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Bloater (herring)

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For other uses, see Bloater.
Bloaters on yellow paper, van Gogh, 1889

Bloaters are a type of whole cold-smoked herring. Bloaters are "salted and lightly smoked without gutting, giving a characteristic slightly gamey flavour" and are particularly associated with Great Yarmouth, England.[1] Popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the food is now described as rare.[1][2] Bloaters are sometimes called a Yarmouth bloater, although production of the product in Yarmouth appears to have now ceased in the town with the closure of its smoked fish factory in 2018. The bloater is also sometimes jokingly referred to as a Yarmouth capon, two-eyed steak, or Billingsgate pheasant (after the Billingsgate Fish Market in London).[3][4][5][6]

The bloater is associated with England, while kippers share an association with Scotland and the Isle of Man (the Manx kipper).[citation needed] Bloaters are "salted less and smoked for a shorter time" while kippers are "lightly salted and smoked overnight"; both dishes are referred to as red herring.[7][8] According to George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier, "The Emperor Charles V is said to have erected a statue to the inventor of bloaters."[9]

Terminology

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The name "bloater" most likely arises from the swelled or "bloated" appearance the fish assumes during preparation,[10] while at least one source attributes it to the Swedish word "blöta", meaning to wet, soak, or impregnate with liquid (as in soaking in brine).[11]

Bloaters, bucklings, and kippers

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All three are types of smoked herring. Bloaters are cold-smoked whole; bucklings are hot-smoked whole; kippers are split, gutted and then cold-smoked.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Mason, Laura (2004). Food Culture in Great Britain. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 80.
  2. ^ Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh; Fisher, Nick (2007). The River Cottage Fish Book. Bloomsbury. p. 168.
  3. ^ Barrère, Albert; Leland, Charles Godfrey (1889). A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant. Vol. 1. Ballantyne Press. p. 21.
  4. ^ Barrère, Albert; Leland, Charles Godfrey (1897). A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant. Vol. 2. G. Bell. p. 373.
  5. ^ Hotten, John Camden (1874). Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal. Chatto and Windus. p. 332.
  6. ^ Morris, William; Morris, Mary (1988). Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins. HarperCollins. p. 62.
  7. ^ Bender, David A. (2007). A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Oxford University Press. p. 256.
  8. ^ "Isle of Man: Nature: Get Kippered". BBC. 27 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  9. ^ Orwell, George (2003) [1937]. "Chapter 6". The Road to Wigan Pier. george-orwell.org. Archived from the original on March 17, 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011. Yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food is recognized. You see statues everywhere ... but none to cooks or bacon-curers or market gardeners. The Emperor Charles V is said to have erected a statue to the inventor of bloaters, but that is the only case I can think of at the moment.
  10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1983). Origins: a short etymological dictionary of modern English (1983 ed.). New York: Greenwich House. p. 50. ISBN 0-517-41425-2.
  11. ^ "Bloater". Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring. Graeme Philip Rigby. 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
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