of olive oil, powdered cumin, crushed garlic, red chilli, salt and pepper. A dollop of yoghurt and some lime juice went into a large bowl, and mixed into the fish. After an hour in the fridge, these were threaded on to wooden skewers. By now, the burning cinnamon wood on the barbecue had settled into hot charcoal on which the fish cooked for a few minutes to be served as the main course.

So we had surmai done four ways for a delicious dinner: ceviche, sashimi, smoked and barbecued.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, February 8th, 2015

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