Smoked fish and agushie stew
Ghanaian agushie stew combines melon-seed paste with tomatoes, peppers, palm oil and smoked fish, and is served with rice, yam or plantain.
Built structures · Masonry smoking ovens
Chorkor smoker
Kagan smoker · Chorkor oven
The Chorkor, also called the Kagan smoker in early FAO documentation, pairs a low rectangular mud/clay oven with stacked removable wooden-frame, wire-mesh trays. FAO records its use at Chorkor, Ghana, from 1971.
A rectangular oven for stacked trays
The Chorkor smoker—called the Kagan smoker in the FAO report’s technical discussion—is a fixed mud/clay-brick oven paired with removable trays. Brownell’s 1982 report says it had been used at Chorkor, Ghana, since 1971. It describes the design as a rectangular adaptation of older West African cylindrical mud/clay ovens, made principally to carry wooden frames with wire-mesh bottoms. The account identifies a change in the oven and fish-support system; it does not claim that fish smoking itself began with the Chorkor.
The report gives a construction time of about three days for a local mason, allowing the first and second levels time to set. It supplies no measured plan, wall thickness, foundation design or universal material recipe. A thin cement surface layer is described as one option for extending the oven’s life, not an essential finish.
Trays, cover and working arrangement
The 1982 report gives average tray dimensions of 98 by 200 centimetres and describes an installation using as many as 15 trays. These are source-era figures for the example, not a standard that every Chorkor oven must follow. The tray frames are wood, with mesh forming the bottom. The top tray can be covered with plywood or corrugated metal; the report says the cover keeps out rain and holds smoke in, while gaps around it allow a natural draught.
The FAO account describes ovens placed close together, with one team of women able to work several at once. It also explains that trays are rearranged during a run to even out exposure. These notes describe the historical work setting and operation rather than a validated production schedule.
A design shaped by local adaptation
A 2002 study interviewed 51 fish processors in three southern Ghanaian communities where the Chorkor smoker had been introduced. It reports several practical changes: smaller trays for easier handling, brick in place of clay, internal compartments and sticks placed above the mesh to reduce impressions on larger fish. This evidence makes the Chorkor better understood as a family of adapted ovens than as a single fixed drawing.
A 2024 study of Ghana’s marine-fish supply chains names Chorkor among Accra’s coastal fishing communities and includes photographs captioned as Chorkor ovens with stacked trays, showing mud and concrete examples. It documents current processing context but does not establish that every present oven is built to the 1971 form or that the same design has remained unchanged.
Scope and limits of the record
The Chorkor smoker is documented here as a Ghanaian fixed smoking structure, especially associated with Chorkor in Accra. It is related to the wider West African history of cylindrical mud/clay ovens, but the sources do not justify treating every West African smoking kiln as a Chorkor. The cited capacity and time figures belong to the FAO report’s 1982 account; they are not current guarantees, universal specifications or food-safety validation.
Sources for this section
- SWIOP/WP/5 Final Report of the Workshop on Traditional Fisheries Development, Appendix I: An Example of a Successful Artisanal Fish-Smoking System in Coastal West Africa →
- Post-Harvest Travels of Marine Fish: How Small Fish Food Systems Variously Support Food Security and Nutrition in Coastal and Inland Cities in Ghana →
History
The 1982 FAO report says the Kagan smoker was used at Chorkor, Ghana, since 1971 and describes it as a rectangular adaptation of older West African cylindrical mud/clay ovens. Later studies document local modifications and continued Chorkor use, without implying that every community uses one fixed design.
Site
SettingFixed ovens were often built close together at fish-processing sites; the report says one team could work several ovens at a time.
GroundThe oven body is built in place from mud/clay brick. The report does not specify a foundation, soil preparation or drainage design.
ClimateThe report identifies rain as a risk for open smoking systems and describes the top cover as keeping rain out. It gives no local climate measurements.
FootprintThe oven is rectangular. Exact body dimensions are not supplied; trays averaged 98 × 200 cm and were approximately the size of the oven top.
NotesThe Chorkor is a design family adapted by processors, not a single standardized plan. The sources do not specify a measured foundation or universal dimensions.
A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.
How it is built
Materials
- Mud or clay bricks
- Wooden frames
- Wire mesh
- Plywood or corrugated metal sheet
- Cement
- FAO describes the Kagan/Chorkor oven as a rectangular mud/clay-brick modification of older cylindrical ovens, shaped to support wooden-frame, wire-mesh trays. The report says local masons built the oven in about three days, allowing time for the first and second levels to set, but gives no measured plan or foundation detail.
- The removable trays use wooden frames with wire-mesh bottoms; the 1982 report gives an average tray size of 98 × 200 cm. A 2002 study of 51 processors in three southern Ghanaian communities documented smaller trays and other local adaptations, so the reported dimensions are not a universal specification.
- For a smoking run described in the FAO report, fish rests on the mesh trays stacked over the oven. Up to 15 trays are reported in one installation. A plywood or corrugated-metal cover over the top tray excludes rain and retains smoke, with natural draught through the gaps.
Places
Chorkor, Accra, Ghana
Historical attestation · Locality evidenceThe FAO report names Chorkor, Ghana; the 2024 study places Chorkor among Accra's coastal fishing communities.
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Sources
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsForm · Materials · Construction · Use · History · Geography
SWIOP/WP/5 Final Report of the Workshop on Traditional Fisheries Development, Appendix I: An Example of a Successful Artisanal Fish-Smoking System in Coastal West AfricaThe report says the Kagan smoker was used at Chorkor, Ghana, since 1971, and describes it as a rectangular modification of traditional West African cylindrical mud/clay ovens to support wooden-frame, wire-mesh trays.
It says a local mason could build the oven in about three days, allowing the first and second levels to set; it does not provide a measured plan or foundation detail.
Trays averaged 98 × 200 cm and the report describes up to 15 trays in a run; these are reported figures, not a universal specification.
The top tray could be covered with plywood or corrugated metal; the report says this helped keep out rain and retain smoke, with natural draught through gaps.
The report discusses the Chorkor system's use and market distinctions; its 1982 performance figures are historical observations, not current production or safety guidance.
Cited in: A rectangular oven for stacked trays; Trays, cover and working arrangement; Scope and limits of the record
CSIR Food Research Institute; Ghana Journal of Agricultural ScienceAdaptation · Use · Geography
Evaluation of determinants for effective adoption of an improved fish-processing technology in GhanaThe study interviewed 51 fish processors in three southern Ghanaian fishing communities where the Chorkor smoker had been introduced.
It reports processor adaptations including reducing tray dimensions for easier handling, using brick instead of clay, adding internal compartments, and adding sticks over mesh to reduce marks on larger fish.
These are local adaptations reported by respondents, not a single mandatory configuration.
Cited in: A design shaped by local adaptation
Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale GeografieContemporary use · Geography
Post-Harvest Travels of Marine Fish: How Small Fish Food Systems Variously Support Food Security and Nutrition in Coastal and Inland Cities in GhanaThe study names Chorkor and Jamestown among Accra's coastal fishing communities and documents contemporary smoked-fish processing in these communities.
Its Figure 3 caption identifies Chorkor ovens with stacked trays, showing both mud and concrete examples; the figure credits photographer Anderson Kwasi Ahwireng.
This source supports contemporary context and place, not uninterrupted use of a single construction form since 1971.
Cited in: A design shaped by local adaptation; Scope and limits of the record