Thanks - wasn’t familar with this chain and now know that the nearest one is some distance away. However, I now have a plan! Probably simpler to buy a decent amount of fresh haddock, fire up the smoker. Afterwards the extra portions can be vacuum sealed and frozen for up to six months.
Much more useful discussion topic than Facebook!
Remember to brine it first…I like a brine with juniper and fennel seeds.
Thanks, but my smoking bible recommends a light dusting of salt for hot smoking haddock the Arbroath way.
I cold smoke the Finnan haddock way. The juniper and fennel are to compensate for not using peat.
For me juniper and dill are the flavours of northern Europe -I think Arbroath must be my Northern gastro limit and indeed, my Smokies were often used for kedgeree.
Basically I’m not a big fan of Northern European food nor its culture (apart from their politico-social structures) . Noma’s moss and stuff passes me by - whereas one of my brothers has done a few stints at IEl Bulli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ and I chose to live in the Midi and the places I’ve lived or visitedt have, apart from N America, mainly been around the Med, the African continent and Middle East. For me these cuisines are food of light, not arboreal gloom!
Arbroath smokies are heavenly. My father used to divert to a restaurant in Herts to feed him and me on their Arbroath smokies speciality, lots of cream, warm and comforting. Haven’t had them since. I am going to be dreaming about them all day!!!
Just become a resident of France, been here about 6 years. Unfortunately my mother still lives in UK, so have to keep going back to visit, is 92! Rang me yesterday to say that she had hit a button on her tv and could I repair it! These things are sent to try us! Would like to join your club as I have found survive france invaluable in times of need. , what do I have to do Regards Jennie
I used to get that exact same phone call from my Grandmother at a similar age.
Eventually I bought her one of these:
Proper smokies, oak barrel dug into the ground, oak chips and a wet hessian cover to keep the smoke in the barrel… Nothing better than a smokie just out of the smoke.
So miss them… Arbroath was not too far from our town and Spinks also covered the foodie markets in our area.
Welcome back to the party Jennie 
What a great idea! Can’t remember how much time I spent on phone with my mother trying to work out what she had done with TV or computer…too late now but maybe will remember when our time comes to suggest to the next generation!
I can’t help feeling our time has come now. We have 3 remotes: TV / Humax / DVD player. Everyone different, with buttons in different places. Finding the pause button? Heaven help us! And as for the menu button when we find we haven’t put on the subtitles and can’t understand a word they are saying because they are mumbling!
I blame it on flat screen TVs having very poor sound quality. Nothing to do with me! Although I did find myself looking at sound bars in Darty the other day…
I bought a Sonos sound bar for that very reason - it’s great!
Do you just plug them in? We are numpties so don’t do anything more complicated than that?
You won’t regret a decent sound bar. Yes, it’s another remote to deal with, but the speakers in modern flat panel TVs are bobbins.
I have an LG flatscreen TV and the sound quality from the internal speakers is excellent. So good, that I rarely bother to turn on my extensive, expensive, ‘legacy’ sound system. (Quad amps, B&W603 speakers).
We have quad speakers…can I plug them in to the TV somehow?
Anything is possible…
Is the group part of Brits in Europe, RIFT…
Not sure we need another group. It would be better if the existing groups were more accessible and were able to get their message out to us and more effective in their campaigning.
