Smokies

Sue Lawrence turns to that most famous of Scottish fishes, the Arbroath smokie.

The Arbroath smokie was first recorded historically in Arbroath Abbey's land register in 1178, as a gift from King William to the monks. Because the village where they were originally made – Auchmithie, three miles north of Arbroath – has been dated back to its time as a Pictish settlement, the origin of the humble smokie probably goes back a good deal further.

It was only in the 1880s when fishermen from Auchmithie were enticed to Arbroath and its new harbour, that the fisherfolk moved, taking with them the secret of their uniquely smoked haddock.

A hot–smoked haddock, the smokie is gutted, beheaded, lightly brined and smoked until just cooked. It used to be the case in Auchmithie – and later in Arbroath – that smoke barrels were sunk into the gardens, the rim being about a foot or so above the ground. Pairs of whole, headless, gutted haddock were salted, tied by the tails and hung on wooden poles over beech or oak chips, then damp hessian bags were placed over the top. Depending on the size of the fish, they would need only 30-45 minutes smoking time before emerging a gorgeous bronzed, tarry colour with soft, succulent and delicately flavoured flesh. These days, the smoking is done in more or less the same way, but of course by commercial companies, on a larger scale.

The fishwives of Auchmithie – and later Arbroath – wore a particular outfit of several skirts or petticoats (called coats) of coarse navy blue flannel, the outer ones folded up and tucked up t...

To read the rest of this article you can do any of the following.

• By : Sue Lawrence
• In : Food
• Issue : 39
• Page : 49
• Words : 987