Its now time for your Social Studies Class. Today's lecture will be the canning of fish for (some) human consumption. Those of you who have recently eaten a heavy meal, you might want to step away from this lesson.
Our lesson begins at Norsk Hermetikkmuseum (Norwegian Canning Museum)
If you actually read my blog from a few days ago, the herring fishing literally disappeared in the 18880's. Then an intelligent Norwegian discovered a process early in the 20th Century to "can" fish. Most Canneries like this one produced their own cans and lids (the little keys to roll back the tops came much later). Sardines were not actually used, although all the tins used that word, with the word "brisling" in VERY fine print. Sardines are only found in the Mediterranean Sea. Brisling are smaller, but since they live in water less than 50 degrees all year (or a lot colder) they have much more nutrician value (very high in Omega 3). Of course that might not convinve you to start eating them.
The live fish are brought ashore with huge :"drag lines" (not to be confused with a type of burlesque theatre in Philly). They are hauled on the shoulders of teenaged boys in 120 pound boxes from the docks. First the sardines are soaked in a brine solution for five minutes. They the 70 or so women in the factory (of a workforce of about 85) stand in line waiting to have their "threading" baskets filled with salted fish. Now the first truly disgusting process starts where the women have to "thread" the heads of 25 fish on a long spike about the size of your standard No#2 pencil lead. And for those of you younger than 35, well google it. Dish pan hands would have been a welcome respite for these gals as they threaded about 400 fish per rack, and about ten racks a day. You can imagine the stench of those fingers gentlemen. Kind of eliminates the hand holding custom during courting....
Now each rack goes to the smoking ovens for 30 minutes in a self contained smoke box, and then for 30 minutes over an open flame to char the skin. I was allowed (forced) to each a smoked mackeral and it was actually quite tasty, once you got over swallowing hundreds of little bones.
Before 1910 it was time to cut off each fish head, ONE at a time, with scissors (more great work for the female work force). But some wife's husband created a decapitation machine so his wife didn't have to dirty her hands so. Of course the first day with the new machine she cut three fingers off.
Next comes the truly highly skilled and "piece" work job (women paid by the number of tins they could LAYER/ or stuff). All day long the 20 girls with the most nimble fingers stuffed the tins by size of the sardine.
Then it was off to the Olive Oil saturation machine. Prior to 1910 (a year with a BIG jump in Canning Technology) the oil was poured from a picture into each tin. A machine was invented to do it automatically. Alas,the women who had the most soft hands in the plant (in oil all day) now had chapped and brittle skin just like everyone else....
Off to seal the tops of the tins (Seaming). Again prior to that magic year each tin was soldered by hand, but a skillful man could solder 500 a day. But the machine could do 1000 tins AN HOUR. As you will see in the picture, the man pulls down a lever with his right arm to seal the tin. Two things to think about, these men had to be right handed, AND the muscles in their right bicep were probably four times the size of the left arm (like Popeyee).
Then the cans are sterlized (I mean really all those smelly dirty female hands touching everything, its the least they could do). Then more hand piece work by the older women, as they hand washed the tins in a large tub, dried each of them (and they had to be real dry) because the next step was the labeling of the sides and top of the tin. Can you imagine applying glue to each tin, and then pressing the lables on individually? But you can't guess what happened in WHAT YEAR? Yes automated labeling machine. And it doubled by packing the tins into boxes. These little beauties could last for years, and be carriend into any environment, cold, heat, water, ice.
Of course I had to take a picture of the Accounting Office.
Now the King Oscar Brand is still headquarterd in Norway. And the Sardines, I mean brisling, are still caught off the coast of Norway, but in the late 1980's all Norwegian production ceased and the entire canning industry was moved to Poland (their hourly labor rates are only 1/10th those of Norway).
I am bringing three tins of sardines packed in various sauce: extra virgin, tomato, and dijon mustard. So sometime in June I'll be having a little smoked fish party. I'll provide the fish, crackers, black bread, and Norse Bier, oh and the Vodka (from Norway of course). You provide the Tums and barf bag.
Skoal and bottoms up.
Thanks Bob. Better than being there.
Jim
Posted by: James Mellody | April 10, 2013 at 02:16 AM