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Sunday 8 November 2015

Kipper

A kipper is a strong smelling preserved whole herring that has been split in butterfly fashion from tail to head, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering woodchips.

After years of experimenting, John Woodger, a fish merchant from North East England, developed smoked kippers in 1843. He originally got the idea after the wooden shed in which he'd left some salted herring caught fire; the fish was rescued and found to be tasty.



Kippers produced in the Isle of Man are exported around the world. The Manx word for 'kipper' is skeddan jiarg, which translates as 'red herring'.

The phrase 'red herring' meaning something true but irrelevant, originates from the use of a kipper to train dogs to follow a scent, or to divert them from the correct route when hunting.

Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce

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