Taste Panel - Slow Food Edinburgh

28^th January 2009

 

Product: Locally caught or locally smoked fish / Particular local recipes.

 

Producers:

“Something Fishy” Fishmongers.

16a Broughton Street

Edinburgh

EH1 3RH

Products purchased; Smoked Haddock (smoked on premises) and Scottish Mussels

George Armstrong Fishmongers

80 Raeburn Place

Stockbridge

Edinburgh

EH4 1HH

Products purchased; Smoked Haddock (locally smoked to own specifications), fresh Haddock, Smoked Mackerel and Peppered smoked Mackerel

 

For comparison we also tried smoked fish products from the following non-Edinburgh producers:

 

R.R. Spink and Sons, Arbroath, Scotland

Products purchased; Arbroath smoked Trout

 

Summer Isles Foods, Achiltibuie, Ullapool, Ross-shire, Scotland

Products purchased; Peppered smoked Mackerel, Smoked Eel fillets

 

Sainsbury’s

Taste the Difference Arbroath hot smoked Trout fillets, Taste the Difference Smoked Mackerel, Smoked Mackerel, Peppered Smoked Mackerel

 

Hot Smoked Fish

Smoked Mackerel from George Armstrong had a clean delicate fishy flavour. The oiliness of the fish was pleasant and not cloying. The peppered version had a distinct but not overpowering peppery kick. These were our favourite smoked mackerels by far.

In comparison the Summer Isles Smoked Mackerel was very peppery and oily and left a slightly bitter aftertaste.

The Sainsbury’s standard range of Smoked Mackerel was soft and rather textureless. Neither the smoked nor pepper flavours were distinctive. The Taste the Difference range of Smoked Mackerel from Sainsbury’s had been kiln smoked with a sugar marinade and was too sweet.

 

The Sainsbury’s ‘Taste the Difference’ Hot Smoked Trout fillets were tried against the R.R. Spink Hot Smoked Trout. The R. R. Spink trout seemed perhaps a little firmer but there was little to choose between the two. The Summer Isles Smoked Eel was OK but no one on the panel felt they would purchase the product again, especially with the £74.40kg price tag.

 

Cold Smoked Haddock

We tried Smoked Haddock from Something Fishy and George Armstrong. Both had been cold smoked and were then cooked by poaching in milk with a little butter.

The Smoked Haddock from Something Fishy was delicate and fresh and overall the panel’s favourite, however the Smoked Haddock from George Armstrong was also very pleasant with a slightly more pronounced smoky flavour.

 

Since Herring are currently out of season (wait until June) we tried coating a plain fresh Haddock Fillet in oatmeal and frying in butter, a traditional method of cooking Herring. The fish was delicious and the oatmeal adds a lovely nutty crunch but we felt the recipe would work better with a more oily fish.

 

Mussel Brose

Looking through various Scottish cook books you can come across recipes for Mussel Brose. Combined two of Scotland older traditional ingredients this was likely a very practical combination. Marian McNeill’s “The Scot’s Kitchen” quotes a poem about Edinburgh Mussels;

At Musselbrough and eke Newhaven

The fisher-wives will get top livin

When lads gang oot on Sunday’s even

To treat their joes,

An’ tak o’fat pandours a prieven

Or mussel brose.

- Fergusson

Musselburgh, as the name suggests, was once a prime area for the harvesting of mussels as far back as Roman times. Unfortunately this is no longer the case so we recreated the recipe using Shetland mussels. I was advised that any mussels found at Musselburgh would not be as pollution free as you would want them! The mussels are cooked, removed from their shells and then combined with a milk and water mixture (or you can use stock) and boiled for a few more minutes before a handful of toasted oatmeal is cooked into the mixture.

 

The results were interesting. Our Brose sat for a little while so did thicken to more of a soft porridge consistency, studded with the mussel flesh. Not the most attractive of dishes it tasted surprisingly pleasant. More modern tastes may prefer a more liquid brose or drained mussels in their shells that are served with the milk infused liquor and a sprinkling of toasted oatmeal. Probably we approached the dish with the same trepidation as someone who had only ever had sweet rice pudding would approach a seafood risotto.