Fish Soup Recipe
Cullen Skink
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This is a lovely fish soup recipe - Cullen Skink. Traditionally from Scotland, it's a smoked haddock soup thickened with mashed potato. 'Cullen' is the port district of a town and 'skink' means stock or broth.
It's a delicious thick and creamy fish soup and makes a substantial meal.
Absolutely delicious...
It's traditional to make it with smoked haddock, but you could use any smoked white fish you like - treat it in the same way.
This is such an easy soup - it's perfect for beginners as you've no messing around with making roux or other thickeners.
The potato is the thickener and it works so well - it's lovely and creamy and makes a really substantial meal.
Mashing potato into stock is a great way of thickening any soup that doesn't need to be clear - I use it all the time to make vegetable soups such as broccoli or cauliflower - beats messing around and makes a soup more of a meal.
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Cook's Notes - Bouquet garni A bouquet garni is a bundle of herbs and literally means 'garnished bouquet' in French. You can buy them tied or wrapped in cheesecloth and some companies sell them in little bags like tea bags. A traditional combination is parsley, thyme and bay and some people do make them by tying a sprig of each into a bundle and dropping them into their cooking. If you have these herbs individually in your cupboard, then just a pinch of one, two or all three of them would be fine - you really don't need to go to elaborate lengths to source a bouquet garni. If you use a bay leaf, then remove it from the stock prior to making the soup, if you use other dried herbs, then they are okay to stay in the stock. Don't make life hard for yourself - it's not necessary to use any or all of these :-) |
Cullen Skink
12 oz (350g) smoked haddock
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 Cups (1 1/2 pints - 900ml) water
1 1/4 lbs (500g) peeled potatoes
2 Cups (1 pint/600ml) milk
1/2 stick (2 oz/50g) butter
fresh ground black pepper
chopped parsley to serve
bouquet garni - see notes above
Put the haddock, bouquet garni, onion and water into a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer covered for about 10 minutes. Scum will rise to the surface, so check occasionally and skim.
You skim by taking a slotted spoon and removing the frothy bits that rise to the top of the simmering liquid - just put it in your kitchen sink and run the hot tap over it - a squirt of bleach whilst you're running the hot tap will take the smell away.
Remove the haddock from the pan with a slotted spoon or fish slice, then bone, skin and flake it and put the flesh to one side - don't pour the cooking liquid away, it's the stock, the base of your soup. The haddock should flake easily at this stage and then you will know it's cooked.
Return the bone and skin to the stock, simmer for about 30 minutes then strain the liquid into a bowl or another pan.
Do this through a very fine sieve or a muslin cloth to make sure you get rid of all the bones - you don't want any in the finished soup.
Return the stock in the pan to the heat.
Add the quartered potatoes to this stock and boil for about 25 minutes until they're soft enough to mash.
Remove the potatoes into a bowl and mash them smoothly with the butter. You can leave them 'rough and rustic' or cream them - up to you as to how you want your finished soup, with chunky bits of potato or smooth and creamy.
Add the milk to the pan and bring to the boil - then whisk in the potatoes until the soup is thick and creamy.
Return the pan to the heat, stir in the flaked fish and when it's piping hot, serve with crusty bread and butter.
You could garnish it with a little chopped fresh parsley if you like.
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Cook's Notes A little tip - use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked fish and reserve the stock. I've had an email from a person who I promised not to name, saying that she'd strained the fish out through a sieve and let the stock run down the sink... what a mistake to make :-( make sure you have something underneath the sieve (not the kitchen sink!) to catch the stock. |
Fish Soup Recipe - more ideas to try
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Cullen Skink
By Liz Alderson, Mar 30, 2016
This Cullen Skink is a lovely fish soup recipe - traditionally from the North of England. It's a smoked haddock soup thickened with mashed potato.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 65 minutes
Yield: 2
Main Ingredient: smoked haddock, potatoes