Cullen is a small fishing town on the Moray coast in the northeast of Scotland, and its soup has traveled a great deal further than most of its residents. Skink is an old Scots word for a soup made from a shin of beef; along this coast, where haddock was plentiful and beef was not, the fish took the meat's place and kept the name. The haddock is smoked, and the classic choice is finnan haddie, the pale, gently cold smoked haddock of the northeast, which perfumes the milk it is poached in until the whole soup tastes faintly of the sea and the smokehouse.

It is a soup of very few ingredients, and the method is what lifts it: the fish is poached first and lifted out, the milk becomes the stock, and some of the potatoes are crushed into the pot to thicken it without a spoon of flour. It is now on menus all over Scotland, and on cold, blustery race weekends, of which Silverstone has had its share, it is exactly what the thermos was invented for.

Poaching the haddock

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) undyed smoked haddock fillets
• 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) whole milk
• 1 cup (240 ml) water
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 black peppercorns

Method

1. Put the milk, water, bay leaf and peppercorns in the wide pan over medium low heat and warm until small bubbles appear at the edges.
2. Lay the haddock in the milk, skin side down if it has skin, cutting it into pieces if it does not fit. Turn the heat to low, cover and poach for 6 to 8 minutes, keeping the milk just below a simmer.
3. Lift the fish out with the slotted spatula onto the plate. Pour the poaching milk through the sieve into the jug and keep it. When the fish is cool enough to handle, pull off and discard the skin, then flake the flesh into large pieces with two forks, checking for bones.

The soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 medium leek
• 1 1/4 lb (570 g) floury potatoes
• 1 cup (240 ml) water or light fish or vegetable stock
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
• to taste salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives or flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Melt the butter in the large saucepan over medium low heat. Add the onion and leek and cook gently, stirring often, for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not let them brown.
2. Add the potatoes and the water or stock, stir, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 12 to 15 minutes.
3. Pour in the reserved poaching milk and heat until steaming. Take the pan off the heat and press the masher down into the soup 8 to 10 times to crush about half the potatoes, leaving the rest in pieces. Put it back over low heat.
4. Gently stir in the flaked haddock and the cream, if using, and heat for 2 to 3 minutes without boiling. Taste and add black pepper and only as much salt as it needs. If it is too thick, loosen it with a splash of milk.

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