THE LAST few months have been busy for me, mainly centred around smoking food.

In my professional life, I’m in the process of opening a food smokery business, which is called ‘The Holy Smokery’, housed at Kilnsey Park Estate.

As you know I am keen to use locally sourced and foraged foods so smoked rainbow trout with a range of flavoured brines is a great place to begin, and because it’s such a wonderful dish I wanted to share with you a recipe to make your own.

Smoked fish is an age-old preservation method that uses the smoke of an indirect fire to lightly cook, flavour and preserve the food.

Although often left to the professionals or those with industrial-size smokers, there is no reason why you can’t have a go yourself, using your own basic kitchen equipment.

Rainbow trout are the perfect fish to hot smoke due to their manageable size, texture and amazing flavour. They’re also a readily-available food source (and specifically at Kilnsey Park, fun to catch).

For many thousands of years our early ancestors have been ‘smoking’ meat. We know that in the early years as a means to avoid spoilage and preserve meat rather than just create great flavours.

The smoking process slowly cooks the fish (or meat), dehydrates it and deters the growth of bacteria.

The first commercial use likely dates back to the 17th century in Poland, and now smoking is carried out across the world, mostlyfor ham, bacon, sausage, salami, kippers (smoked herring), smoked salmon, smoked trout, haddock and also cheese. Personally, I think they all taste wonderful!

The preparation and smoking method is relatively simple and the finished product will melt in your mouth.

As you are smoking for flavour, rather than a longer shelf-life, you can lightly brine which only takes around ten minutes. The brine cure ingredient mix is simple and easy to make.

You can experiment with a variety of herbs and flavours, if you like a subtle flavour with your smoked fish. Ensure you use a non-stick wok and also line the pan with foil.

As smaller trout can be smoked whole, thanks to the slow cooking process the bones will separate themselves from the meat making it easy to remove them.

Your smoked trout will last a week in an airtight container when stored in the fridge. Why not try adding some smoked fish to salads, or making a fish-eggs-benedict?

It’s also wonderful served up at a barbecue or family gathering alongside some pickled onions, creme fraiche and crackers or homemade bread!