All up in smoke

Alex Mead looks at how Arbroath became world-famous for smoked haddock

Meddling magistrates and local councils have, forever it seems, been a thorn in somebody's side somewhere and none more so than in Auchmithie, a small fishing village on Scotland's east coast – three miles or so north east of Arbroath.

Arbroath. Now, that's the place the Smokies come from isn't it? Well, yes and no.

‘Yes' it is now, but ‘no' not originally. The reasoning behind that is of course going back to the councils. Along way back.

Keen to build a fishing colony in Arbroath, in 1705 the town's council managed to tempt two fishing families – by the name of Cargill – to relocate from Auchmithie. It was an impressive coup, but oh-so short-lived, as the then owner of Auchmithie, the Earl of Northesk, managed to pull enough legal strings to reclaim the families as his ‘serfs'.

Ultimately, it only served to delay the inevitable – albeit for a good 100 years or so – as, by the beginning of the 19th century, fisherfolk were all heading south for the better facilities on offer in Arbroath. Family names such as Spink and Swankie, still seen adorning many businesses in the town, moved south to make Arbroath famous.

The product itself, and the finer detail of the way in which it is caught, dried and smoked has changed slightly over the years, but the basics of the Arbroath Smokie remain the same. And those basic are that an Arbroath Smokie is haddock that's been gutted and washed and packed off to a smoke house. Once there, after being headed and cleaned, the ...

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• By : Alex Mead
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 24
• Page : 42
• Words : 683