Week 11: Cullen skink

There are times when you’ll be in a fancy restaurant and you’ll see the name of a dish that you don’t recognise, something along the lines of assiette of chocolate or squash velouté and you’ll wonder why they didn’t just call it a plate of chocolate or just a thick squash soup, respectively. This kind of thing I can kind of understand, however, because the former does sound a bit nicer than the latter. But sometimes, when travelling about this sceptred isle, I’ll go into a country pub for a lunch and be confronted with something on the chalkboard menu I’ve not heard of before, something ill-sounding and straight from the pages of Lord of the Rings, and this is the case with cullen skink.

I mean, the name cullen skink gives absolutely no clues at all about what it is; what’s more, rather than commending it as a dish worth ordering, the name cullen skink makes it sound distinctly unappetising and something more like a poisonous mushroom or a disease that afflicts badgers than the kind of thing you’d have while in a pub on the Scottish coast.

So, it’s with an adventurous spirit of discovery and curiosity that I embark upon this smoked haddock soup (sounds better already, no?), not too  dissimilar from a North American chowder, something we all know about and easy to find on the menu boards of Britain. A bit of rebranding required, perhaps?

Ingredients:

400g smoked haddock	700g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 small onion, sliced	100ml single cream
1 bay leaf	Salt
A few peppercorns	2 spring onions, very finely sliced

Put the smoked haddock, sliced onion, bay leaf and peppercorns in a pan and cover with water. Heat and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Remove it from the pan (keep the cooking liquid).

When the fish has cooled enough to handle, remove all the skins and bones (if not already done).  Flake and flesh and set on one side. Return the bones to the pan, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes longer to make stock; strain and measure it – you’ll need about 600-700ml. If you got your fish without the skin (which I reckon you probably did), pop a little fish stock into the mixture or, failing that, some veg stock. Top up with extra water if necessary when getting the liquid up to 600-700ml.

Put the stock and the potatoes into a clean pan and bring to the boil. Let them simmer until the potatoes are well cooked and just starting to break up a little, giving body to the liquid. Stir in the fish and head through. Taste and add more salt if desired; remember, the smoked fish may be quite salty already! Now, stir in the cream.

Divide between four bowls and scatter with the sliced spring onion and serve with some hot bread. A very tasty lunch or light dinner dish and perfect for seaside boozers.

Today’s learning:

What’s in a name? Cullen skink still tastes as good though called by any other name. And it is good.

Recipe taken from: Mason, L. & Paston-Williams, S. (2013) Grandma’s Cookbook: Recipes inspired by the National Trust. London: National Trust Books