You literally are in the middle of no where when you drive on the dirt road to this place. The signs along the way comfort you because without them, you would turn around because you wouldn't know what exists at the end of the road.
Inside this small building is a large refrigerator, 6' display case and a smoker out back. Ray greets me and I feel like I'm talking to someone who tried out for the ZZ Top Band and decided to go another route in life. All over the walls are pictures of Ray with fish, eel, birds and many friends. Out in back of his house lies the Delaware River where Ray gets a lot of his product. His main product is river eels and trout that he catches himself with nets. I enjoy eel and have for years only had it done from Japanese restaurants so I was curious to know what smoked eel tastes like. But it looks like I'll have to wait another day as Ray informed me that all the local restaurants cleared out his entire supply earlier this morning. So this leads me to believe, this guy has something good going here. He showed me his display case that housed a bunch of smoked delicacies. Two types of salmon, both hot and cold smoked. He had a good amount of smoked Cornish game hens, and small chickens. His trout was smoked whole with skin on. I asked him why since I have had smoked trout before and it was the filet's only. He said when you do it with the skin off, the outside gets brown, which is true but doesn't bother me. He says when you do it with the skin on, it stays nice and white. He also had whole slabs of bacon that he gets from a local source. Ray said they make it so good, there is no reason to do anything else but to eat it or sell it. So he does both. Then on the top rack are two things I have heard about from previous blogs. Shrimp and cheese. The shrimp are hot smoked with the shell on and the cheese was of the Mozzarella variety. He says the cheese takes a while to make. 36 hours of smoking at a temperature of 65 degrees. I don't think I can get my smoker that low. But would love to try it one day.
The kids were getting antsy and I had to make my selection. I could have stayed all day and talked to Ray as he is a real interesting guy to meet. So I decided on a whole slab of Bacon (duh, i'm gonna pass on that) smoked Mozzarella, two whole trout, a dozen shrimp, and a jar of Pennsylvania sauerkraut.
When I got home, I had to try the shrimp. Well I had to try two :-). The shrimp are smoked with the shell on and after peeling them, the smoky smell emerges. The flesh was firm and delicious but the outside in certain spots were a little soft. The taste was very smoky and if you have ever had smoked shellfish before, it has a unique taste to it. Its very strong and briny which I know is not for everyone. I like fishy fish and seafood so for me it is good. But I don't see this as tops for everyone's list. It has inspired me to try to smoke shell fish in the future. I will try to smoke shrimp both with shells and without. I have also eaten Sea Scallops that were smoked and they had the same strong smell and taste but I loved it. I will try it one day and report back to you.
In the meantime, next time your driving through Hancock NY, it's worth a trip to see Ray. He told me to call ahead when I'm passing through to see if he has eel in stock. I have already added him to my phone numbers.
Ray has no presence online other than blogs like mine. So if you want to see him, here is how you do it.
Delaware Delicacies Smoke House
420 Rhodes Rd.
Hancock NY 13783
607-637-4443
He is off of route 17 at Exit 87A
4 comments:
Alan, when you get to Chicago, check out Calumet Fisheries (my family business). Cal Fish specializes in smoked fish/shrimp, and has been featured on the Anthony Bourdain show and won the James Beard America's Classics award this year.
Steve
Your blog entry very close matches my experience. I've been passing Ray's sign on Rt 17 for over 20 years on the way BACK from my mother in laws and always thought the smoked fish would be great. Finally stopped by. Got the cold smoked salmon and smoked trout. Both were delicious, the trout was a bit sweeter than I was used to, but delicious. The cold smoked salmon was out of this world. Best salmon I've had in years. Highly recommended.
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