'Cullen Skink’ means a soup-stew which comes from Cullen, a village on the coast of the Moray Firth in Scotland. It is typical coastal fare – dishes like this are traditional throughout Europe – but the difference lies in the smoked fish used. Scotland was the centre of fish smoking, and the fish used once would have been an Arbroath smokie - a headed, gutted, whole haddock, brined then smoked over oak or beech – or a Finnan haddock (from the Aberdeenshire village of Findon) – headed, gutted and split, brined then smoked over peat. These are quite difficult to find nowadays (and are expensive and bony), but do try to use natural smoked haddock, which is usually paler in colour than the bright yellow, artificially dyed version.
Nick Nairn, Paul Rankin and myself were being taught to drive off the road in the latest brand-new Range Rover, in a programme for the BBC. Our pay-back was that in front of the cameras we would cook a Scottish type menu, devised by the aforesaid Mr Nairn. He took us through the method for Cullen Skink, and this is a slightly sophisticated variant of his, and the original, using hard-boiled egg and potato to thicken and to add flavour, colour and goodness. With chunks of fresh bread and butter, it makes a meal in itself.
ingredients
Serves 4
675g (1 1/2 lb) smoked haddock
300ml (10 fl oz) fish stock or water
25g (1 oz) unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
115g (4 oz) cooked mashed potato
850ml (1 1/2 pints) milk
300ml (10 fl oz) single cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives (or parsley)
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Make sure all the pin bones are taken out of the fish. Use pliers or tweezers. Butter a suitable ovenproof dish, and lay the cut smoked haddock in it, along with the stock or water. Season, put into the preheated oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Take out of the oven, and drain, keeping the liquid. Take the flesh off the skin. Discard the skin.
Put half the fish in a bowl with the shelled hard-boiled eggs and the mashed potato. Purée this together using a wooden spoon or a pestle. Mix the milk into this, then the cream and strained fish-cooking stock, stirring all well together.
Pour into a pan and bring to the boil. If necessary, strain to remove any lumps. Add the rest of the flaked fish and the chives to the soup, check the seasoning and serve hot.
PS I prefer to use the insides of a baked jacket potato for the soup, as
it is easier and gives a better taste to the soup.