Chippies in Scotland, fish ’oles in Yorkshire, fish shops in London: there are few food marriages that have produced as many offspring as the union of fish and chip. Its origins, however, begin in London, when cold fried fish was sold in the streets by itinerant sellers. Coated in flour batter, dusted with salt, the fish was a popular filler, with a chunk of bread, in the deprived, gin-drinking London of Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
The fish catch had been divided by quality and freshness. The best, and freshest, went to the rich and the remainder to the poor. Some inevitably ended up in the ‘fish warehouse’ where salt and batter disguised its less-than-perfect aspects. Large pans of smoking fat in the warehouse did the rest.
Meanwhile, the square, finger-length plug of potato, also fried in deep fat, began its life in a higher social class when it migrated from France. It was originally a novel potato form, adopted along with many other French dishes and styles of eating, the chip was known as potatoes ‘a la mode’. How this classy potato migrated to the streets is not clear, but by the late nineteenth century it had become popular, quickly cooked and served up in a comfortingly warm, hand-held bag.
Though the marriage of fish and chips undoubtedly took place in England, Scotland can claim one of the first poke o’ chips street-sellers: a Belgian, Eduard de Gernier, who began selling chips with a saucer of peas (known as a ‘buster’) from his stall in Dundee’s Greenmarket in the late nineteenth century. Trade in the streets flourished. Itinerant Italian ice cream sellers began selling chips in the streets during the winter months and later opened shops with large deep fat fryers, selling both fish and chips. It was the chip, however, which had come first – hence ‘chippies’ in Scotland, fish ’oles in Yorkshire…
While pickled eggs and onions – to cut the fat – became universally popular accompaniments, an East-West divide grew up on the matter of condiments. The West going for a salt and vinegar dousing, while the East choose a generous dollop of spicy brown sauce.
The pair of legal wits – not quite drunk yet not quite sober – make their way down Fish Market Close in Edinburgh’s Old Town (Auld Reekie). It is the mid-eighteenth century and several decades before the New Town is built. For the moment, a homogeneous mix of people from all social classes live, work and socialise in the tenement lands between the castle and the Palace of Holyrood.
Autumn nights are closing in. An ‘r’ is back in the month, so oysters are back on the menu as the two revellers dive into their favourite oyster tavern for a night’s entertainment. Besides oysters, there is singing and dancing as night deepens the sociability. The company includes the literati and their publishers, as well as parties of well-bred women, advocates and judges, all happily mixing for a night’s ‘oyster ploy’ with gutsy fishwives and lively street traders.
Fresh from the Forth, the large opened ‘natives’ are piled – by the hundred – on round wooden boards. It is the essence of simple hospitality: chairs and tables in a plain room with an open coal fire in an iron grate. There is no idle ornament or decoration, but clusters of tallow candles for light, shelves on the walls are for spent bottles and hooks for pewter drinking vessels. Cruets of pepper and vinegar are placed on the table along with plates of buttered bread.
Most of the company drink drams of gin with their oysters, sometimes also ale. In every oyster tavern, several thousand oysters a week slip down Old Edinburgh throats. Tonight, once everyone has had their fill, tables are cleared and the fiddler sets up a tune for some energetic reels. Fishwives sing rhythmic sea songs, while genteel ladies sing popular Lowland love songs. And before everyone leaves for the cold walk home, there are warming cupfuls from the landlord’s bowl of hot punch.
It’s an Old Edinburgh which has been recorded in many ways by social historians, poets and novelists – Burns and Scott in particular. But it is the poet Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), who Burns described as ‘by far my elder brother’ who catches the spirit of the eighteenth-century oyster eaters better than anyone in his poem ‘Caller Oysters’:
Auld Reekie’s sons blyth faces wear
September’s merry month is near,
That brings in Neptune’s caller chere,
New oysters fresh;
The halesomest and nicest gear
Of fish or flesh.
What big as burns the
gutters rin,
Gin ye hae catcht a droukit skin,
To Luckie Middlemist’s loup in,
And sit fu snug
O’er oysters and a dram o’ gin
Or haddock lug.
The summer shielings in the hills are gone, and with them most of the cattle that provided butter and cheese. Even the game and salmon, which were one of their perks, now belong to the sportsmen-landowners. What limited land these late-nineteenth-century Highland crofters have, is used for growing potatoes and perhaps a field of oats, while there is, of course, always the herring.
Nets are cast as the annual shoals arrive in the loch and everyone has a welcome feed of fresh fish. The remaining fish are gutted, and placed in layers with salt in a wooden barrel. Each family has its barrel of salt herring in the byre which will see them through the winter. Known as ‘pickled herring’, they are used as a piquant flavouring for bland potatoes, usually soaked in water to remove some of the excess salt before cooking.
Though tatties and salt herring is their favourite warming winter meal, it’s the first fresh herrin’ of the season which is the special summer treat – with tatties of course. For the family dinner, the huge pot of potatoes is cooked over the open peat fire. Now and again, it is checked. And just when the potatoes soften, it is snatched from the fire. Water is poured off, and the pot returned to the fire. But this time the chain is shortened by a link or two so that the waterless pot is now a little further from the heat. On top of the steaming potatoes are laid, side by side, half a dozen large, plump, silvery-scaled herring, ready gutted.
To keep the steam from escaping, a kitchen towel is placed over the pot and the lid is fitted on tightly so that over the next quarter of an hour or so, the fresh herrings steam gently in the heat from the potatoes. When ready, the pot is lifted onto a low stool in the middle of the room. Then the family gathers round and the lid and cloth are removed.
‘And the room was instantly filled with a savoury steam that made one’s mouth water merely to inhale it,’ says Alexander Stewart in Nether Lochaber (1883).
‘Occupying each a low chair, we were invited to fall to, to eat without knife, or fork, or trencher, just with our fingers out of the pot as it stood. It was a little startling, but only for a moment. After a word of grace we dipped our hand into the pot and took out a potato, hot and mealy, and with another we took a nip out of the herring nearest us. It was a mouthful for a king!’
Arbroath Smokies: It was the fisherwomen of Auchmithie who first put whisky barrels into the ground, on flat areas of the cliff face, to smoke and preserve their surplus haddock. Cooking them in the hot smoke from a fire in the barrel, the fish took on a rich dark copper colour while inside, the flesh was creamy white with mellow overtones of salt and smoke.
‘With the setting sun,’ wrote one villager of the early smoking days, ‘the boats come home, and in the back houses the lamps are lit. Up the brae come the creels 22 of fish, and soon every woman and child is gutting, cleaning and salting. Little sticks of wood are stuck into the haddocks’ gills. And two by two, tied tail to tail, they are hung on wooden spits.’
As the fishing fleet grew, the families of Norse descent who had invented the cure, moved to nearby Arbroath where there was a larger harbour. And instead of barrels on the cliff, the fisher people built square pits in their back yards continuing to call them ‘barrels’. This method is still used, despite the invention of computerised smoking kilns.
Crab: Also known in the Scottish dialect as a ‘partan’, it has a reddish, pink-brown shell and legs tinted with purple while its claws black. The brownish liver meat is strongly flavoured, but the white meat from the claws is more delicate than a lobster. The crab was a common item of food for coastal communities, eking out a living from a meagre environment. More easily caught under rocks as the tide went out than lobster, it became more integrated into the diet especially as a distinctive flavouring for broths (see Partan Bree p18).
Finnan Haddock: (see also Cullen Skink p16) This is a North-East cure and takes its name from the fishing village of Findon, south of Aberdeen. It first became popular nationwide in the nineteenth century as a breakfast dish. ‘A good breakfast, as usual,’ says Robert Southey in his Journal of a Tour of Scotland in 1819, ‘with Findon Haddocks, eggs, sweetmeats and honey.’ A whole haddock has its head removed but the bone left in. It is split open, brined and smoked to a pale straw colour with no artificial colouring. The Aberdeen fillet, a relative of the finnan, is also undyed but has its bone removed. ‘Painted ladies’ or ‘yellow fillets’ are dyed, lightly brined, lightly smoked, skinless small haddocks or whitings and should not be used as a substitute for finnans.
Kipper (Scottish cure): Though the ‘kippered’ herring was first developed in Northumberland in the 1840s, the Scots have been kippering salmon since the fifteenth century. Kippering herring in Scotland is mainly concentrated around the West-coast fishing grounds where plump herring from the Minch and Loch Fyne have had a long history. Mallaig, and Loch Fyne, kippers have become established among the best cures. It was during World War I that smoking times were reduced and the kippers coloured with a coal-tar dye known as Brown FK (for kippers). Many independent smokers, in recent years, meet the growing demand for undyed kippers supporting the move against needless use of possibly harmful chemicals.
Lobster: While crab was eaten frequently by the fishing communities, lobster became a more valuable export as fishermen recognised its status as a gourmet item. Creel fishing for lobsters began in the late nineteenth century as special boats were constructed to hold the live lobsters during their journey to the lucrative London market. Because of its high market value, lobster was not eaten widely in Scotland. Today, however, as the move to use more local produce in its local setting gathers momentum, more Scottish lobsters are finding their way onto Scottish tables. Carapace length can be up to 45cm; but it’s illegal to land lobsters with a carapace length of under 85mm.
Mussel: As part of the general foraging for food, the dark blue-black common mussel was widely eaten, either as a broth, or as street food sold by itinerant fishwives selling shelled mussels in saucers with condiments. Today, those on sale are mostly cultivated commercially on ropes.
Oyster: Though they were eaten with great relish during the heyday of the Oyster Cellars of the Georgian and Victorian period (see Oysters and a Dram o’ Gin p20), by the mid-twentieth century, pollution and over-fishing caused the almost total decline of the native oyster beds. It is only in the last 30 years or so that the oyster tradition has been revived. Native oysters, ‘natives’, are fan-shaped, almost circular with one half of the shell flat and the other cupped. Pacific oysters are more deeply cupped, have a rougher shell and are more elongated than round. Their flavour depends on the feeding and varies from loch to loch. All Scottish oysters have a Grade A rating, meaning that they have not required purifying by passing through purifications tanks before sale. Most of today’s oysters are of the Pacific species (Crassostrea gigas) which can be eaten all year round since they do not retain their eggs. ‘Natives’ (Crassostrea edulis), however, do retain their eggs and should only be eaten during months with an ‘r’ in them – September to April. Flavour will vary according to different feeding in different lochs.
Salmon: Early catches of salmon on the Tay, Spey, Tweed, Don and Dee produced large quantities that were eaten fresh in summer and kippered (smoked and dried) in winter. So common was the fish, that it became a cheap dinner for the working man. But as it became less plentiful, Scottish salmon became established for its quality as a premier gourmet fish. During the latter part of the twentieth century, however, over-fishing and other factors, possibly connected with pollution from fish farms, led to the decline in wild salmon and the rise of the farmed salmon, not all of which has achieved the quality tag. Over-fed, under-exercised farmed salmon have a flabby, oily flesh but the leaner, better exercised farmed salmon is a more attractive option.
Salt Herring: The first recorded use of the word ‘herring’ – from the Germanic ‘heer’ meaning an army – occurs in the eighth century. Giant shoals of herring brought prosperity to coastal communities. Armies of fisherwomen followed the herring from port to port, gutting and salting each year’s catch which was packed, by the million, in barrels and sold mostly to Russia and the Baltic countries. Throughout most of the nineteenth century this was a major Scottish cure. Today, they remain a speciality cure, particularly in coastal districts where there has been a strong fishing tradition. The herring is not filleted but the gut is removed and the head left on. It’s cured by layering with salt in tubs or barrels and most popularly eaten with potatoes in ‘Tatties an’ Salt Herring’ (see p28).
Scallop: The Great or King scallop has a flat bottom shell and a concave upper shell with a creamy white muscle and an orange roe. Also caught in Scottish waters is the Queen scallop which is smaller than the King with both shells concave. The Princess scallop is an immature Queen which is about the size of a large mussel. They all have a distinctive and subtle sea-flavour from rich feeding in unpolluted waters. The dredged and dived scallop industry did not develop until the 1950s and 60s when divers began harvesting from native beds. In recent years more and more farmed scallop beds have been developed with some areas protected by a Several Fishery Order giving them legal protection. Their flavour is best when the scallop is newly opened. To buy ‘shucked’ (removed from the shell) it’s important that they have not been steeped in water with any preservation additives, as this will result in their natural flavour being lost quickly.
Smoked Eel: A cure which has made a name for itself in recent years as the abundant supply of common eels in some rivers has been utilised by smokers. On the River Tweed, the Salmon Fishers Association have given the eel fishing rights to a trusted local smoker. The eels are caught in nets in the autumn as they return to the sea after feeding. They are starved in the river for two weeks, then immersed in brine and cold-smoked over oak chips for six to seven hours. They are then finished over hot smoke for a few hours which cooks them through.
Smoked Salmon: A strong tradition of smoking salmon developed over many centuries in Scotland as a means of preserving surplus catches. All those living near salmon rivers were adept at smoking, and developed their own cures, which accounts for the variety of Scottish salmon cures today. The most common method is to lay the salmon fillets on trays, layered in salt where they are left for 12-14 hours. Added flavouring ingredients may include juniper berries, herbs, molasses, rum or whisky. Fillets are then washed and dried overnight before smoking, usually over oak chips, but some curers use other flavourings including peat. Distinction must be made between the best quality wild salmon smoked, without added flavourings, and farmed salmon, of dubious quality, which has had many flavourings added. All smoked salmon,’ as one food critic in the New York Times once said, ‘is not created equal. Most aficionados, however, give the nod to smoked Scotch salmon as the best. It is, as a rule, the least oily, the most subtly flavoured, has the firmest and most pleasing texture and the least amount of salt.’
Cook’s Tip: For a special occasion a hard butter can be made with 125g (4oz) softened butter mixed with 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley and 3 tablespoons Drambuie. Wrapped in clingfilm and foil and shaped into a cylinder, it should be left to harden in the fridge before cutting and slicing on top of the fried fish. It can be cut into slices and deep frozen.
Yield: 4
2 tablespoons oil or 25g (1oz) butter
2 heaped tablespoons medium oatmeal, lightly toasted
Salt and pepper
4 fresh herring, filleted
TO FRY FILLETED HERRING or MACKEREL: Heat the oil or butter in a large frying pan. Mix the seasonings into the oatmeal on a large plate and spread out. Press the wet fish into it, coating both sides – it is not necessary to moisten the fish with anything since it should be moist enough. Shake off excess oatmeal. When the oil or butter is hot, place the fish flesh-side down into the pan and cook for two to three minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn and cook on skin side for another two to three minutes. Serve immediately with mustard or hard butter.
Cook’s Tip: This works best with herring in the spring before they spawn, when they are at their fattest.
Yield: 6
6 herring fillets
1 level teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
12 peppercorns
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 cayenne pepper
25g (1oz) butter
300ml (10fl oz) cider vinegar
150ml (5fl oz) water
Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C/Gas 7.
PREPARING THE FISH: Season the fish with salt and pepper. Roll up from head to tail, skin side out. In a large casserole pack together tightly so they hold their shape with tails sticking up. Cover with spices and seasonings. Add butter in pieces. Pour over vinegar and water so the herring is just covered.
COOKING: Put into the hot oven for about 30 minutes, then reduce to 250°F/130°C/Gas ½ and cook for another hour. Leave in liquor till cold. Serve with a tossed green salad.
Cook’s Tip: Though it’s possible to cook the fish on top of the potatoes – some say this makes the best tasting potatoes – cooking separately allows better control over fish and potatoes. Especially the fickle floury potatoes, that must be drained as soon as they are soft, or they will burst before you know it and turn to ‘soup’.
Yield: 4
4 salt herring
1kg (2lb 4oz) floury potatoes (Golden Wonder or Kerr’s Pinks), washed
Salt
PREPARING AND COOKING: Wash fish and soak overnight in cold water. Rinse. Place the potatoes in a large pot. Season with salt and almost cover with water, then bring to the boil. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer gently till the potatoes are just cooked. Put the fish into another pot and simmer till the flesh is just soft.
SERVING: Lift out the fish and place on heated serving plates. Drain the remaining water and dry off the potatoes by returning to the heat for a few minutes. Serve the potatoes whole, in their skins, in a large serving dish with butter. (It’s traditional to eat with fingers rather than knives and forks.)
Cook’s Tip:‘Jugging’ a kipper prevents kipper aromas invading the house. It’s also more gentle and preserves fish flavour better.
1 whole undyed kipper
Boiling water
1 lemon
TO ‘JUG’: Place the kipper in a large baking dish. Pour over boiling water. Cover with foil and leave for ten minutes in a warm place. Pour off water and serve kipper with lemon and hot toast.
1 whole, undyed kipper
1 lemon
TO GRILL: Pre-heat grill. Protect grill pan with foil and place kipper on top, flesh side up. Grill for about five minutes depending on the thickness of the kipper. Test at the thickest part to see that it is cooked. Serve with lemon and hot toast.
Cook’s Tip: For a special occasion a hard butter can be made with 125g (4oz) softened butter mixed with two teaspoons lemon juice, one tablespoon chopped parsley and three tablespoons Drambuie. Wrapped in clingfilm and foil and shaped into a cylinder, it should be left to harden in the fridge before cutting and slicing on top of the fried fish. It can be cut into slices and deep frozen.
Yield: 4
4 × 250g (9oz) whole mackerel, herring or trout
2-3 tablespoons medium oatmeal
Salt and pepper
50g (2oz) butter
Serve with: mustard, or hard butter (see recipe in Cook’s Tip) and baked potatoes
PREPARING FISH: Wash and clean the fish. Salt the inside lightly, then slash the skin diagonally at the thickest part: this opens up the flesh and allows it to cook more evenly. Mix the seasonings through the oatmeal and press the fish on both sides into the oatmeal.
GRILLING: Heat the grill. Protect the grill pan with foil and lay the fish on top. Put pats of butter on top of the fish. Cook on each side for five to six minutes depending on thickness. Test by opening with a sharp knife at the thickest part: if the flesh nearest the bone still looks opaque, leave for another few minutes.
SERVING: Serve with baked potatoes, mustard or hard butter. It’s traditional to serve mackerel with a gooseberry sauce.
Cook’s Tip: This recipe can be used as a basic for other smoked fish such as smokies, smoked salmon and kippers (jugged first).
Yield: 4-6
275g (10oz) smoked mackerel, skinned and boned
150g (5oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 lemon, juice of
Salt and pepper
BLENDING: Put the smoked mackerel, butter and garlic into a food processor (or beat by hand for a coarser texture) and blend till smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add lemon juice to taste. Pack into an earthenware pot. Serve with hot toast.
Cook’s Tip: This works best with a middle cut of even thickness, as with a tail cut, the end will be overcooked when the thicker part is still underdone.
Yield: 4
800g (1lb 12oz) cut of salmon, on the bone
50g (2oz) butter, softened
Salt and pepper
2-3 sprigs dill
Preheat the oven to 300°F/275°C/Gas 2.
PREPARING THE FISH: Place two sheets of foil on a baking tray. The foil should be large enough to wrap the fish with some room to spare. Butter the foil and place the fish on top. Season lightly with salt in the cavity and fill with dill. Spread remaining butter on top and sides of fish. Wrap up in foil, leaving space above the fish. There should be some room for the fish to steam.
BAKING AND SERVING: Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave in its foil for 10 minutes if serving hot (leave till cold if serving cold). Open up foil and remove skin from fish. Serve on a heated ashet (preferably blue and white). Strain cooking juices on top and decorate with more dill. Serve with boiled new potatoes tossed with butter and chives.
SERVING COLD: Open up foil and remove skin from the fish. Place on a blue and white ashet, garnish with thinly sliced cucumber, wedges of lemon and chopped dill. Serve with mayonnaise.
Cook’s Tip: It is a pity to lose the rich flavouring (and useful vitamins including phosphorous) in the fish skin if it’s discarded. This method turns it into a crisp delicacy.
Yield: 4
4 × 150g (5oz) salmon fillets, skin left on
Sea salt
125g (4½ oz) rocket leaves, or mixed with other salad herbs
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
1kg (2lb 4oz) Scottish new potatoes
25g (1oz) butter
1 tablespoon chopped chives
PREPARING and FRYING: Heat a heavy-base frying pan and when fairly hot, but not burning, put in the fillets, skin side down. They will stick at first, but gradually the oil in the skin will release the fish. Cook for two to four minutes on either side depending on the thickness of the fish. Open up with a sharp knife through the thickest part to check if cooked through. If still a little opaque leave for another minute. Do not overcook or the fish will be dry.
SERVING: Place salmon on heated plates, season with freshly ground black pepper and serve with rocket salad or mixed green salad tossed with oil and vinegar and boiled new potatoes tossed in butter and chives.
Sit at a Japanese tempura bar and your fish sizzles in the oil while you wait for it to be served the minute it’s cooked. The secret of perfect frying is instant serving, so serve chips first when they‘re ready and follow with the fish. The best chips are made with low moisture, traditional Scottish floury potatoes. East-coasters like to season chips with brown sauce while West-coasters prefer salt and vinegar.
Yield: 4
1kg (2lb 4oz) floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large chips (suitable potatoes: Golden Wonder, Kerr’s Pinks, Maris Piper or Record)
Light batter:
1 egg yolk
250ml (8fl oz) bottled, carbonated water, chilled
75g (3oz) fine, plain white flour (low gluten if possible)
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
4 × 175g (6oz) fillets of white fish
Salt and vinegar (West Coast seasoning)
Brown sauce (East Coast seasoning)
Preheat a pan of oil for deep frying to 375°F/190°C. To test for correct temperature, drop in a chip which should sizzle vigorously.
BLANCHING THE CHIPS: Dry the chips well in a tea towel and test oil for correct temperature. Add chips, lowering the basket gradually. Toss for the first few minutes and continue to toss every so often. When they are browned and soft, remove. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately. Reheat oil to the original temperature.
MAKING BATTER AND COOKING FISH: Put the egg into a bowl and add about three-quarters of the water. Sift the flour and soda on top and whisk in. The consistency should just coat the back of a wooden spoon. Add more water if it is too thick. As soon as it’s mixed, dip in the fish. Coat well. Allow to drain off excess. Drop into hot oil. Fry on both sides for about five minutes until the fish rise to the surface of the oil and are golden brown. They should now be ready. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Serve.
SERVING: Serve with salt and vinegar – West Coast. Brown Sauce – East Coast. Additional accompaniments include: pickled onions, pickled eggs and tomato ketchup.
A speciality of the But ’n’ Ben in Auchmithie (original home of the smokie) where a Buttered Smokie High Tea comes with bread and butter, a pot of tea and a choice of scones, tea breads, cakes and clootie dumpling from the cake stand.
Yield: 4
4 Arbroath smokies
50g (2oz) unsalted butter, softened
Freshly ground black pepper
Serve with: bread and butter for tea
Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas 4.
PREPARING AND HEATING SMOKIES: Carefully open up the fish and remove the bone. Lay fish flat, flesh side up and spread evenly with butter. Cover with foil and put in the oven for 10-15 minutes until heated through.
SERVING: Serve with a grinding of black pepper and bread and butter for tea.
A popular High Tea item in the Glasgow tea-rooms of the early nineteenth century created by Miss Kate Cranston and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Like Buttered Smokies at the But ’n’ Ben, it was served with bread and butter, a pot of tea and, of course, goodies from the cake stand.
Yield: 4
750g (1lb 10oz) finnan haddock fillets*
250ml (8fl oz) single cream
4 lightly poached eggs
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas 4.
PREPARING AND COOKING FISH: Cut the fish into portion sizes, place skin side down in a baking dish and add cream. Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes till the fish is cooked. Remove from the oven after ten minutes and shake the dish gently to re-coat the fish with cream.
SERVING: Place the fish on a heated serving dish. Place poached egg on top and pour over cream. Serve with bread and butter for tea or with mashed potatoes for dinner.
*Dyed ‘yellow’ fillets are not suitable
An Anglo-Indian invention that first became popular on Edwardian breakfast tables.
Yield: 4
1 Arbroath smokie (or other smoked, cooked fish)
2 hardboiled eggs
50g (2oz) unsalted butter
125g (4oz) boiled long grain rice
Salt and pepper
1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley
For serving: Hot buttered toast
PREPARING THE FISH AND EGGS: Put the fish in a baking dish and pour over boiling water. Leave for a few minutes, remove and cool. Peel off skin and remove bones. Remove the yolks from the eggs and chop the whites finely.
MIXING AND HEATING: Put the butter into a pan and melt. Add the rice and mix through. Add the fish and hardboiled egg whites and heat through gently. Taste for seasoning and mix in chopped parsley.
FINISHING AND SERVING: When steaming hot, pile into a heated ashet. Sieve over the yolks of egg and serve with hot buttered toast.
Cook’s Tip: For a simpler version, the potatoes in the topping can be omitted and the top finished with the grated cheddar and breadcrumbs.
Yield: 4
350g (12oz) fresh white fish, filleted (cod, haddock whiting, ling, sole)
250ml (8fl oz) milk
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
Salt and pepper
2 eggs, hardboiled and sliced
3 large tomatoes, skinned and sliced thinly
For the sauce:
25g (1oz) flour
25g (1oz) butter
For the potato topping:
750g (1lb 10oz) potatoes, skinned, boiled and mashed
50g (2oz) mature cheddar, grated
25g (1oz) butter
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 × 1.4L (2½ pt) pie dish
COOKING FISH: Put the fish into a pan with the milk, shallots and seasoning. Cover and simmer very gently for about five minutes till the fish is cooked. Strain (keeping the liquid). Cool.
MAKING SAUCE: Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Stir for a few minutes over a gentle heat without colouring. Then add the strained cooking liquor, gradually, stirring all the time. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add fish and shallots and mix in lightly to flake the fish. Adjust consistency with more milk if it is too thick.
FINISHING AND SERVING: Place a layer of half the fish mixture in the pie dish. Cover with the hard boiled eggs, then the tomatoes and finally cover with the remaining fish mixture. Level the surface. Heat up the potatoes and beat in the butter and cheese. Taste for seasoning. Spread on top of fish and finish with a layer of breadcrumbs. Brown under the grill. May be kept hot in a low oven.
This is a version – based on the French brandade de morue – of Scots ‘hairy tatties’; cooked salt white fish beaten through mashed potatoes.
Yield: 8 as a starter
1kg (2lb) salt fish (cod, ling etc)
Water and milk to cover
2 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
4 large baking potatoes 250ml (9fl oz) light olive oil
5 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Lemon juice to taste
White pepper
PREPARING FISH: Cut fish into even-sized pieces and soak for 24 hours. Discard the water. Put into a pan with half water, half milk to cover. Add thyme and bay leaves. Cover and simmer until the fish is tender and falling off the bones easily. Time will depend on the size and age of the fish.
BAKING POTATOES: Rub the potatoes with oil and pierce the skins. Bake until soft. Scoop out the insides and mash until smooth. Reserve potato shells.
FINISHING THE DISH: Strain the cooked fish, reserving the liquid. Remove the bones and skin from the fish, flake and mash finely. This may be done in a blender for the finest finished texture. Heat the oil in a pan. Crush the garlic. Pour the hot oil gradually into the fish, beating between each addition – or blending if it is done in a blender. When all the oil has been incorporated, remove from the blender and mix through the garlic and parsley then the mashed potatoes. Add cooking liquid to make a consistency of thick cream. Add lemon juice and pepper. Pile into potato shells and serve, alone or with hot buttered toast.
Cook’s Tip: The water that the crab is cooked in must be as salty as the sea which prevents any of the crab’s flavour being lost by leaching into the cooking water.
Yield: 4
Water
4 medium-sized live crabs
2 tablespoons salt
25g (1oz) butter softened
Salt and pepper
1 lemon
Serve with bread and butter
BOILING THE CRABS: Fill a large pan with water, add salt, and bring to the boil. Put in live crabs one at a time, allowing the water to return to the boil. Boil each crab for about 15 minutes (allow 15 minutes for first 500g (1lb 2oz) plus five minutes per further 500g). Remove and leave to cool.
EXTRACTING THE CRAB MEAT: Remove the claws and legs close to the body shell. Crack the shell of each claw with a wooden mallet without damaging the flesh. Pick out the flesh with a shellfish pick or a skewer. Crack the legs at the joints and pick out the meat or crack open with a mallet. To open the crab, pull off the tail flap and discard. Hold the crab in both hands with two thumbs hard against the base at the bottom of the tail flap and press hard. The whole central part should come out. If it does not, loosen with a knife round where the legs were attached and press again. Pull the central part free and remove the elongated gills (dead men’s fingers) along the edges and discard. Cut down the middle and use a skewer to pick out the flesh from the many crevices on both sides. With a teaspoon, scoop out the meat from inside the shell and reserve it. Remove and discard the small stomach sac which is just behind the crab’s mouth. To open out the shell, press round the outer edge where there is a weak line: it should break cleanly. Wash the shell well.
SERVING: Mix the brown body meat with the meat from the legs and centre part of the shell. Beat in butter, season and return to the shell, packing into either side, leaving a space in the middle for the claw meat. Serve with crusty bread, unsalted butter and wedges of lemon.
Cook’s Tip: The water the lobster is cooked in must be as salty as the sea which prevents any of the lobster’s flavour being lost by leaching into the cooking water.
Yield: 4
2 x700g (1lb 9oz) live lobster
2 tablespoon salt
Serve with mayonnaise and green salad
COOKING LOBSTER: Fill a large pot with water, add salt and bring to the boil. Immerse lobster and hold under the surface for two minutes. Simmer for 15 minutes. Allow an extra five minutes for each additional pound. Remove and leave to cool.
PREPARING: Snap off the eight legs close to the body. Break legs at joints and pick out meat with shellfish pick or skewer. Remove each claw and crack with a wooden mallet. Lay the lobster on its back and cut with a heavy sharp knife along its entire length. Pull away the bony covering on the underside. Starting at the tail, prise away the tail meat in one piece. Strip off the brown-grey feathery gills and remove the stomach sac and dark intestinal cord. Scoop out the soft grey-green liver and save. Lay the tail meat on a chopping board and slice into pieces about 2cm thick.
SERVING: Return the tail meat and the liver to the empty shell. Serve on a large blue and white ashet with the legs and claws with mayonnaise, green salad, crusty bread and unsalted butter.
Cook’s Tip: It’s worth investing in oyster shucking equipment.
Yield: 4
8-10 oysters per person depending on size, chilled
Seasoning to taste: lemon juice, cayenne pepper, Tabasco
OPENING: Hold the oyster in a cloth in your left hand with the flat side uppermost – so that the juice is not lost – and the hinge end towards you. Or use a special oyster holder. Push an oyster knife with a strong sharp point and a short rounded blade (most kitchen knives are unsuitable) into the muscle at the hinge end. While pushing hard, give a twist upwards which will cut the muscle and release the shell. Remove any shell fragments. Loosen the oyster by running the knife carefully underneath the muscle.
SERVING: Serve on a bed of crushed ice with condiments to taste along with crusty bread and unsalted butter and a chilled dry white wine or champagne.
This seafood platter creates the most colourful and attractive display of prime seafood. It’s how it would have been eaten in the past, with the minimum of fuss.
Yield: 4
8 medium-sized Norway lobsters (langoustines)
1kg (2lb 4oz) squat lobster, washed
1kg (2lb 4oz) princess scallops, washed
1kg (2lb 4oz) mussels, washed and de-bearded
PREPARING SHELLFISH: Put on a large pan of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Drop in the Norway lobsters and cook for three to four minutes. Remove. Return water to the boil and drop in squat lobster. Cook for about 60 seconds and remove. Strain cooking liquor. Pour about an inch into the base of the pan and drop in the scallops. Cover with a lid. Shake the pan several times and steam until all the shells are opened (one to two minutes). Remove and repeat with the mussels.
SERVING: Using large deep white plates, fill with crushed ice. Arrange shellfish in a pile on top. Serve with lemon wedges and crusty bread and unsalted butter. Provide finger bowls and shellfish picks.
This was a favourite fisherman’s breakfast-at-sea with scrambled eggs and toast.
Yield: 4
250g (4oz) Ayrshire bacon or other unsmoked bacon
25g (1oz) butter
500g (1lb 2oz) queen scallops, shelled
Scrambled Eggs:
6 eggs
2-3 tablespoons single cream
Salt and pepper
COOKING THE SCALLOPS AND BACON: Heat a frying pan and chop the bacon roughly. Fry gently in the dry pan till lightly browned and crisp. Remove and keep warm. Add butter to bacon fat and heat through. Add the scallops and toss in the pan, turning frequently till cooked. They should only take about a minute and should not be overcooked. Remove and keep warm.
COOKING THE EGGS AND SERVING: Break the eggs in a bowl and beat with two tablespoons of cream. Drain off a few tablespoons of the cooking fat in the frying pan and put into a pan. Heat up and add the eggs. Stir till set but still soft. Stir in another tablespoon cream (optional). Season with salt and pepper. Place on heated serving plate, place scallops and bacon on top. Serve with crusty bread and unsalted butter.