Why is “Irish smoked salmon” different from “smoked Irish salmon”?

Burren Smokehouse Cold Smoked Irish Organic Salmon

You will learn something today that not many people know about. It will help you to find out if a fish product is misleadingly (but not illegally) labeled.

It is about the order of the words “smoked” and “Irish” on the labeling of fish products.

Let’s say you are standing in front of a supermarket fridge trying to decide which products to choose. There is Irish smoked salmon, smoked Irish salmon, and then some. Is there a difference between them, and is the difference obvious from the labeling? Yes to both.

Here comes the misleading part. One should assume that “Irish smoked salmon” refers to salmon that has its origin in Ireland and was also smoked in Ireland. But that’s not the case.

In the legal jargon, “Irish smoked salmon” only means that this salmon was smoked in Ireland. The country of origin, however, could be Norway or Scotland. Especially in central Europe, the smokehouses source salmon in Norway, then import it frozen to smoke it in their own country.

As you see in the above image of our cold smoked salmon, we clearly write “Smoked Irish Salmon”, or  more accurately said “Smoked Irish Organic Salmon”. This means it is salmon that was smoked, and more importantly, sourced in Ireland. We would love to call it “Irish Smoked Irish Organic Salmon”, but that might be taking it a bit too far.

So when the word “Irish” and “Salmon” are written together, it means that you are looking at the real deal – salmon sourced in Ireland.

 

“How much smoked salmon would I need for …?”

One of the questions we get a lot refers to how much salmon somebody would need for their convivial dinner or event. The short answer is that there is no short answer. It all depends on the kind of dish you want to use the smoked salmon for, and how many people you expect. We want to give you a few pointers to make it easier to decide how much salmon to buy.

Recipe Starter with Burren Smokehouse Cold Smoked Salmon on Sourdough Bread

A full side of cold smoked salmon (1 kg) has around 30 slices. These slices vary in size depending on their location on the side. The top slices are the big ones, and the further they get to the tail the smaller they get.

In general, we recommend 30 g (1.05 oz) per person if you want to serve cold smoked salmon on canapés. That’s roughly 1 big slice per person. The big slices can be cut in half or thirds to fit on canapés.

The slices of the hot smoked salmon are much thicker because of the flaky texture. The slices would break into small pieces if they were sliced as thinly as those of the cold smoked salmon.

We have a lot of recipes on our website and we are adding new ones every month. In those recipes, you find the amount of smoked salmon you would need, so no guessing needed there.

As a rule of thumb, we would always opt for more than you need – who doesn’t like a bit of salmon to enjoy after the event?

Food Gifting – much more than just Smoked Irish Organic Salmon!

Burren Smokehouse gift hampers gift basket

Gifting or finding a present for somebody else can be very challenging, as dads know from experience when they get yet another tie or pair of socks on Father’s Day. It’s difficult to find something that is unique, doesn’t sit forgotten in the garage or on a mantelpiece gathering dust and pleases the recipient, be it male or female.

There are a lot of gifting companies out there, but not many cater for the discerning taste of foodies! Food gifting is something that will set you, as the person who is making the gift, apart. With the extremely high quality of small batch production in Ireland, we can create the most exciting Irish food hampers!

Gift baskets, or as we call them here, gift hampers are a refreshing present to receive. Imagine the joy of unpacking all the delicacies like Burren Smoked Irish Organic Salmon, tasty crackers, cheeses, chocolates and so much more! And what’s more – when you gift something that is edible or that uses itself up like soap or a candle, it’s not sitting somewhere gathering dust.

You can reuse the same gift idea – different gift box – again next time. It never gets old!

We have a range of food hampers available online, but feel free to create your own hamper and add anything in with that particular person in mind.

Another cool gift idea: Gift vouchers! You can buy them last minute and send them on by email from our website. The recipients can use them whenever it suits them, and spend the value on the products they fancy most.

We take the heavy lifting out of making a gift. You simply tell us what you would like to send to whom and when, and we do the rest. No running around trying to find the right things, no packing of the box and bringing it to the post office!

Gifting made easy.

 

Useful links for your stay in the Burren

Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark Burren SmokehouseFor your information, we have listed below some relevant links from our area. We declare with regard to all of these links that we did not have any influence on the design and contents of those linked websites, and that we are not responsible for the contents of any of those links.

Links to members of the Burren Ecotourism Network are highlighted in bold.

Places to visit in the Burren & Things to Do in Clare

Our suppliers of Fine Foods and Crafts

Stay and eat in Hotels in the Burren and beyond

Stay in Burren Bed & Breakfasts, Guesthouses, Self-Catering Accommodation and Hostels

Restaurants, Cafés & Gastro-pubs

Information about the Burren and County Clare
More Links

Convertion Websites

Taste the Burren – Smoked Salmon, Craft Beer & Whiskey

When you come to the Burren, there is a delectable range of activities you can choose from. One of them is to explore the foods and drinks which are being produced right here!

Barbecue tips for your Burren Smoked Irish Organic Salmon

Burren Smokehouse smoked salmon barbecue

A recent survey found that 60% of Irish people are planning on firing up their barbecue this year. Al fresco dining is great fun in the summer months whilst the weather is good, and it’s also the ideal time to get family and friends together for a celebration meal. The most popular thing to cook on the barbecue is steak and chicken, but these meats can be difficult to cook evenly, and there is always the possibility of under or overcooking your food. However, fish is one of the easiest things to cook on the barbecue, and many types of fileted fish will cook in only a few minutes, leaving you more time to spend with your guests, enjoying a drink and the craic.

Smoked Mackerel

Although smoked mackerel is delicious eaten cold, it is also extremely tasty when cooked on the barbecue. Before you put your fish on the grill though, make sure that your grill is completely clean, as you don’t want grease or burnt food residue to contaminate the taste of your fish. Many of the modern pellet grills have removable plates that make it much easier when you are cleaning your barbecue to get it ready for cooking. Hot soapy water will effectively clean your grill rather than using chemical oven cleaner. When cooking mackerel on the barbecue, place it skin side down first to get it a little crispy. Then you should flip your fish over and heat through for a couple of minutes.

Cold smoked salmon

The Burren cold smoked salmon fillets are perfect for a summer lunch in the garden with friends. It is important however, that you don’t let the barbecue flavour of charcoal overpower the fish – the cold smoked organic salmon with seaweed in particular has a very delicate taste. To cook your salmon on the barbecue, wrap the fish loosely in a tin foil parcel with some fresh herbs and a couple of slices of lemon. You can then place the foil package onto your barbecue and leave it for 10-15 minutes. In doing this, the fish will steam through gently, without it getting stuck to your grill, flaking away or overcooking.

Barbecued accompaniments

Burren smoked Irish organic salmon is delicious with a simple salad and some crusty fresh bread. You could also serve up some tasty accompaniments and sides all cooked on the barbecue. Some grilled, buttered asparagus or tenderstem broccoli will cook in only five minutes and complements smoked salmon perfectly. Or you could make a delicious Mediterranean salad with barbecued red peppers, strips of courgette and pieces of aubergine, all drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Sliced fennel is also easy to cook on the barbecue and tastes delicious with smoked salmon and a little horseradish sauce.

The summer months are perfect for a celebratory barbecue meal with family and friends. Instead of cooking greasy burgers and sausages, give your barbecue some class and put some Burren smoked salmon or mackerel on the menu.

Image: Alice Pasqual on Unsplash

Good Food Ireland and the Burren Smokehouse

Good Food Ireland GFI and Burren SmokehouseThe Burren Smokehouse is a member of Good Food Ireland. What exactly does that mean?

Good Food Ireland’s Vision is to grow Ireland as a food tourism destination and provide a sustainable future for the hospitality sector, farmers, fishermen, and food producers.

Their philosophy is to prioritise the core indigenous ingredients of Irish cuisine and promote local and artisan food producers.

Good Food Ireland is an industry-driven food tourism organisation which was established in November 2006. Many good food operators in a cross-section of establishments all around the island from restaurants to accommodation, pubs to food shops to cookery schools want to be recognised and endorsed for their commitment to using Irish, local and artisan food produce.

They want to share experiences and be cooperatively marketed to domestic and international tourists. Agriculture and tourism, two vital economies for Ireland, have so much in common and are yet so far apart. Through Good Food Ireland, the industry from both these sectors share a common belief and come together as one. Good Food Ireland enables the visitors and domestic consumers to experience a true taste of Ireland.

What Birgitta Curtin, owner of the Burren Smokehouse, has to say about Good Food Ireland:

“Good Food Ireland promotes Irish food nationally and internationally. This will bring the excellent Irish food to the forefront providing opportunities to give to tourists a unique eating experience – a real taste of Ireland. The Burren Smokehouse is delighted to drive and support an organisation that encompasses all of my own beliefs in good, home produced artisan foods.”

Visit the GFI Website for suggested itineraries and tours, reviews of all members, events throughout the island, news, recipes, videos, gift vouchers, hampers and merchandise, consumer food club, advertising opportunities and partnership opportunities.

Health benefits of Eating Fish

Did you know that fish helps to prevent heart disease? Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death but people who eat fish regularly have much less heart disease compared to people who never eat fish. And this is one of the reasons that experts recommend eating fish at least twice a week.

In the face of increasing obesity and decreasing health standards, governments and food and health advisory bodies in Europe and the USA are actively encouraging their populations to consume more fish in their diet.

Salmon Fishing in Ireland

Drift net fishing of wild salmon was banned in Irish waters in 2006. It still is banned as far as drift net fishing is concerned where long nets are towed by trawlers out in the sea. The reason for it is that the number of wild salmon went down dramatically in Ireland and other countries. 

In spring 2011, the total ban on wild salmon fishing was partially lifted. It has since then been possible to fish wild salmon subject to strict observation of a long list of rules. 

Wild Salmon fishing is only allowed for small traditional outfits, and only in the rivers – not out in the Atlantic. The fishing period is limited to the months of May to August. All wild salmon caught have to be tagged and registered, and the number of salmon an outfit can fish is strictly limited. 

The fishing takes place more than 5 kilometres upriver. This is important because the wild salmon, on return to and in search of the river where they came from, swim into the river for a certain distance and taste the water. If it is not the river of their origin, they turn back to look for the right one.

Wild salmon at Burren Smokehouse

The fishermen catch the salmon with a lot of skill and with very traditional methods. 

Birgitta went to the river Nore in Co. Kilkenny once to witness for herself how the wild salmon fishing in flat-bottomed wooden boats called Nore cots was done. There she was able to partake in the snapnet fishing which is an age-old technique still in use today.

Snapnet-fishing is a time-consuming technique where the net is drawn between two cots. When movement in the net indicates that there are fish trapped in it, the fishermen haul up the lower end of the net in one swift movement – sustainable fishing at its best.

Since the introduction of the commercial drift net fishing ban in Irish waters in 2006, the salmon stocks have reached a healthy level again. 

Here you will find more information on the life cycle of Wild Salmon.

Slow Food in County Clare

Up at the top of a Tuscan valley, there are two eighty-year old men who know how to make the local sausage. They are the last people to know how to create the delicacy which is made from the meat of a similarly endangered breed of a small hardy red cow. 

This and similar scenarios led the Italian food critic and journalist Carlo Petrini in 1986 to found the Slow Food movement that went international in Paris in 1989. He was propelled into action when the first McDonald’s fast food restaurant opened in Rome. 

Slow Food aims are first and foremost to educate people about wonderful local culinary resources in the face of the over-commercialisation, globalisation and homogenisation of our food. 

The Slow Food intervention involves the enlistment of young people to learn the art of making unique regional foods, incentives for local farmers to breed and expand the shrinking number of farm animal breeds, the recording of the production parameters and assistance in seeking a wider, lucrative market, enabling the product to become self-sustaining, redounding to the benefit of consumers who are guaranteed access to the once-endangered food, the producers and the wider local socio-economy.

For more information, please refer to Slow Food Ireland.


From Italy to Clare

Birgitta Hedin-Curtin set up the Clare Convivium of Slow Food Ireland in the early 2000’s after she met Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food movement, at a Terra Madre event. 

Every year, the Slow Food Clare Convivium organises the Burren Slow Food Festival in Lisdoonvarna. It usually takes place in May and attracts foodies from all over the country and even internationally. 

Birgitta, who is the driving force behind the Burren Slow Food Festival, always engages the most interesting speakers and experts aligned with the annual theme. Cookery demonstrations give hands-on examples and guidance to the many aspects of food preparation. 

Another aspect of the festival is the farmer’s and crafts market inside and outside of the Pavilion in the town of Lisdoonvarna. 

The Burren Slow Food Dinner featuring locally produced foods is a firm favourite in the festival programme.

In recent years, the festival started on a Friday night with a very popular boat trip – either as a picnic under the Cliffs of Moher, or as a trip to the smallest of the Aran Islands for an enjoyable seafood buffet in a pub. 

Want to know more about the next Burren Slow Food Festival? Click here

Taste the Atlantic – The Salmon Experience

Right next to the Visitor Centre at the Burren Smokehouse (in Lisdoonvarna near the Cliffs of Moher), a new fun experience is waiting for you.

Taste the Atlantic Salmon Experience Burren Smokehouse

The “Taste the Atlantic – Irish Salmon Visitor Experience” was launched in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare on the 25th of October 2019 by Mrs Sabina Higgins, wife of President Michael D Higgins.

It is a fully interactive space where the story of Irish salmon is told in a captivating and entertaining way, from its place in Irish mythology and history right up to modern times.

In our self-guided visitor centre, you will immerse yourself in the story of Irish Salmon. Follow this noble fish through time and watch the legend of the Salmon of Knowledge unfold before your eyes. Learn about old ways of fishing salmon, and find out with the help of those original newsreels from decades ago why and how modern aquaculture evolved. Get competitive and have fun solving jigsaw puzzles and quizzes! 

At a glance

  • Open daily

  • ca. 30 minute visit

  • Suitable for children from school age and adults;
    accessible, multi-generational content

  • What is included?
    The self-guided tour
    7 minute video about the smoking process
    Smoked salmon tasting

  • Admission:
    Adult €10
    Child under 16 yo  €5.50
    Family (2+3) €28
    Student/Senior €7.50
    Educational School Tours €4 per student (booking essential for groups)

  • Location:
    The Burren Smokehouse visitor centre
    Eircode: V95 HD70

     

Click here to book your slot ahead of your visit on our website www.burrenexperiences.ie

The Burren

A unique landscape

What is the Burren?

The Burren is a karst landscape where the limestone got exposed through human intervention. About 6,000 years ago, the first permanent settlers cleared the hills from trees for firewood and to grow crops. This led to erosion, and the fertile soil accumulated in the valley.

A new ecosystem evolved. Rare plants from the arctic, the Alps and Mediterranean started to grow here. It is an amazing sight when orchids from the Mediterranean, mountain avens from the arctic and gentian from the Alps grow together in one spot. 

The Burren is called the Fertile Rock. It might look bare when you are driving through it, but once you get out of the car and walk over the limestone pavement, you can see the great biodiversity and the beauty of the flowers everywhere. 

It is a region with the highest concentration of holy wells in Ireland. Many ancient monuments like ring forts, burial mounds and dolmens are found here. It is also a paradise for speleologists due to the huge amount of caves. 

Walking on the designated Burren trails through the valleys and over the hills is a favourite pastime of locals and tourists alike who love enjoying the views of the limestone hills and the sea. 

You can find out more about the Burren on the Burrenbeo website and the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark website