Smoke me a kipper! I'll be back for breakfast!

Every so often while at the supermarket I get the urge to buy something completely out of the ordinary. Sometimes this leads to unpleasant results like the time I bought some odd, spongey fungus from a asian-mart which I used in a doomed stir-fry I dubbed "the bowel shaker" .... let's not go there.

But other times I stumble across something that finds a home in my diet.

This time that something was tinned kippers.

I was doing my usual shopping experience, extended by careful perusal of product labels, prices etc. I was intending to buy some tuna but was feeling dissatisfied by the options. Temptingly close to the tuna was canned salmon. I'm not one for salmon flavour but a book Rhys had shown me recently said that salmon was a superfood. I knew it to be packed with omega 3 fatty acids and very good for me but I just wasn't feeling the salmon love.

In frustration my eyes strayed above the salmon to some of the more unusual canned options.

Canned Sardines. I remember my grandma making us sardine sandwiches when I was a little girl but the idea of chomping on tiny bones doesn't appeal. Canned mussels. Ewwww. Canned Kippers. Whut?!!

Then of course my brain linked to the one thing that was connected to kippers in my life thus far, Ace Rimmer from the BBC comedy, Red Dwarf, boldly saying "Smoke me a kipper skipper! I'll be back for breakfast!"

From that moment I was without choice. I HAD to buy the kippers.

But once I got them home I felt at a loss on how to use them. John West, the producer of my tinned kipper, linked to another foodie site that had a recipe for some kind of kipper and pasta salad. Certain vital ingredients were missing so I played with what I had.

Pasta and Kipper Salad

• 1 can tinned kippers
• 1 capsicum, sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 handful cherry tomatoes
• 250g pasta (spirals)

Put the pasta on to boil. Drain and set aside once al dente.
Meanwhile heat some butter or olive oil in a frypan. Fry the capsicum, zucchini and tomatoes. Once the vegetables have softened set them aside.
Add the kipper and oil to the pan. Heat over low heat, being careful to not break up the flesh too much.
Gently mix pasta, vegetables and kipper in a serving bowl and eat while warm.


Kippers differ from tuna and salmon by the smokey smell and flavour of the fish flesh. I really enjoyed it as a tinned fish (and my kittens went absolutely nuts over the few leftover tidbits) but the smell is powerful and now I can smell nothing BUT kippers as I walk into my kitchen. :/