Scottish Cullen Skink

This is a rich and hearty cream based potato soup with smoked fish from Scotland. I came across this while I was looking for different seafood based soups to make. It's a Scottish classic, named after Cullen, a town off the Moray Coast in north eastern Scotland. The main flavor and ingredient is smoked haddock, though you can substitute different fish if needed. I wasn't able to get haddock, so I used cod for this as it's fairly similar in flavor and texture. I also used golden potatoes, white onions, and I added a splash of cream sherry as well. Originally the soup was made from a lambs neck broth, but I chose to use chicken stock as the base with the addition of cream. Lastly, I added green peas for flavor and color to finish the soup. The final product was a rich fish chowder style soup with smoky undertones and a pleasant sweetness to it.

I finished each bowl with green peas, as opposed to adding them to the base soup, so that the flavor and texture of the peas are ruined. Additionally I added garlic croutons (minus the pancetta) and finished each bowl with some picked parsley and chopped chives.

You can swap out the fish for a different one, but you want to make sure you use a smoked fish as that's the primary flavor. As with most soups, feel free to change it to your flavors, but to keep it a more traditional version, you should have the fish, potatoes, and cream.

Enjoy.

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Ingredients

• Cod, or other flaky white fish 2 lb

• Potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 lb

• Avenue Spice 2 T

• White Onions, diced 2 ea

• Cream 1 cup

• Milk 1 qt

• Chicken Stock 2 qt

• Crushed Red Pepper 2 tsp

• Cream Sherry 3 oz

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2 T

• Garlic, minced 4 cloves

• Water 1 qt

• Peas 2 oz per bowl

• Salt to taste

• Pepper to taste

Garnish

Croutons, chives, and parsley

Method of Procedure

1. Either purchase or use a smoker to smoke your white fish. I made a smoker during COVID and for this I set the smoker up then short smoked the cod for about 30 minutes just to get the flavor in. Afterwords I wrapped the fish in plastic wrap and let the smoke fully infuse into the fish.

2. Start the soup by sauteing your garlic, and onions in your extra virgin olive oil with your crp and Avenue Spice.

3. Once the onions and garlic have softened and began to color add your cream sherry and cook down until almost dry (sec)

4. Add your stock, milk, cream, and water then bring to a boil.

5. Blanch your smoked fish off quickly to help infuse the liquid with the smoked flavor and to make it easier to flake the fish into the soup later.

6. Once you've removed the fish, add your potatoes and simmer until tender.

7. Puree the soup then flake your cooled fish off into the soup.

8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

9. To serve heat up 8 oz of soup and add peas to each soup. Cook until the peas are tender.

10. Garnish with herbs and croutons.