Samaki Smokehouse & The Art of Cold-Smoked Salmon from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
We’re really happy that one of our favorite foodeographers–Liza de Guia, of the video site food. curated.–is up for a James Beard Journalism award for her work behind the camera. (And hey! We are too.)
One of her most recent works of Internet art is on one of our favorite subjects: smoked fish. The ever-intrepid de Guia traveled to Samaki Snokehouse, just north of the city in Port Jervis, to interview Simon Marrian and his son Jason. (Simon picked up his skills 30 years ago in East Africa, of all places.)
Samaki–you can sometimes spot their sliced fish in packages in top city markets and specialty food shops–source their fish well, prepare it by almost all by hand and smoke it with care until it’s perfectly prepared. (“Salmon will actually sweat,” Jason tells de Guia, “that’s when you know it’s done.”) More importantly, the Marrian clan, as it turns out, is the tasty top secret weapon in most of the city’s best fish counters, selling them the whole sides they then slice by hand. You’ll have to watch de Guia’s work to find out which ones!