Andrew's tour of Yorkshire and the Humber Smoking geese and other animals

Date Published:

18/08/2008

After visiting the Bondgate Bakery in Otley I hit the road out of the town and began to explore the surrounding countryside. There, like some sort of Yorkshire Brigadoon, Mackenzie's smokehouse appeared out of the rain and gloom

Mackenzie's Yorkshire Smokehouseis just up the hill from the Fewston reservoir on the Blubberhouses Moor. Its current owner is Stella Crowson. They're one of the largest smokers in the region, smoking everything from salmon and haddock to duck, venison, goose and ostrich, as well as traditional York hams. Cheese also gets the treatment with smoked Cheddar, Wensleydale and even Parmesan on offer in the shop. Mackenzie's smokes using oak and beach, and both the hot and cold smoking techniques.

Stella and her husband Robert bought the business after the death of the founder, Peter Mackenzie, who gave the company its name. Stella gives me a potted history of the business. "It started in the 1980s when Peter Mackenzie found he couldn't get any decent smoked salmon, so started to smoke his own in the basement of his son-in-laws' restaurant. A series of events led to him sending a sample to Fortnum and Mason in London and it won in a blind taste test. Peter had to peddle fast and set up this unit."

After Peter sadly passed away a few years later Stella bought the ailing business from his stepson in 1997. "I wanted a restaurant," she says, "but my husband said 'over my dead body' so I bought the smokehouse and developed a restaurant on the side." Crafty eh?

Together they've totally upgraded and refitted the premises and the new look restaurant of 55 covers opened this January. At present it's only open for breakfast, lunches and afternoon tea. It's a smart but laid-back affair and looks to be something of a destination for well-healed Yorkshire folk.

Hugh's in the kitchen

Behind the pass

Manning the stoves is head chef, Hugh Carruthers, who's done stints as a sous-chef at the Michelin-starred Yorke Arms and as head chef in Perk Up in Ripon. The food's light and accessible and as you'd expect draws from the best the smokehouse next door has to offer. There are also daily specials and wines of the week. In fact Hugh's other interest is wine and he has a hand in the stocking of both the shop and the restaurant with some choice vintages.

All this food adventuring is making me hungry and I ask Stella and Hugh what their favourite dish is, using something from the smokery. Hugh suggests a classic smoked salmon with asparagus, poached egg and hollandaise sauce and duly gets busy in the kitchen. It's delicious. I like simple dishes like this. With only four ingredients there's nowhere for a chef to hide so you get to see the true measure of their cooking and Hugh's was top notch.

I then had a tour of the well-stocked shop to buy a few things. I opted for the hunter's pack, which contained goose, duck, chicken and venison, allowing me a sample of each later and, after asking for Hugh's recommendation for wine, bought a bottle of Catena, a 2005 Malbec from Argentina. And with that it was back on the road.

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