H Forman & Son is a protected origin salmon smokery in Hackney Wick’s Fish Island

Lance is the fourth-generation head of H Forman & Son, a protected origin smokery in Hackney Wick’s Fish Island.

While lesser brands simply inject smoky flavours into fillets that come from as far away as Norway, Lance’s 80-strong team practise the never slimy ‘London cure’ on fresh Scottish salmon.

It’s a labour-intensive process seeing 20 per cent of a fish’s weight lost by dry-curing, kiln drying and coldsmoking in a machine. Under salmon-hued lighting, Lance tells me his ‘salmon must always sing’ as we try unconventional alcoholic matches in the on-site restaurant. First up, slowgrowing wild salmon is lean and gamey. Costing five times as much as farmed fish, wild ‘should be 500 times more given its scarcity’, says Lance.

Cuvée Noir fizz from Sussex winery Bolney conveys more game notes, an uplifting texture and juicy berry finish. Next, using Hampshire-grown wasabi, Twisted Nose vodka generates an appetising prickle of heat with pretty, beetroot cure. A portion of flaky, cooked smoked salmon and Harry’s Old Fashioned is the most thrilling pairing. Named after Lance’s great grandfather, the cocktail stars massively peaty single malt, Ardbeg. ‘Pure protein and a smoked salmon hit,’ says Lance of smoked salmon jerky, which could be the ultimate beer snack, deserving a fetching brew in the auburn-coloured, caramel and cherry scented Meantime Yakima Red from Greenwich’s Meantime.

Finally, it’s time for a V&T (vermouth and tonic) using Bolney’s cola-coloured Rosso vermouth alongside gravadlax, ‘which is never smoked’, says Lance. Rosso’s dried hedgerow aromas dovetail with the flamboyant salt, pepper, dill, orange and star anise of the fish. Lance has savoured salmon daily for 50 years. ‘Dad would bring a side of smoked salmon home at the weekends, so I had my first taste at four, and by six I had learned how to carve it.