The Aspiring Luddite

	I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

The Life Cycle of a Kipper
3 October 2013

Life is not all pork and potatoes here in Yorkshire. We are, after all, on an island, not far from the sea, so there is also fish. At the farm shop, as I prepared to pay for my Old Rosie and a bunny, a packet of Yorkshire kippers caught my eye and I gave in to the urge.

A kipper is a split and gutted herring, probably salted or pickled, and then smoked. Usually this is a cold-smoke, for flavor, so the fish needs to be cooked before eating. While often served for breakfast, there's no reason they can't be eaten for dinner, snacks or whenever you like. Break the bounds of convention, I say! Have your kipper for dinner!

Indeed, it is ultimately smoked fish, which is not solely the province of breakfast. Assuming you like smoked fish, there are a wide variety of possible treatments. And so, faithful reader, read on ...

[Lots of pictures]

Grilled Kipper on Potatoes

two kippers
4 medium sized potatoes
butter
salt and pepper

Wash and scrub the potatoes, and cut them in half. Boil or steam them until they are nearly done, and then leave them to cool. When they are cool, slice them to a width of a 1/4' or so, and arrange them in the bottom of a baking dish. Dot them with butter and give them a touch of salt and pepper if you like. Heat your broiler to high and slip the potatoes in to melt the butter and get a little color on them.

Rinse the kippers if you are so inclined and wait for the 'taters to cook to your preferred level. The kippers only take a few minutes, so the potatoes had best be essentially cooked before the next step. Pull the dish out of the oven and arrange the kippers on top. Put another bit of butter on top of them, and pop the dish back in the oven for four or five minutes.

A salad with a sharpish vinaigrette balances out the fish and potatoes nicely.

My package contained two kippers, and half a kipper was enough for a dinner serving. That means I had leftovers!

Kipper Pie, after a fashion

half a leftover kipper
cooked potatoes
half a large carrot
one medium onion
butter
cheese for topping - I used parmesan

Cut the carrot into as small a dice as you are comfortable with and set it in a pan with a touch of butter to begin cooking. Apply your knife in a like wise to the onion and add it to the pan. Now, they need to cook until soft. I reduced the heat and covered the pan (pot in this case, since I am sadly panless at the moment), and let it go for twenty minutes or more, stirring it when I remembered to.

If you don't have enough potatoes leftover from your previous kipper dinner (I did), cook some more. Mash your potatoes (I don't recommend using a fork, but I am also sadly potato masherless). If you had to cook more, you might need to add some butter or milk, if you are using leftovers, the leftover butter may well do. Add the carrot and onion. Shred half a kipper and add that. Mix well. Put into a bowl, baking dish, ramekin or whatever, and arrange it tidily.

Now, everything should be cooked already, so you could eat it as is. However, I think it would be much better warm. You can either put it into the oven to heat up, or just stick it in the microwave. I opted for the microwave. Once it's warmed up, top it with your cheese. If you'd like, you can then stick that under the broiler for a minute or two (or three) to melt the cheese, which thing I do highly recommend.

If you've still got leftover kipper, consider an omelet. I certainly am.

The Aspiring Luddite