Cullen Skink (or Smoked Haddock Chowder)

We'll start with poaching the fish. Heat the milk in a shallow pan on medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns.
350 ml whole milk, 1 bay leaf, 6 black peppercorns
Add the fish and poach for only 5 minutes, this short cooking time will ensure that the fish will retain its full, smoky flavour. Reduce the heat if it's bubbling too much.
250 g undyed smoked haddock
At the end of 5 minutes, remove the fish immediately, set aside to keep warm and leave the milk as is to let the flavours of the bay and peppercorns infuse slightly more. Keep warm.
Heat 1 Tbsp of the butter in a saucepan on medium heat and sauté the leeks for 3 minutes, until soft.
2 Tbsp salted butter, 1 leek
Add the potatoes and stir for a minute to allow them to soak up that butter and leek flavour a little. However, we do not want the potatoes to brown or crisp up.
1 large potato
Strain the milk into the saucepan and bring back to simmering point, still on medium heat. Cook, uncovered, for about 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked, the time will depend on the size of your cut potatoes. Don't let the milk boil strongly, keep it at a simmer, lower the heat if you have to.
In the meantime, let's flake the fish into bitesized pieces, lose the skin.
When the potatoes are done, add the cream and mustard, stir and bring back to a gentle simmer.
100 ml single cream, ½ tsp non grainy mustard of your choice
Time to check seasoning. Add some salt, ½ tsp ought to do, but again, you have to do this bit to taste. Add a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper, it adds depth, as does the mustard.
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Turn the heat off, place half the soup into a blender and blitz to a puree. Pour back into the saucepan.
Add the flaked fish, mix, check seasoning again.
At this point, if you like, turn the heat back on again and very quickly, heat through.
Add the second Tbsp of butter and stir through. Again, this just adds depth to the flavour.
Sprinkle with chives (and more pepper?) and serve with lots of buttered toast and boiled or poached eggs.
1-2 tbsp of chopped fresh chives, 2 boiled or poached eggs to serve

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition