flipGrilled Kippers for Breakfast
Grilled Kippers for Breakfast
Why this dish? The structured English breakfast was part of daily life for the affluent middle-class to which Woolf belonged. Smoked herring (kipper), cheap and nourishing, regularly appeared on morning tables, served under silver covers on the sideboard from which each helped themselves.
A herring split open, smoked, then simply grilled with butter, served very hot with toast and a lemon wedge. Salty, smoky, deeply savory: the English wake-up.
In the morning, on the sideboard, the hot dishes waited under their silver covers, and one helped oneself — that was the rule of the house. The kipper, I admit, is not a delicate morsel: it smells strong, it stings the eyes when it grills, but what flavor! One eats it warm, with a little melting butter and a drop of lemon that wakes everything up. I found in those mornings something comforting and solid, as if the day, thus begun, could no longer go entirely wrong.
- •Smoked herrings (kippers) — two (fish)
- •Butter — a knob (cooking fat)
- •Lemon — one quarter (acidity)
- •Bread — two slices (accompaniment)
Grilled Kippers for Breakfast
A herring split open, smoked, then simply grilled with butter, served very hot with toast and a lemon wedge. Salty, smoky, deeply savory: the English wake-up.
Why this dish? The structured English breakfast was part of daily life for the affluent middle-class to which Woolf belonged. Smoked herring (kipper), cheap and nourishing, regularly appeared on morning tables, served under silver covers on the sideboard from which each helped themselves.
In the morning, on the sideboard, the hot dishes waited under their silver covers, and one helped oneself — that was the rule of the house. The kipper, I admit, is not a delicate morsel: it smells strong, it stings the eyes when it grills, but what flavor! One eats it warm, with a little melting butter and a drop of lemon that wakes everything up. I found in those mornings something comforting and solid, as if the day, thus begun, could no longer go entirely wrong.
Ingredients (period version)
- Smoked herrings (kippers) — two (fish)
- Butter — a knob (cooking fat)
- Lemon — one quarter (acidity)
- Bread — two slices (accompaniment)
Ingredients
- Smoked herring fillets (kippers) — 2 per person (fish)
- Butter — 20 g (cooking)
- Lemon — 1, in wedges (acidity)
- Country bread — 2 slices (toast)
- Black pepper — a twist of the mill (seasoning)
Method
- Preheat the broiler. Place the kippers skin-side down on a baking sheet.
- Dot each with a knob of butter and broil for 4 to 5 minutes, without turning.
- Meanwhile, toast the bread and butter it.
- Serve the kippers piping hot, peppered, with a lemon wedge and toast. (Old tip: a 'jug-kipper' poaches the fish for 5 minutes in a jug of boiling water to limit the smoke smell.)
How it was made : The kipper, a herring split, brined, and cold-smoked, was popularized in the mid-19th century in northern England and Scotland. Cheap and long-lasting, it became a staple of the British breakfast. It was grilled on the range, or 'poached' in a jug of boiling water to spare the household's nostrils.
The contemporary twist : Serve the kipper on a slice of sourdough bread with a poached egg — the contemporary brunch version of the Edwardian breakfast.
Sources : Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management · Florence White, Good Things in England (1932)
Virginia Woolf · Charactorium
