what are kippers

Kippers are a type of fish that have been split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smoldering wood chips, typically oak. They are a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that is served as a breakfast dish in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and some regions of North America. Kippers, along with other preserved smoked or salted fish such as the bloater and buckling, were also once commonly enjoyed as a high tea or supper treat, most popularly with inland and urban working-class populations before World War II. The kippering process was popularized in 1843 by John Woodger, a Northumberland fish processor. Kippers are delicious served with buttery scrambled eggs or with poached eggs that have been cooked in the kipper water. They can be baked, fried, and cooked in a tall jug of boiling water, although barbecuing them is recommended to minimize the smell. Kippers are in season from May to September in the UK, and they are best from northern England, the Isle of Man, and Scotland.