Smoked mackerel fillets

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference British Smoked Mackerel, Boneless
Approx 130g, £2.32
Looks like a perfect fillet. Incredibly moist and the fish flakes brilliantly. Right amount of salt with a good smoke taste.
★★★★★

Marks and Spencer Scottish Boneless Smoked Mackerel Fillets
Approx 157g, £2.67
The texture is a bit dry, but it's still very good. It has a slightly sweet and smoky flavour.
★★★

Morrisons Smoked Scottish Mackerel
Approx 260g, £2.59
The appearance isn't great and it has a slightly dry, cooked chicken like texture. There's no real integrity to the smoke taste at all.
★★

Whole Foods Market Mackerel Plain Smoked
Approx 195g, £2.90
Squashed, flaky, pale … Unappealing both to eat and to look at. Not great, it's been poorly handled.
NO STARS

Kippers

Waitrose Craster Kippers from the Service Counter
£6.99 per kg, waitrose.com
A medium smoke with good oil content. Fragrant, it tastes like fish and wood. Very tasty, a really good kipper.
BEST BUY: ★★★★★

Asda Fish Counter Manx Kippers

£6 per kg
This is a nice small kipper with a good smoke. It is sweet and mild tasting with good oil content. It is a really nice oily herring.
★★★★

Brown and Forrest Pair of Smoked Kippers
£7.50 for a pair
Sweet and smoky in taste – very, very pleasant. Nothing offensive about this. Slightly drier, but you can smell the fish oil.
★★★★

Whole Foods Market Kippers Whole Smoked
£14.90 per kg
A very, very light smoke. Soft with good moistness. The flesh smells sweet, but not in a good way. The aftertaste is not great.
★★

Smoked haddock fillet

Whole Foods Market Haddock Smoked Undyed
£15.90 per kg
A really moist fish, lots of juice with a stickiness to the flesh. It has a lovely, rounded smoked flavour.
★★★★★

Tesco Counter Undyed Smoked Haddock Fillet
£12 per kg
Nice light colour. A much more savoury smoke. It's a bit disjointed, but there is something nice about it ... Borderline good.

★★★

Black Mountains Smokery Naturally Smoked Haddock
Min weight – 350g, starting at £6.95
The fish quality is good, but I can taste the vacuum pack. The smoke is not pronounced enough.

★★★

Asda Fish Counter Undyed Smoked Haddock
£22.73 per kg
Very light colour, very pale. Sweet taste. Not very well cut. It's OK, but something is lacking.
★★

Smoked Trout Fillets

The Fish Society Smoked Trout Fillets
280g, £13.70
Well presented. The fish is moist and slightly salty with a clean flavour. A good balance of smoke and salt.
★★★★★

Marks and Spencer Arbroath Hot Smoked Rainbow Trout Fillets
125g, £3.80
It has a very mild smoke, but a pleasant tasting fish. Could be more smoky. A nice product all round.
★★★

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Scottish Hot Smoked Trout Fillets
125g, £3.80
Pale and soft with plenty of bones. It has a very light smoke and there is a nice clean taste to the fish.
★★★

The Co-operative Truly Irresistible Smoked Farmed British Trout Fillets
125g, £2.25
A redder fish. It has a firmer texture and is a little too dry. This has a sweet smoke and is quite earthy in taste.

NO STARS

Smoked salmon, sliced

Tesco Finest Smoked Salmon
120g, £5
This is well sliced with a consistent thickness and the right balance of salt, sugar and smoke flavours. My favourite on all counts.
★★★★★

Morrisons M Signature Traditionally Smoked Scottish Salmon
120g, £4.99
Poorly cut, but nice, firm texture. It's sweet and smoky rather than salty. If you like a heavily smoked salmon, this is perfect.
★★★

Asda Extra Special Scottish Smoked Salmon
120g, £5
Unevenly cut with a soft texture. No pronounced smoke taste in it. This is nothing special.
★★

Marks and Spencer Orkney Traditional Kiln Smoked Salmon
100g, £5.50
It's not well cut and has a slightly sort of acrid smell to it. Not a great piece of smoked salmon.
★★

Smoked salmon pâté

Morrisons Scottish Smoked Salmon Pâté
100g, £1
This is taramasalata pink rather than salmon pink. There are little bits of cream cheese throughout … It's pleasant tasting.
★★★

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Smoked Salmon Pâté
115g, £1.65
I don't like the rim of oil and it has a dull whipped texture. The taste is smokier than the others, it's more authentic.
★★★

Tesco Smoked Scottish Salmon Pâté
90g, £1
This pâté has a reasonable colour and the texture is quite moussey. It has lemon rather than smoky overtones.
★★

Waitrose Tasty Smoked Salmon Pâté
125g, £1.89
It looks soft and watery – it doesn't have the texture of a pâté. Feels cottage cheesy in the mouth. No real smokiness coming through.
★★