Scotland is justly famed for its smoke-cured salmon, linchpin of fancy starters everywhere, but maybe less people are aware of an equally good smoked fish product coming from the same area : the Arbroath smokie.

These cured delicacies are said to have been stumbled upon by accident, when a salted fish production building was destoryed by fire, but this is in all likelihood just a romantic story. Salting and smoking is a familiar fish preserving technique in many North Sea coastline areas.

To make Arbroath smokies, haddock are cured in salt overnight on the bone, then after drying off are tied in pairs before being placed in a wooden barrel which has a fire in its base. The barrel is covered with wettened sackcloth, and the fish then both cook and smoke in the hot and humid smoke.

All this results in a wonderfully tender and smooth texture to the finished fish, which is delicious eaten straight away, or will keep well for much longer than an ordinary fish.

Arbroath smokies have now received Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status from the European Commission, meaning that only fish prepared in the traditional manner within a few miles of Arbroath are allowed to mark themselves as Arbroath Smokies.

What To Do With Them

- Flake the smokey flesh from the bones, and make a sandwich with rye bread, mayonnaise, flat leaf parsley, and fresh lemon juice and ground black pepper to taste

- Gently cook the smokies in milk to warm through, then use the flavoured liquid to make a white parsley sauce. Serve with boiled new potatoes in the summer, or buttered mash in winter months

- Substitute Arbroath smokie in place of clams for a smokey twist to a old fashioned clam chowder

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