Scottish Blog

Arbroath Smokie is a unique Scottish fish recipe.

In essence, the Arbroath Smokie is a salted and smoked haddock. Although this in itself might not sound especially unique, but the preparation process and specific cooking method has made the Arbroath Smokie a favorite in the Scottish cuisine. In fact, the European Commission has designated the Arbroath Smokie as a Protected Geographical Indication in their Protected Food Name Scheme, meaning that similar to Scotch Whisky, there are strict rules and regulations to who, how and where the Arbroath Smokie can be produced.

Originally, the Arbroath Smokie was produced in the small Scandinavian populated village of Auchmithie, located five kilo meters away from Arbroath. The creation of what came to be known as the Arbroath Smokie is thought to date back as early as the 1800s.

The Arbroath Smokie came to the village of Arbroath in the late 1800s. When the fishing industry of the village came into strong decline, the town council offered any fisherman who migrate to village some land and use of the town’s relatively modern harbor. This attracted a great number of Scandinavian fishermen from the village of Auchmithie, amongst the things they brought with them was the recipe of smoking salted haddock, which came to be known as the Arbroath Smokie.

The Arbroath Smokie has a very specific cooking process. Firstly, the only authentic Arbroath Smokie are created using only haddock. When caught, the haddock is gutted at sea and returned to the fish houses. Here they are salted similar to any other salted preserving process. The length of time which the fish are kept in the salting bins depends on the tenderness of the fish, its size and the exact recipe of the Arbroath Smokie producer (one of the fifteen in Arbroath). They are then tied in pairs and dried in preparation for the smoking process. They are then smoked in a barrel, the exact construction and method is similar to the modern Scandinavian smoking method. This creates a very hot, smoky and humidly smoked meat.

As with any iconic local cuisine, the Arbroath Smokie has a number of theories as to its origin. The most likely is that it is a small derivative of the Scandinavian smoking process as employed by the Auchmithie locals. A more entertaining story is that a local store caught fire one night and most of the merchandise was destroyed. By pure chance, a barrel of local fish were cooked and smoked in the fire and upon inspection they were found to be not only edible but some sort of delicacy. With further refinement throughout time, the modern Arbroath Smokey was achieved.