American looks to ‘expertise and passion’ of Grimsby for smoking advice
MICHAEL Jalileyan, president of Sasanian Caviar in Sunrise, Florida, which produces a wide range of exclusive caviars and fish roes, is now planning a major expansion into the smoked salmon sector.
He was in Europe when he heard about a two-day fish smoking course run by the Seafood Skills Training School, based in the Grimsby Seafood Village.
The school has two purpose built mini kilns from Afos in Hull which specialises in smoking equipment.
Sasanian Caviar’s product range includes much sought after Kaluga hybrid caviar, which it calls River Beluga. It also markets several other types of caviar.
Jalileyan said: ‘We already have a smoker supplied by Afos and we will be branching out into salmon and perhaps some whitefish.’
He said he came to Grimsby because the port had a great fishing and seafood heritage.
‘It was also recommended to me by Afos which has an international reputation. I was planning a trip to Europe so it was the right thing for me to do.
‘This has been a great experience and I will highly recommend the course – the obvious expertise and passion that goes into the course is fantastic and the opportunity to have hands on experience in an operational environment is highly beneficial – especially when the finished products can be tasted.’
Talking about his company’s plans he said smoked salmon will be the main product, but he was also looking at hot smoked mackerel and smoked haddock.
‘We sampled the products. The taste is great and I know we can sell products of that quality.
So who knows? The equipment is very versatile and possibilities are there.’
The course was delivered by Ivan JainesWhite, director of the Seafood Skills Training School, together with Lee Cooper, head of Onshore Training at Seafish.
Cooper revealed that there were plans for further courses, in south-east England and in Grimsby.