Smoked Irish salmon
Photo: Takeaway · CC BY-SA 3.0

History

Ireland's smoked salmon tradition runs back to Atlantic wild fishing and oak-smoking practices in the seventeenth century, but the modern Dublin product is the postwar Burren Smokehouse (1989) and Frank Hederman of Belvelly Smokehouse Cobh (1980s). The dish became the breakfast and afternoon-tea signature in Dublin hotel rooms in the 1990s; today every restaurant from The Winding Stair to The Brazen Head serves a smoked salmon plate as a first course. Burren Smokehouse and Connemara Smokehouse are the two reference producers; the Bretzel bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese is Portobello's own variant.

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Common allergens: Fish

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 10 minTotal 15 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 200g sliced cold-smoked Irish salmon (Burren or Connemara Smokehouse)
  • 1 loaf brown soda bread, sliced 1cm thick
  • 100g Irish unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 lemons, cut into wedges
  • 1 small jar capers, drained
  • 1 small red onion, finely sliced
  • Cracked black pepper
  • A few sprigs fresh dill

Method

  1. Toast the soda bread slices lightly under the grill to crisp the edges; do not let them dry.
  2. Spread each slice with butter while still warm.
  3. Lay 2 to 3 slices of smoked salmon over each piece of bread.
  4. Scatter capers and red onion over the top; tear over a few sprigs of dill.
  5. Finish with cracked black pepper and a wedge of lemon on the side.

Tip from the editors. Real Irish smoked salmon should be silky and slightly sweet, not salty. Burren Smokehouse oak-smoke is the city's reference.

Where to eat smoked irish salmon

Smoked Irish salmon in Dublin

The Winding Stair ★ 4.4

€€ IrishNorth Inner City

The Winding Stair on Ormond Quay in Dublin 1, Elaine Murphy's upstairs dining room above the bookshop overlooking the Ha'penny Bridge and the Liffey.

OrderSmoked Burren salmon, then a bowl of Irish stew with brown bread.

TipWindow seats face the Ha'penny Bridge; book three weeks ahead for the four river-view tables. Walk through the bookshop and up.

Directions

Gallagher's Boxty House ★ 4.2

€€ IrishTemple Bar

Gallagher's Boxty House on Temple Bar in Dublin, Pádraic Óg Gallagher's three-room canon of boxty, coddle and smoked salmon, the boxty reference in town.

OrderThe boxty pancake stuffed with beef and Guinness, with a half pint of stout.

TipThe middle dining room is the calm one; the front bar fills with traffic from Temple Bar Square after 19:00.

Directions

The Bretzel Bakery ★ 4.4

€ BakeryJewish-tradition bagels and ryePortobelloWalk-in only

The Bretzel on Lennox Street in Portobello, Dublin's only Jewish-tradition bagel and rye bakery since 1870, kosher-style classics and a working sourdough.

OrderA poppy-seed bagel toasted with cream cheese and smoked Irish salmon.

TipSix bagel varieties baked twice daily; the second bake at 14:00 is the quietest collection window.

Directions

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