Traditional Cullen Skink

Made with poached smoked haddock, potatoes and onions, this traditional Cullen skink is a creamy, thick, savory soup, the perfect bowl of warming goodness.

Last Autumn, on a chilly rainy day, my husband and I decided to stop in at an island pub for some lunch. Their soup of the day was Cullen skink, a fish soup I had enjoyed many years back on a visit to Scotland. That original bowl was creamy and thick with potato bits and smoky haddock. Truly delicious! One of my fondest memories. 

The bowl at the pub was not that. In short, it was a big disappointment. Very thin broth, hardly any smoked fish flavor and a real shortage of potatoes and actual fish too. If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that meant I had to make Cullen skink to remind myself of the better first memory. 

Curious about the name? According to the interwebs: “Cullen Skink gets its name from the town of Cullen in Moray, Scotland, where it originated, and the Scots word "skink," which refers to a shin or knuckle of beef, and by extension, a thick soup. Originally a beef broth, it evolved into a smoked haddock soup in the late 19th century when fish became a more accessible, local, and affordable staple than meat for the town’s fishing community.”

Traditional Cullen Skink

Use naturally smoked haddock for this recipe, if possible. Unlike the artificially yellow dyed fish, the naturally smoked haddock has a subtle light beige color, derived solely from the wood smoke. This recipe is adapted from one on the BBC Good Food website, now just called Good Food. Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g smoked haddock

1 1/2 cups or 360ml milk

1 medium onion

14 oz or 400g new potatoes 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups or 295ml fish stock

Fine sea salt and white pepper

To garnish: finely chopped parsley or chives

Method

Put the haddock skin side down in a small pan and cover with the milk. 

Cook gently for 5 mins, or until just tender. Turn the haddock over and set the pan aside, leaving the haddock and milk to cool for about 10 minutes. 

Remove the haddock from the milk with a slotted spoon (reserving the milk), transfer to a plate. 

When cool enough to handle safely, flake into large pieces, removing and discarding any bones and skin.

While the haddock cooks and cools, peel and chop the onion finely. 

Scrub the new potatoes. Halve or quarter big ones but leave small ones whole. 

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add the chopped onion and sauté for 8-10 mins until translucent but not browned. 

Add the potatoes and fish stock and bring to the boil. 

Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 10-15 mins or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife. 

Use a fork or a potato masher to mash half of the potatoes to help thicken the soup.

Whisk the cornstarch into the cooled haddock milk then add it to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the soup thickens slightly.

Add the flaked haddock to the pan and cook until just heated through. 

Season to taste with the salt and white pepper. 

Spoon into warmed bowls and sprinkle over the chopped herbs to serve.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter C. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the C recipes below:

• Chai Spice Mix from Blogghetti
• Chicken Thigh Schnitzel + Chenin Blanc from Culinary Cam
• Chocolate Chip Crescent Roll Cookies from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Chora Nu Shaak, Gujarati Style from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Coconut Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Colorful Peppers Pulao from Sneha’s Recipe
• Corn Sauté with Pancetta, Potatoes, and Peppers from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Cranberry Pistachio Pull-apart Rolls from A Messy Kitchen
• Dill Pickle & Mustard Seed Cream Cheese Spread from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Traditional Cullen Skink from Food Lust People Love
• White Chicken Chili from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

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Chunky Avocado Egg Salad

Scooping the avocado out with a spoon keeps the pieces nice and large for this chunky avocado egg salad made with yogurt, whole-grained mustard and grated shallot. It’s perfect for breakfast, lunch or snack time. 

Often, I take an avocado, split it in two, then remove the pit so I can fill the holes with ranch dressing. I eat it with a spoon, scooping out the avocado along with a bit of the dressing in each bite. It’s truly the easiest meal/snack ever. 

But a few weeks ago, we were preparing for a trip so I was emptying the refrigerator and I realized there were a few boiled eggs that needed to be used up as well as a couple of just-right ripe avocados. Avocado egg salad was suddenly on the menu! 

Chunky Avocado Egg Salad

I deliberately made the avocado pieces chunky because as you fold them into the egg mixture, they do sluff off their edges and I wanted to be sure they didn’t mash completely. You want still visible chunks of avocado! I give the weight of my avocado below but know that if yours is a little bigger or smaller, it’ll be fine.

Ingredients

3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

3 tablespoons low fat Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon whole mustard

1 small shallot or 1/4 small onion, peeled (about 3/4 oz or 20g whole)

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus extra for garnish

Several generous grinds black pepper or to taste

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 large avocado, pitted (8 2/3 oz or 245g whole)

Method

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. 

In a large mixing bowl, mash the yolks with a fork then stir in the yogurt and mustard till well combined.

Grate in the onion or shallot with the smallest side of your grater. I like to use a microplane.

Stir in the salt and two peppers.

Add the lemon juice to another bowl and then use a spoon to scoop out bites of the avocado into the juice, tossing occasionally to coat as you scoop. 

Chop the egg whites and add them into the large mixing bowl with the avocado. 

Fold until well combined. 

If not serving immediately, cover the avocado egg salad with cling film and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

This is delicious on whole wheat crackers (my favorites are Triscuits!) or sliced bread or toast.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are celebrating National Avocado Month. Since it’s only the first day of February, you have plenty of time to join in! Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the many avocado-full recipe links below.

• Avocado Chicken Salad from A Messy Kitchen
• Avocado Strawberry Salad from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Avocado Toast with Crispy Chickpeas from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Chocolate Avocado Pudding from Making Miracles
• Chunky Avocado Egg Salad from Food Lust People Love
• Crab and Avocado Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Creamy Avocado & Egg Salad- Keto from Sneha's Recipe
• Grilled Tofu Avocado Sandwich from Cook with Renu
• No Cook Avocado Spread from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Pineapple Avocado Salsa from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spicy Avocado Deviled Eggs from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Winter Citrus & Avocado Salad with Olive Oil and Sea Salt from Our Good Life

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Salmon Coconut Curry Chowder

Savory and spicy, this Salmon Coconut Curry Chowder is full of flavor, vegetables, fish and coconut milk, a warming bowl of comfort for a cold day. 

I roasted some salmon filets a while back and was looking for something different, a whole new meal in which to use the leftovers. Since it was chilly outside, soup seemed like a great idea. If you don’t have leftover fish, you can use cubed raw salmon which cooks very quickly.

This spicy warming chowder is made with Thai red curry paste which is a blend of dried red chilies, lemongrass, galangal, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste, kaffir, lime zest, cilantro root/stem and seeds, cumin and white peppercorns. 

It does the heavy lifting, flavor-wise, in this soup but because we like things spicy, I couldn’t resist adding more garlic and red chili peppers. The coconut milk does make it all more mellow though. I could eat this chowder every winter day! 

Salmon Coconut Curry Chowder

If you have homemade fish stock, by all means, use it for this savory soup. I always keep fish and shrimp stock cubes in the cupboard so I tend to use those instead. Good subs for the kailan are collard or turnip greens or any other Asian greens like bok choy or even snowpeas. Serves two or three hungry people.

Ingredients 

7-8 stalks kailan or other greens 

3 tablespoons butter 

2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

4-5 sprigs cilantro

1 medium yellow onion, chopped finely

2 whole celery stalks, chopped finely

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced 

2 fresh red chili peppers, minced

10-12 baby carrots, cut in half or thirds 

1 large russet potato, peeled and cut in cubes

2 cups or 480ml fish or shrimp broth (homemade or from a stock cube)

1 can (14oz or 400ml) coconut milk

2 cooked salmon fillets (about 5 1/2 oz or 156g) or cubed raw salmon

Fine sea salt to taste (This will depend on your personal preference but also how salty your fish stock is.)

To serve:

Cilantro leaves for garnish

Lime wedges to squeeze. 

Method 

Rinse the kailan well then trim the ends off and cut the stalks lengthwise. Cut off the soft leaves and set them aside. They will go into the pot right at the end. Cut the stalks into bite-sized pieces. 

Trim the tough stems off of the cilantro and discard them. Mince the tender stems and set the leaves aside for garnish. 

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add in the curry paste and cook for a minute or so, stirring constantly.

Add the tender minced cilantro stems, onion, celery, garlic and chili peppers. 

Sauté, covered, stirring regularly, until the onion and celery are tender. 

Stir in kailan stalks, potatoes, carrots and fish broth.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender. At this point, I like to take a few of the potato cubes out, mash them with a fork and put them back in to help thicken the chowder. 

Add in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.  

Break the salmon into large flakes.

Stir them gently into the chowder along with the kailan leaves. 

Simmer the chowder until it's heated through and the leaves are soft. Taste the chowder for salt and add a little extra if necessary. 

Serve garnished with the cilantro leaves, with lime wedges to squeeze the juice into each bowl. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are all about SOUP! Many thanks to our host, Mayuri from Mayuri’s Jikoni. Check out all the delicious soupy links below.

• Budget Friendly Minestrone Soup from Cook With Renu
• Cheddar and Burnt Garlic Cauliflower Soup from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Cheese Corn Tomato Coriander Soup from Sneha's Recipe
• Creamy Green Chicken Enchilada Soup from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Dry Cream Soup Mix from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• One Pot Ravioli Soup from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Salmon Coconut Curry Chowder from Food Lust People Love
• Slow Cooker Butternut Squash and Sausage Soup from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup from Our Good Life
• Turkey Wild Rice Soup from A Day in the Life on the Farm

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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