Ullapool Smokehouse is a small, traditional smoking business, based in the fishing village of Ullapool, in the far North West of the Scottish Highlands. Our aim is to produce the very best quality, traditionally smoked, salmon.
We use our knowledge and enthusiasm to produce smoked fish that tastes like the artisan product it should, rather than the commodity that it has become. Together we do all the work - from smoking to slicing, packing, selling and dispatching. We specialise in mail-order but also sell to a select number of quality hotels, restaurants and Fish buyers.
The fish was traditionally smoked to preserve. However nowadays its more for the distinct rich flavour.
The farmed fish that we use is all Scottish and is local as you can get coming from Wester Ross Salmon.
Wester Ross salmon are renown for the quality of the salmon they produce and have won countless awards worldwide, they are the best independent fish farmers in Scotland and still feed their fish by hand which causes the fish to swim harder, resulting in a fitter and less fatty, tastier fish.
The stages of from birth to processing at Wester Ross Salmon
OVA TO ALEVIN TO FRY
FRY TO PARR
GROWTH IN SEA WATER
CAREFUL HARVEST
PROCESSING
Well, it is dry cured using a large grain sea salt which takes over twelve hours to be gently absorbed. It is then left in the chill room over night to develop a pellicle which adds a glossy surface to the flesh and helps the smokey flavour to adhere to it.
We then place the fish in our brick kiln and gently smoke over smouldering oak shavings from used whisky barrel staves without the use of artificially warmed air and forced ventilation. This means our smoking process takes more time to complete.
Our final secret ingredient is the malt whisky cure.
But we cant tell you all about that, the flavour and texture of the finished products reflects the time and the effort that we put into them. After the process is complete, we slice and pack and our standard is the traditional D-cut and everything is closely inspected to ensure quality assurance.
A classic French dish that makes for an elegant but simple starter, supper (or breakfast!).
The trick is to get the timing right so the whites are set and the yolks still runny