Bloater (herring)

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Wikipedia

Bloaters on yellow paper, van Gogh, 1889

Bloaters, a type of whole cold-smoked herring, are "salted and lightly smoked without gutting, giving them a characteristic slightly gamey flavour".[1][2] They have a particular association with Great Yarmouth, England.[3][4] Though popular in the 19th and early-20th centuries, the food has become rare.[5][6][failed verification] Bloaters are sometimes called Yarmouth bloaters, although production of the product in Yarmouth appears to have now ceased in the town with the closure of its smoked-fish factory in 2018. The bloater is also sometimes jokingly referred to as a Yarmouth capon, a two-eyed steak, or a Billingsgate pheasant (after the Billingsgate Fish Market in London).[7][8][9][10]

The bloater is associated[citation needed] with England, while kippers share an association with Scotland and the Isle of Man (the Manx kipper).[citation needed] Bloaters are "salted less and smoked for a shorter time", while kippers are "lightly salted and smoked overnight"; the preparation of red herring features more salt and a longer smoking-time.[11][12]

Terminology

The name "bloater" most likely arises from the swelled or "bloated" appearance the fish assumes during preparation,[13] while at least one source attributes it to the Swedish word "blöta", meaning to wet, soak, or impregnate with liquid (as in soaking in brine).[14]

Bloaters, bucklings and kippers

All three are types of smoked herring. Bloaters are cold-smoked whole; bucklings are hot-smoked whole; kippers are split, gutted and then cold-smoked.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mason, Laura (2004). Food Culture in Great Britain. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-313-08567-3. [...] the Yarmouth bloater [...]; these are salted and lightly smoked without gutting, giving them a characteristic slightly gamey flavor.
  2. ↑ Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh; Fisher, Nick (2007). The River Cottage Fish Book. Bloomsbury. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-7475-8869-6. BLOATERS[:] Lightly cold-smoked whole herrings, which have a slightly gamey flavour because they are ungutted.
  3. ↑ Mason, Laura (2004). Food Culture in Great Britain. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 80.
  4. ↑ Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh; Fisher, Nick (2007). The River Cottage Fish Book. Bloomsbury. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-7475-8869-6. Great Yarmouth has long been famous for its bloaters.
  5. ↑ Mason, Laura (2004). Food Culture in Great Britain. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-313-08567-3. Another herring cure popular during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but now rare, was the Yarmouth bloater (from Great Yarmouth on the east coast) [...].
  6. ↑ Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh; Fisher, Nick (2007). The River Cottage Fish Book. Bloomsbury. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-7475-8869-6.
  7. ↑ Barrère, Albert; Leland, Charles Godfrey (1889). A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant. Vol. 1. Ballantyne Press. p. 21.
  8. ↑ Barrère, Albert; Leland, Charles Godfrey (1897). A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant. Vol. 2. G. Bell. p. 373.
  9. ↑ Hotten, John Camden (1874). Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal. Chatto and Windus. p. 332.
  10. ↑ Morris, William; Morris, Mary (1988). Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins. HarperCollins. p. 62.
  11. ↑ Bender, David A. (29 January 2009). A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition (3 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 256. ISBN 9780191579752. Herring, red [...] Herrings that have been well salted and smoked for about ten days. Bloaters are salted less and smoked for a shorter time; [...] kippers lightly salted and smoked overnight. Also called Yarmouth bloaters.
  12. ↑ "Isle of Man: Nature: Get Kippered". BBC. 27 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  13. ↑ Partridge, Eric (1983). Origins: a short etymological dictionary of modern English (1983 ed.). New York: Greenwich House. p. 50. ISBN 0-517-41425-2.
  14. ↑ "Bloater". Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring. Graeme Philip Rigby. 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2023.