July 26, 2018 (Thursday) Herring or Sardines?

It is a drizzly, cloudy day.  A good day to find the "sardine" smokehouse we were told about here in Lubec.

The museum is housed in the remains of a "sardine" or "herring" smokehouse.  At one time there were a total of 27 herring smokehouses in Lubec.  From the 1960's to 1991 McCurdy's was the "last operating smokehouse in town."  

Herring or Sardine?  Are they the same?

Locally the sardine is the smaller version of a herring.  There is a "sardine" but it is found in the waters of Norway.

The herring was caught in a "weir", a designed netting system to catch the herring.

This is called a "spanger", used to stir the brined herring.

The canned herring were shipped in hand-crafted boxes.

The remaining buildings of the "McCurdy Herring Smokehouse", Lubec Maine

Herring were caught and delivered to the smokehouse facility, where they were brined (soaked in salt water) for up to 7 days.  After brining, the herring were skewered (through the gill and out the mouth) on an oak rod and smoked over smoldering sawdust.

I appreciate buildings and facilities like this being preserved.  If not preserved, this history is long lost.  Seeing these buildings and items are much better than just reading abut it in a book.

 We have bought them fresh and boiled them at our rigs, and had them boiled there and brought home to eat.  No wrong way to enjoy!

Some facts about lobster....or "lob-sta" here in the Northeast.
Right now you can buy "soft shell" or "hard shell".  Lobster shed their shell to grow.  
The "new" shell is soft, and $5.50 per pound.  We were told a "soft shell" lobster tastes sweeter.

The "hard" shell or "old" shell sells for $7.50 per pound, and contains a little more meat.

We have only bought the "soft shell".  I can verify that it tastes delicious and sweet.  We but "one pound" lobster for each person.  There is meat in each large, front claw, and the tail!  Each one pound lobster contains about 96 calories.