Smoking Smokehouse, Enkhuizen

Who's behind it

Mathieu Robert stood in the kitchen for 23 years, a good part of that at the top level in twelve Michelin restaurants. Smoking started at home, as a hobby, with fish. When Onno Kokmeijer from Ciel Bleu asked him to develop an exclusive salmon recipe, it grew into a real business. Today, Smoking is at Zoutketen in Enkhuizen and delivers to about 200 restaurants and hospitality venues.

What sets him apart is that he thinks like a chef, not a smoker. He knows what you want on the plate and smokes toward that. Besides the familiar salmon, halibut and meat, there's a line you find at few others: cold-smoked and dry-aged vegetables and fruit.

What really makes it different

Most smokehouses smoke hot, around 27 degrees, and finish in an hour or six. Smoking does the opposite: cold, at maximum 7 degrees, and then 48 hours long. That difference isn't cosmetic. At low temperature, the product doesn't cook. The structure of the fresh vegetable stays intact, there's no browning and less salt is needed. What you get inside is real smoke, not a cooked product with a smoky taste.

For vegetables and fruit it works strong. A winter carrot or pumpkin keeps its bite and its color, but gets a smoke layer that's deep. The dry aged version goes one step further: by letting it dry, the flavor concentrates before smoke comes in. Cold-smoked pineapple sounds odd until you taste it; the sweet-sour balance stays, there's just a smoky bottom underneath.

How you set yourself apart with this

Smoked vegetables is an easy way to give a vegetarian or side dish as much weight as a piece of meat, without you needing to build your own smoke chamber. The carrot and pumpkin come pan-ready, so you slice and plate.

Use it where you'd normally reach for meat for that deep, savory tone. A carpaccio of smoked pumpkin, fingerlings with a smoke note from the oven, or thin slices of smoked carrot raw under a warm plate. It's work a guest remembers, and it's not available anywhere else around the corner.