Cullen Skink Soup
By Documenting My Dinner
This soup is a Scottish classic, creamy and comforting – the perfect winter warmer. Cullen skink originates from Cullen, a small town on the North coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This is a traditional version of the classic soup. We recommend serving your Cullen Skink with plenty of buttered bread to mop up all the soup from the bowl!
Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 1 Smoked haddock loin or 2 large fillets
- 1 Onion or shallot finely chopped
- 2 Baby leeks or one leek finely chopped
- 1/2 Celery stick finely chopped
- 1 Garlic clove crushed
- 3 Medium potatoes diced into cubes
- 200 ml milk
- 350 ml vegetable stock or use fish stock
- 100 ml double cream
- Salt and white pepper
- Chopped tarragon or parsley, to serve optional
- Butter
Method
- In a small frying pan, add the haddock and the milk. Bring to the boil, turn off the heat and cover. Allow to sit off the heat.
- In another saucepan, fry the onion, celery, leek and garlic over a low heat in a tablespoon of butter for 10 minutes or until really soft but not coloured.
- Add the cubed potatoes and stir through.
- Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
- Using a potato masher, crush some of the potato just to thicken the soup a bit.
- Pour the milk and the fish into the pan and stir, flaking the fish.
- Pour the double cream in and simmer for a couple of minutes.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper. Serve the Cullen Skink in deep bowls with a little chopped tarragon or parsley and with plenty of buttered bread.
Tips
- Other herbs such as parsley, chives or dill would work well. Leave out the herbs completely if you don’t have any.
- Use a mixture of smoked haddock and smoked salmon for something a little different.
- Serve the soup with plenty of buttered bread.
- Top the soup with a poached egg for something extra.
- If you have any leftover mashed potatoes, they can be used instead of the cubed potatoes in this recipe.
- The soup is usually quite chunky with a thin broth. If you want a smooth soup, blitz it with a hand blender.
About Your Smoked Haddock
Scottish Smoked Haddock is a delicacy.
Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) is a versatile white fish with mild flavour, ideal for frying, baking, poaching, or using in fish pie or soups.
It’s flaky constitution means it is a great fish for deep frying and so it is one of the most popular choices for a fish supper.
Our North Sea Haddock is responsibly sourced, meaning it is sustainable and traceable. It is processed and smoked using generations of artisan smoking skills. Stocks are available all year round but choosing Amity means we will be able to source and deliver to you the best quality of Scottish haddock available at any time of year.
This delicious fish is caught in the pristine, icy cold waters of the North Sea, before being processed, vacuum packed and shipped from our shore to your door. Each meaty fillet is skinless and boneless and a pack is 300-350g target weight. Fresh of frozen fillets are available.
This white fish forms one of your recommended 2 portions of seafood per week as per the NHS guidelines. Go here to find out more about the benefits of including seafood in your diet in our blog: The Benefits of Eating Fish.
You might like: Scottish Smoked Haddock Offcuts
About Documenting My Dinner
Long time customer and Amity contributor Documenting My Dinner, aka Kerry Milne, is an Aberdeen-based food blogger with a passion for cooking from scratch and encouraging others to do the same Always keen to use local produce in her cooking and dabble with unusual ingredients, Kerry juggles her food blog and Instagram @documenting_my_dinner with her full time job as a solicitor. We love Kerry's passion for local produce and amazing dishes.
