Happy Tartan Day! Celebrating with Cullen Skink

Eating smoked fish soup and learning about Scotland’s history

 

April 6 is Tartan Day - the Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in Scotland and a national day to celebrate Scotland's culture, history, people and contributions to the world.

The recipe I’m sharing today is called “Cullen Skink” and it hails from the north-east fishing town of Cullen, on the Moray Firth, in Scotland. The word “skink” has a much more complicated and contested origin; the most likely meaning was a soup made from a shin bone or shank. Today the name refers to a smoked haddock soup featuring onions, potatoes, and milk.

The UK’s Guardian Newspaper offers a comprehensive history and opinionated review of the best versions of Cullen Skink in their article here. There are many, many variations from the very straightforward to the modernized and augmented. Some chefs lightly poach the smoked fish in water to create a fish stock and add the milk at the end. Some chefs poach the fish in milk and add cream at the end. Some chefs boil their potatoes in the stock and other chefs add already cooked, mashed potatoes to the milk broth. Some chefs insist on just using onions and seasoning with pepper to let the smoky fish flavor shine. Other chefs use a combination of onions and leeks, add bay leaves or other herbs, even add white wine. The version I’ve chosen is from the more traditional, straightforward camp. Sue Lawrence is a renowned Scottish Chef and I was introduced to her through a Scottish TV show, The Hour, that was highlighting the cuisine of Scotland. Check out this video:

My version is not traditional in that it doesn't use the essential smoked Haddock - I couldn't find any! The best I could do, and I must say I do think it was a tasty and adequate substitute, was smoked trout from Northern Wisconsin. I created a smoky fish stock by poaching my trout, then simmering the veggies in the stock, doing a rough mash in the pan and then topping off with a combo of milk & cream at the end. This is for a small batch, serving 4 or 5, so feel free to experiment with doubling for bigger batch.

I’m new to trying this simple and hearty dish, but I found it to be marvelous comfort food and filling in itself. Blasta!

Spoonful of the thick and hearty fish soup, garnished with fresh chives

Cathi’s Version of Cullen Skink

Scottish style soup with smoked trout, potatoes, leeks, and onions

Based on Sue Lawrence’s traditional Cullen Skink recipe as shown on STV - see video above

Traditional Scottish recipes call for Finnan Haddie, a type of smoked haddock

Ingredients:

1 smoked trout, about 1 lb (skin on, bones in, gutted, headless, hot smoked; I bought mine at a fish mart)

2-2½ cups of cold water (enough to just cover fish)

1 medium white onion, chopped

1 medium leek, sliced, all white plus some green

5 small red potatoes, peeled and diced (or use 2 large potatoes, I also like Yukon golds)

2 Tbsp butter

~½ cup milk

~½ cup half and half (both cream and milk in same container)

Garnish: fresh snipped chives

Method:

Place the whole smoked trout in your soup pot. Use about 2 or 2½ cups of water, enough to just cover the fish. Bring the water up to a boil and then lower heat, cover and simmer for at least 15 minutes. (Hot smoked trout is already fully cooked, you are building your fish stock here. I flipped my fish over to the other side about half way through simmering time.)

TIP: I cover the pot while simmering to help reduce the fishy smell filling my kitchen. Most of the smell will be smoky; however, it helps to neutralize odors if you pour a bit of white vinegar into a small shallow dish and set it out in the kitchen.

Take off heat. Remove trout to clean plate. If you see any scales or other inedible bits floating in stock, skim them off and throw out. Cover the top of the pot and let sit.

Smoked trout right after poaching

Wait several minutes until fish can be safely handled with your hands. Starting at the top, slide your thumb under the skin and gently pull back to remove. Skin will likely come off in bits, but try to get large sections as you can. There is a thin fatty layer right under the skin that you are also removing – if there is a bright white residue left on the fish flesh, scrape it off gently with your thumbnail. 

Smoked trout ready to be skinned, de-boned and flaked

Start to flake off flesh, removing to clean bowl. When you’ve gotten up to the fin, firmly grasp and wiggle to dislodge. Be careful to retain fish bones of fin, which are fanned out a bit; discard. Some tiny bits of meat may come off bones, squeeze with fingers to ensure no bones remain, remove bits of meat to bowl and discard bones. When you’ve cleared off enough meat to reveal some of the backbone, firmly grasp it and slowly but surely pull it out and away from meat in one piece. Discard.

Backbone of smoked trout

Bowl of flaked meat from smoked trout

Meat should now be in large, fillet size chunks. Using your fingers, break or flake it into bitesize chunks and put in bowl. Any bones should be discarded. Work your way down to the tail and/or firmly grasp tail as you pull away the rest of the meat. Discard tail. Once all the meat has been removed from the bones, set bowl aside and return to soup pot to cook your veggies.

Now add in chopped onions, sliced leeks and diced potatoes into the fish stock. Sprinkle in pepper to taste – I used 7 turns on my manual pepper mill. Give a stir, cover the pot, and bring heat back up to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, potatoes should be fork tender.

Turn off heat, add butter, roughly mash the potatoes. Keep some lumps and potato pieces to add to texture of soup. Stir now with masher to assess thickness.

Showing rough mash of potatoes, butter, leeks & onions

Add in milk and cream. Start with a ½ cup measure of each and stir. Consider adding a bit more, if necessary, to achieve desired thickness. Stir to incorporate and turn heat back on low. Add all flaked fish meat into soup pot. Stir. Bring soup gently back up to heat – do NOT bring to a boil or scald the cream.

Taste a bit of the broth to adjust seasonings. You may want to add a bit more pepper. It’s unlikely you’ll need to add any salt, as the smoked fish releases a lot of salt, but adjust seasonings to suit your tastes. Serve in a deep bowl and garnish with fresh chives.

ALLERGENS: contains dairy and fish

ALLERGY ACCOMMODATIONS: To replace the dairy, you could try using margarine and coconut milk. The dish by definition is fish based, so it isn't “Cullen Skink” with any substitutions. However, having said that, a vegetarian potato leek soup could be enhanced with a smoky flavor if you incorporate smoked spices, like Paprika. Or you could experiment and change the recipe to an American chowder by trying other smoked meats, like a smoked turkey leg.