Listen | Smoking
To your right, you can see fishmonger De Boer. This is the only remaining fish smokehouse of the many that were on this street. Of all the fish the Monnickendammers traded, most was processed here.
This was done by salting, drying or smoking, among other things. This ensured that the fish had a much longer shelf life. A salted anchovy, for instance, could be kept for years.
Smoking fish became increasingly popular from 1700 onwards. Slowly the number of smokehouses in Monnickendam increased. At its peak, there were as many as 34 here. This made this industry very important to the town's economy. But in the 20th century, the number of smokehouses in Monnickendam slowly decreased. This was because after the construction of the Afsluitdijk, there was no more fishing on the IJsselmeer.
Look up too, at the roofs of the geb...
This was done by salting, drying or smoking, among other things. This made the fish keep much longer. A salted anchovy, for instance, could be kept for years.
Smoking fish became increasingly popular from the year 1700 onwards. Slowly the number of smokehouses in Monnickendam increased. At its peak, there were as many as 34 here. This made this industry very important to the town's economy. But in the 20th century, the number of smokehouses in Monnickendam slowly decreased. This was because after the construction of the Afsluitdijk, there was no more fishing on the IJsselmeer.
Look up, too, at the roofs of the buildings in this street. You can see that some buildings do have a lot of chimneys. You can recognise the old fish smokehouses from these. For smoking fish was done over smouldering wood fires in 'hang' - rooms where fish hang in the smoke from these wood fires. For this, the smokehouses usually used oak wood. This leftover wood from the shipyards was in abundance.
Want to see for yourself how things work in a fish shop with a smokehouse today? Then watch the video. You can find it in the menu. After watching the video, continue straight on.
