The journey of our salmon

Fish
Sometimes referred to as the 'King of Fish', Atlantic salmon is the fish we serve to you. Our crystal clear waters off the west coast of Ireland provide a fish that is of rich nutritional value and flavour.

Fishing
For 3 to 4 generations, 50 to 60 Irish families have caught the salmon that Nolans smoke and sell around the world. The fishing season begins the 1st of June in Ireland and lasts until the last Friday of July. During this time, fishermen from Killybegs to Glencolmcille work hard to bring in the sea's harvest. Most of this fishing is drift net, done in deep waters. The odd family, like the Currans of Teelan, still use a trammel net, a very traditional way of catching the salmon. Using this, the fishermen wait for the fish to jump. Once they do the boat is manoeuvred to make a ring with the net and the fish are pulled in. This method of netting usually leaves no net marks on the silver fish.

Collection
During the season, two collection runs each day are made along the west coast. One at 9am, the other at 7pm. All fish are brought to the depot in Killybegs where they are weighed, graded and boxed in ice.

Only the best
All of our fish are graded to select premium product for the market. For example, any with blood marks on their skin (from the fishing nets) will not be taken but instead sold on to the fresh market, where they ultimately end up in the fish shops and catering industry. It's not that this fish is bad. It's great. It's just that we insist on the very best for our customers.

Each box is numbered for trace-ability and usually holds about 10 fish. They are segregated into different categories according to their weight in pounds (lbs.). These are 0-4, 4-6, 6-8 and 8+. All boxes are then loaded into a refrigerated truck and taken to Dublin where they are deep frozen.

Filleting
Following defrosting, the fish is filleted, which means that it is cut with a knife and all excess fat is removed along with the fins. It's then boned, trimmed and then dried for 4 to 8 hours prior to curing.

Curing
We have, over the years, developed our own individual cure for the salmon. It's a slow traditional hand cured method using salt and raw cane sugar, unique to Nolans. It can take anywhere from 24 hours to 48 hours for a larger fish to obtain the right cure. This is a slower way than most of our continental counterparts but we believe that it leads to a superior product. The slow cure results in more weight loss but creates a more succulent, soft textured fish.

Washed
The salt and sugar is then washed off and dried for a further 8 hours prior to smoking.

Smoking
Traditionally the salmon was hung in chimneys and smoked with beech and oak wood chippings. This gave the delicious aromatic flavour to the fish. One problem though. It was difficult to ensure consistency of the product because it was a manual process, and as such was difficult to maintain the same temperature throughout. Modernisation has solved all of this. In our state of the art facility, we smoke the salmon to 80F/27C in our controlled Torrey kilns, ensuring that every batch of fish gets the same treatment.

Slicing
The fish is then blast chilled to minus 1 within 1 hour prior to entering the slicing area, which is a high care area. Here, it is machine sliced into different sizes. We only take the centre-cut of the fish, which means that there are no small slices, only large ones.

Packing
The fish is then super-chilled to 0C, vacuum packed to retain freshness and then placed in insulated boxes ready to be shipped anywhere in the world by plane, train and automobile. Everything is traceable by batch number and our quality system is computer controlled. We pack slices and also whole sides, for those of you with big appetites! (or large families!)

Customers
Nolans smoked salmon ships anywhere in the world. Our customers live in Europe, the Middle East, the US and Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Japan and Hong Kong. Our salmon journeys everywhere!