It’s a dish that is as much a part of Christmas as turkey, but why is smoked salmon so popular at this time of year?
“It’s a superfood, it’s a perfect starter, it’s luxury,” says Roy Stevens, master smoker for Buckie-based Associated Seafood. “That’s what Christmas is all about – people treating themselves.”
Roy is, of course, slightly biased. He has been in his current job with Associated Seafood since 2011. But he’s smoked salmon since he was a boy.
Moving with his family to the Highlands from North Wales in the late 1960s, Roy would smoke the fish his dad caught in the Ness or Conon rivers.
In 1986, he turned smoking into his profession, working with seafood companies first in Ireland and later around Inverness and the north-east.
It is, then, only natural that Roy would think smoked salmon is the perfect Christmas treat.
“I’ve been eating smoked salmon all my life,” he says.
But the numbers back him up. Christmas is the busiest time of year for Associated Seafoods and its 600 staff, with smoked salmon sales peaking across the festive period.
ITV documentary Inside M&S at Christmas puts Roy in the spotlight
The focus jumped considerably in 2016 when the company started working with Marks & Spencer on the retail giant’s smoked salmon products.
Using Scottish salmon, Associated Seafoods makes a number of M&S products including a citrus and dill smoked salmon that launched in time for Christmas this year.
“The Christmas season is very important to us,” says commercial director Neil Greig.
This is underlined by the inclusion of Roy and Associated Seafoods in a new ITV documentary that airs just before Christmas on Wednesday December 21.
Inside M&S at Christmas shows Roy and his team smoking salmon for the retailer as the festive rush intensifies.
How does Roy smoke the salmon?
In Buckie, Roy’s main priority is is to make sure that everything that leaves the shop floor is fit for the Christmas table.
It’s a task he says is made easier by how naturally salmon takes to the smoking process. The secret is the fish’s high oil content.
“You need that oil,” Roy says. “And that’s where the salmon is king because it holds all that lovely oil in the cell structure.”
As a master smoker, Roy sees his job as similar to blenders and distillers in the Scotch whisky trade. The most important thing, he says, is creating texture through the curing of the meat, and then pulling the moisture out of the flesh through the smoking process.
All of the smoking takes place in Associated Seafood’s two kilns – a mechanical kiln and a more traditional black smoke one.
Both are used by Roy, who says the double smoking delivers the best of each kiln.
“We found that by using the two processes, we created two very different and distinct products,” Roy explains. “One is mild and delicate and one is robust and smoky. And of course, you change those flavors by the time that you spend in the kilns.”
The trouble with gin
This year, Roy’s focus has been on the new citrus and dill smoked salmon for M&S. It’s so good, he says, it’ll be part of his own family’s Christmas menu.
But not everything Roy has made for M&S wins his heart.
“The last two years, everything’s been about gin,” he says with a hint of disdain.
“They all wanted smoked salmon with gin on it, but it didn’t float my boat, to be honest. To me it’s a waste of good salmon.”
The food and drink team at the Press & Journal are highlighting local producers who are busiest during the festive season. For more in the series check out our article on free-range turkey farm Tullochbeg Turkeys and a profile of Walker’s, the shortbread maker that turned 125 in November.