Method

• Clean and wash the herrings in the usual way and place in layers, side by side, head to tail, in a large earthenware bowl.
• Cover with salt and a little saltpetre and leave overnight.
• Light a fire of withered ash leaves and sprinkle a little water over it to cause it to smoke.
• Hang the herrings from a long rod above this fire and keep them in this smoke for twenty-four hours. (The fire was generally lit in the outer-kitchen or out-house.)

Smoked herrings were generally roasted in front of an open fire.

Llangybi, Caernarvonshire.