06/08/2019
By Christopher Leigh, Master Smoker, John Ross Jr

John Ross Jr has announced a new collaboration with renowned Scottish business, fellow Royal Warrant holder and Britain’s leading online and mail order meat supplier, Donald Russell.

John Ross Jr, one of the last remaining producers of traditionally prepared Scottish Smoked Salmon, has created two products exclusively for Donald Russell, which include a Scottish Smoked Salmon with Malt Whisky and Scottish Smoked Salmon with Cracked Black Pepper.

John Ross Jr’s traditional red brick kilns are situated on the edge of Aberdeen harbour, the nearest port to Donald Russell’s Inverurie premises, and are listed by Historic Scotland for their cultural significance. They have also been used to smoke salmon using artisanal techniques, which creates a perfectly succulent texture and delicate flavour, since 1857. The smokehouse's ‘slow food’ ethos aligns perfectly with that of Donald Russell, which is proud to keep the traditional craft of butchery alive and also uses time-honoured techniques to prepare its meat by hand.

Both companies have also held the Royal Warrant for many years, supplying to Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Households.

On the partnership, Christopher Leigh, CEO at John Ross Jr, said: “We’re delighted to partner with another longstanding and much loved food brand, especially one that shares the mark of excellence afforded by the Royal Warrant. Donald Russell is well known for its exceptional approach to providing the very best produce via mail order and we’re proud to be making our products available to its international customer base.”

Tazio Gagliardi, Managing Director of Donald Russell, added: “We are lucky to have such expertise and talent on our doorstep. It gives me great pleasure to join forces with another world-renowned company to showcase our fantastic local produce.”

To prepare the smoked salmon, hand-filleted sides of sustainably sourced salmon are coated in a dry rock salt and Demerara sugar before being hung in the kilns over piles of beech shavings, oak chips and peat. The piles are then lit before the doors of the kilns are shut, which allows the natural smoke to permeate the fish in an age-old method of curing.

Once the salmon is delicately smoked to perfection, it is infused with malt whisky from Speyside, or coated in cracked black peppercorns before being thinly sliced.

John Ross Jr’s products are now available at www.donaldrussell.com.