While some turned to sourdough and others to pasta making, Chris Harag started smoking fish during lockdown.
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The Thirroul wine importer was purchasing fish from Fairy Meadow fishmonger Harley & Johns and smoking it himself, then taking back a sample to owner Grant Logue.
"He was really encouraging, thought the product was amazing and said, 'You know, you should do something commercial with it,'" Mr Harag said.
With smoked salmon by far the most common smoked fish product on supermarket shelves, dominated by major salmon Tasmanian farmers Huon and Tassal, Mr Harag wanted to find a product that stood out, and wasn't tainted by allegations of environmentally dangerous overfarming.
"I stumbled on Goulburn River trout from the Goulburn River in Victoria. I think they're [one of the] only sustainably certified [fish] farms in Australia."
Confident in his product, Mr Harag decided to go all in, purchasing a second hand commercial smoker and redesigning a shipping crate at the back of Harley & Johns to house the operation.
These efforts culminated in the Second Fiddle Smokehouse, and the smoked trout can be found at Harley & Johns, a few specialty stores throughout the Illawarra and a selection of cafes. However, by the nature of the process, the operation is sticking to its artisan roots.
After being harvested in the Victorian Alps on Monday, the fish is filleted in Fairy Meadow on Wednesday and the put in salt overnight. On Thursday, Mr Harag strings the fish up using a traditional Scottish technique and hangs it in the smoker.
The fish is cold smoked for nine hours over apple wood and mountain ash before being left to sit overnight for the flavours to mellow out.
"It's a really laborious product. People complain sometimes about how expensive it is, but they have absolutely no idea the amount of effort that goes into it," Mr Harag said.
So far, the business sells the smoked trout in 150 gram packages, but is preparing whole sides of smoked trout for Christmas orders.
Feedback already has been positive, but Mr Harag says his product is not analogous to the smoked salmon found in the supermarket.
"The texture is really different, it's a little bit more like sashimi," he said. "It's like when you buy ham and then you try Jamon Iberico or prosciutto, it's almost like a different product."
With the smoked trout on cafe menus in the Illawarra, Mr Harag says once people try it, they're hooked.
"It's a lot of hard work, but when you hear people say how much they like it, it gives you a bit of a buzz."
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