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Smoked Fish Stew

Smoked Fish Stew is a reconstructed Ancient recipe (from the Iron Age) for a dish of smoked and dried fish softened by boiling that's cooked with bacon and leeks in a milk and cream sauce flavoured with chives. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient version of: Shellfish Seaweed Pudding.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

130 minutes

Total Time:

150 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Pork RecipesVegetable RecipesMilk RecipesBritish Recipes

As a means of preserving, the smoking of fish probably developed soon after people tamed fire. It remains a very important means of preserving fish in many regions of the world today. This recipe evolved from my travels to West Africa where smoked and dried fish is a very important flavouring and source of protein. Smoked and dried fish can be found in any Asian supermarket. You can also use smoked fish, just omit tie initial boiling stage. In West Africa water rather than milk would be used and in East Africa it would be coconut milk. For a Medieval version of this dish replace the milk and cream with Almond milk.

Ingredients:

125g bacon joint, cubed
2 leeks
500g smoked and dried fish
1l milk
240ml single cream
2 tbsp chives, finely chopped
1 tsp salt

Method:

Wash the fish thoroughly then flake, removing as many bones as you can. Add the fish to a pan along with 1.5l water and bring to a boil (if desired, you could add a Shellfish and Seaweed Pudding to this to give you a complete one-pot meal. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 90 minutes, until the fish is tender.

In the meantime, fry the bacon until it renders its fat then add the leeks and fry for about 8 minutes, or until soft. Take off the heat and set aside.

Remove the fish and drain the stock. Flake the fish, removing more bones if you can then return to the pot along with the pudding, bacon and leek mixture and the milk. Add 200ml of the reserved fish stock and bring to a slow simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes more then remove the pudding (if added). Allow the pudding to cool and slice.

Take the stew off the heat and stir-in the cream and chives. Season to taste with salt and serve with the sliced pudding.