Max Bergius, Fish Smoker
SECRET SMOKEHOUSE
london fields, east london
Smoking fish, the technique of preserving salmon, trout, haddock and kippers with salt and smoke, arrived in London’s East End in the late 1800s with Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Today, Max Bergius is reviving these smokehouse traditions under a railway arch in London Fields via a self-made smokehouse in his Stepney Green garden. Now with PGI status for his London Cure smoked salmon and a crowd-drawing fish pie, Max also supplies some of the UK’s best chefs, from Tom Brown to Claude Bosi and Nathan Outlaw.
”Smoked fish played a big part when I was growing up on the west coast of Scotland. We would catch fresh mackerel and get kippers from a chap who had a smokehouse clamped on the side of his cottage. About five or six years ago, when I was at quite a major junction in my life, I went to see Dad, who lives on Loch Awe in Argyll, to decompress from the time I had been working in London. I built a smoker in the three weeks I was there, then when I came back to London, as my filleting was really bad, I enrolled in a fishmonger course at Billingsgate Market.
I had just bought a house in Stepney and was figuring out what kind of job I wanted. The course leader said there was a Saturday job going at a fishmongers and it was revolutionary for me, working with the fish, meeting the customers and seeing them again the following week. So I thought I’d set up a fishmongers. I then realised I needed a quarter of a million quid to do this, which I didn’t have, so I thought I would build a smoker again, but this time on our little green patch at the back of our house. I started with £300, went to Billingsgate to get some fish and started smoking salmon, trout, kippers and haddock – I kept it super simple.
I went to my local pub, The Peacock, and in there were these amazing, proper East End guys. We got talking and I discovered that I was in the epicentre of fish smoking and they were mapping out all of the smokehouses that had previously been in the area. I went to the local archive to read up on them, and thought “where are the good, old, no-frills little smokehouses in London now?”
My milkman, Chris, then became my little delivery service and word just got out. Claude Bosi [who runs the two Michelin-starred Bibendum in Chelsea] got in touch and it exploded from there; all of these chefs and restaurants started to find out about my little smokehouse - Nathan Outlaw, The Marksman Pub, Wiltons…
“Obviously you want to grow, but the hands-on approach is mega important”
Max Bergius
The salmon and trout are all from Scotland and only Scotland – all high-welfare and RSPCA approved. Sourcing is really important and it’s never ending. I bounce about with two or three salmon producers and the difference is also cage to cage: you’ll start getting some really great fish and then suddenly they’ll start getting a wee bit too big or fat and you’ll have to change producer. We go after the really, really lean salmon. Haddock and herring are both wild fish, so they come from British waters, and you’re at the mercy of the weather.
Obviously you want the business to grow and we are growing, but the hands-on approach is mega important. We were awarded PGI [Protected Geographical Indication] status for our London Cure Smoked Salmon, and part of that was all about tradition. The flavour difference is enormous; the skill in filleting the fish, curing it, smoking it. There are also a lot of factors to consider: relative humidity, ambient temperature, the size of fish, the time of year. You’ve got to pick all of that up over time, so it helps the busier you are because you’re getting through more fish and you can start to build up that knowledge. We smoke pretty much to order, which is unique because everything is so fresh.
We did cod’s roe this year for the likes of Tom Brown and it blew his little socks off. We had the freshest cod’s roe you could find, then cold smoked it, and it turned into this insanely smoky, caviary, cod’s roey flavour. The season only lasts seven weeks, so next year we will be shouting about it – we didn’t do that this year because we didn’t really know what we were doing.
I love the hot smoked salmon, it’s so juicy. I pretty much eat it out of the pack, but if I have friends over I will serve a whole side of hot smoked salmon in the middle of the table with new potatoes and some lovely veg on the side. Or you can warm it up.
You’ve got to be producing the best you physically can, and any other lines you introduce – like our smoked salmon or smoked mackerel pâté – have to be the best. I lived in the East End for about 10 years previously and I knew London Fields was an absolutely brilliant little spot to position ourselves. Where we are is about 450 square feet, and when it came on the market, I knew it was really important for us to get in here – I really wanted to have an awning out front so it looks like a little shop. I’m really proud of the team I’ve got. There’s five of us now and they all just get what I’m doing. I never want to become an average smokehouse. I’ve worked really hard for it, and it all started with £300.”
For more, visit secretsmokhouse.co.uk
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