Tasting Sessions at the Smoke House.

Daytime and Early Evening tasting sessions in the heated workshop. (available year round). Price £45-00 per person :   Minimum 2 persons per session /  6 persons is a comfortable maximum per session.  However seating for 8 persons is available upon request.  Wheelchair accessible. 

Sessions last for around 1 1/2 hours. They include a wee look at the smokehouse followed by an informal gathering where I discuss salmon farming in Shetland and how I choose my salmon . I then give a brief description of how I prepare the salmon fillets for smoking and how I produce my own sawdust including sampling the smoke from a few of my favourites. I invented my own smokers and I have one on display in the classroom where I describe how it works and how the salmon fillets are smoked.

During the presentation we'll  touch on the science of taste, smell and flavour, looking at palate cleansing with a hot or cold beverage reflective of the days weather and a wee something to nibble on discussing textures and 'mouth feel'. Then follows a tasting from a fillet of my smoked salmon. We try samples from different parts of the fillet, discussing the various flavours and textures, starting at the head and working towards the tail.

Initially we'll be sampling slices cut with a stainless steel knife but will move on to slicing with a knapped flint and discover how metal affects the flavour of smoked salmon in the same way as it affects caviar. Finally it'll be question time followed by the opportunity to purchase small vacuum packs of my smoked salmon.