Kenmare owes its origin to Rémy Benoit, an award-winning French chef who, in 1982, moved with his wife to Kenmare, Ireland. There, he opened Rémy's House, a restaurant that was an immediate success. His hands-on approach to gastronomy led him to put an old smokehouse back into operation, hence the Kenmare smoked salmon adventure began.
Irish salmon
The selection of the best fish for smoking is scrupulous and very careful: only top-quality salmon, free of imperfections or defects. These are fish raised in the open sea, in a wild and natural environment where they can move and swim freely in large nets. They are fed exclusively on vegetable feed and what they would feed on in the wild.
The smoking process
Before smoking, the fillets must be perfectly dry: to do this they are placed in an oven on racks for up to eight hours. Hot air gently passes between the fillets carrying away any remaining moisture. Smoking is done in the oldest Irish tradition, with oak wood. The technique used is cold smoking: heat is never applied directly to the salmon, which is gently "cooked" only through contact with the smoke for about 10 to 14 hours.
