This weekend I’m focusing on a less-used but nonetheless delicious and sustainably sourced ingredient. When mentioning sustainable I’ll always caveat that by stating it’s up to us, as customers, to ask the question before buying. Smoked haddock has been produced in this part of the world for centuries. The Arbroath smokie is a Scottish delicacy, named after its birthplace, the village of Arbroath, just north of Dundee. Legend has it that a shed caught fire one evening, a shed filled with barrels of haddock cured in salt. The barrels were charred and heated to the point where they cooked the fish inside. Upon tasting the result, locals discovered it tasted even better than the simple salted version and so the smokie was born.
While smoking and salting meat and seafood was a vital method of preserving food before refrigeration, the recipes have resulted in some of our tastiest ingredients to this day. Think smoked haddock and salmon, cured meats and salamis, Jamon Iberico, aged cheese, kimchi and even butter. All born out of necessity as opposed to creativity.
Haddock is a beautiful delicate white fish, a member of the cod family with a slightly lower price point. These recipes rely on the naturally smoked examples, not the dyed orange versions that taste closer to a petrol station liquid than a delicacy. There are some great Irish producers of smoked haddock from Gannet Fishmongers in Galway to Ballyhack in Wexford and of course the queen of smoked seafood: Sally Barnes of the globally renowned Woodcock Smokery in west Cork. If you can get your hands on it, you’re in for a treat.
The first recipe keeps things very simple, a fishcake mix gently fried in breadcrumbs and topped with a spicy salsa roja and poached egg to cut through it all. Note the ratio of fish to potato in the mix, you want to be biting into chunks of seafood. This is a really delicious brunch idea if you want to up your game over the weekend or even enjoy a lighter dinner in the evening.
READ MORE
The second recipe is a nod to our aforementioned Arbroath smokie from Scotland. Cullen skink is a white soup based on smoked haddock and potatoes, thickened with some butter and flour in the base. It is hearty peasant food inspired by the Scottish coastal regions and has been made there for centuries. I’ve added some mustard and a poached egg to bulk it up. The resulting pale colour is rarely suggestive of a deep flavour lying beneath, but this dish bucks the trend.