A trinity of disasters saw London’s oldest smokehouse, H Forman & Son, threatened with extinction. Its indefatigable proprietor explains how traditional values helped its survival

WORDS PHOEBE STONE PHOTOGRAPHS DAVID CHARBIT

delicious. 2017

PRODUCE AWARDS WINNER

WHAT OUR FINAL JUDGING PANEL SAID

“Royal fillet is sashimilike, with a buttery yet firm texture. This is so fresh and simple, the delicate flavour of the salmon shines through. Wonderful stuff”

Over the past 40 years, smoked salmon has gone from a luxury artisan product to supermarket sandwich filler, and not without sacrifices to quality and confusion over its origins. Who better to dispel the myths and show us how it should be done than H Forman & Son, a company with over 100 years’ experience in salmon-smoking?

“Smoked salmon should not really taste of smoke”, fourth-generation fish-smoker Lance Forman says adamantly when I meet him at his vast East London smokehouse, on the appropriately named Fish Island. “The point of the smoke was to preserve the fish in the days when refrigeration was basic. The smoke is like a fine dust particle – it sticks to the outside and creates a seal, and no bacteria can get through.”

When this outer crust, called the pellicle, is removed, what lies beneath is salmon with a remarkable concentrated flavour and a mild smokiness. “The smoke should never overpower it – if you have a beautiful fresh fish, why would you want it to taste like an ashtray?” asks Lance.

THE TASTE OF TRADITION

Today H Forman & Son smoke their fish in much the same way as Lance’s greatgrandfather Aaron ‘Harry’ Forman and his son Louis, the company’s namesakes, did when they established the business in 1905. A Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, Harry was one of many who set up shop smoking fish in London’s East End in the early 20th century. Today H Forman & Son is the last of this old guard. At first, fish was imported from the Baltic, brined and in barrels, before smokehouses caught wind of fresh salmon arriving from Scotland at nearby Billingsgate Market.