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Cullen Skink at the Top of a Mountain

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The Ptarmigan – Scotland’s highest restaurant at 1090 metres.

Cullen Skink

Situated in the top station on Cairn Gorm Mountain, in the most unexpected of places, you’ll find Scotland’s highest restaurant – The Ptarmigan.

At 1090 metres/ 3500 feet above sea level it’s no problem to access thanks to Scotland’s only Funicular Railway – a train carriage pulled 1.9 km up the mountain at 11 miles per hour.

Cairn Gorm Funicular

We took a visit up this mountain while we were camping in Aviemore in the summer of 2014, and although it was an interesting thing to do the whole experience was rather underwhelming. You don’t feel like you’re on top of a mountain. You’re not allowed to leave the top station in a bid to help protect the landscape (which is rather similar to the landscape of Shetland) unless you are on a guided tour or mountain bike trek, so all we could see was from the windows of the funicular or the viewing platform at the top station.

So, standing outside on the freezing cold and incredibly windy observation deck I took three quick panoramic photos (one of which is blurry) and one proper photo (below), none of which convey the sheer scale of elevation and openness. Saying that, they’re not really mountains are they? they are just kind of big rolling hilly hills? (She says, having lived for a time in the Rocky Mountains of Canada!). It probably would have been more satisfying to hike up the mountain, but given the weather being poor and having small children in tow we opted for the funicular.

Cairn Gorm Mountain

You can see Loch Morlich in the distance, where we biked to on our family mountain biking ride. The top station is also home to the highest post box in the British Isles – a photograph of which I took for Ness over at Jibber Jabber UK, who at the time, was collecting photographs of post boxes in the UK. There is also a museum/information area which describes much of the history of the mountain. This was quite fascinating and I could have spent ages browsing, but the family were keen to move on and upwards. There’s also a gift shop where, for the first and only time on our entire mainland holiday I managed to find a sew on souvenir badge for my ruck sack.

They serve a wicked cullen skink soup on the top of Cairn Gorm at The Ptarmigan restaurant. At £4.95 for soup and crusty bread that’s a pretty good lunch with a fantastic view.

Service in the restaurant was good, although it’s cafeteria style rather than table service, and they have a pretty good selection of dishes considering fresh food has to be lugged up the mountain every day.

Cullen Skink

Cullen skink, Scotland’s famous smoked fish soup, is a remarkably simple soup recipe to make. The key is to use quality locally sourced ingredients. It doesn’t need any extra fancy ingredients – just some smoked fish (usually haddock), milk, leeks and/or onions, potatoes and, if you’re feeling indulgent, a bit of cream.

I used smoked haddock from Blydoit Fish here in Shetland, leeks, onions and potatoes from my Turriefield veg box and Shetland Dairy milk and cream to make my soup. Turriefield onions are very strong flavoured so I only used half of one in my soup recipe. If you’re using supermarket onions you might need to use a whole one.

I gently poach the smoked fish in the milk first so that it doesn’t overcook and become rubbery. A sprinkling of parsley is added for a touch of color.

Cullen Skink

Cullen Skink

A hearty Scottish fish stew recipe.
5 from 3 votes
Print Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Author: Elizabeth

Ingredients

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Instructions 

  • Place the fish in a wide saucepan along with the whole peppercorns and cover with the milk. Bring to a gentle simmer and switch the heat off, pop the lid on, and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, heat the butter in a soup pan and gently cook the leeks, onion and bacon until the vegetables soften.
  • Add the peeled, cubed potatoes and cook for a further five minutes.
  • Strain the fish reserving the milk and discarding the peppercorns. Keep the fish warm (I pop it in a bowl and put a plate on top).
  • Add the milk to the potatoes and vegetables and simmer, gently, until the potatoes are tender. Don't worry if the milk curdles a bit.
  • Using a hand blender or potato masher, puree half of the mixture (a hand blender will give you a creamier texture) and return to the pan.
  • Add the double cream and flake and add the fish. Season to taste.
  • Reheat the soup but don't allow it to boil.
  • Serve immediately with a sprinkling of fresh or dried parsley.

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Comments

  2. Working mum Blog says

    Sounds and looks like a beautiful place. I would love to visit one day. The recipe looks easy – so a huge plus for that. I usually buy smoked haddock and fry it up with eggs. But next time I buy some I’ll be trying this recipe. Thanks for sharing

    Reply

  4. Tanya Brannan says

    This looks an amazing place! I absolutely love Cullen Skink, its my favourite soup! Thank you for the recipe, I have never tried making it myself, but youv’e made it look so easy

    Tx

    Reply

  7. Laura Hartley says

    Never heard of cullen skink soup before but it looks like a really lovely warm dish for a cold day! I want to start making more soups as I’ve got a blender now and this looks tasty and healthy!

    Reply

  13. Diane says

    I gotta say that’s a fabulous place to eat lunch! And what a tasty soup! I can imagine the pace was slow getting up there, and maybe a bit boring but now you’ve got the recipe and the pics of that great view. And memories! Fun!

    Reply

  17. Sandi (@sandigtweets) says

    This is a beautiful soup. I haven’t been to Scotland in quite a few years so it was fun to enjoy your photos as well 🙂

    Reply

  21. nessjibberjabberuk says

    Thank you for adding to my post box collection! You’ve now sent me Britain’s most northerly and highest post boxes! I haven’t been sent any in ages but I have managed to go and see some of them myself. I must make it further up Scotland some time. I had cullen skink in one my favourite restaurants by the River Teviot earlier in the year. I keep meaning to make it at home as it really is a meal in itself.

    Reply

  26. Diana says

    I would love to visit one day! I’ve never been to Scotland before, but hopefully next year I will visit 🙂 The soup looks amazing and perfect for these cold days x

    Reply

  27. fashion-mommy says

    Can never get my head around the idea of fish soup, but so want to go to a cafe at the top of a mountain now!

    Reply

  28. Rachel says

    I got super excited reading this, thinking ooo, Elizabeth and family are near up a hill from me right now! Ach well! I’ve only ever had chips up there, after I escaped a wildlife photography white out on a nearby trail. I turned back and took the funicular up to the restaurant instead, and got a plate of chips for comfort, haha.

    I think Cullen Skink has the best name ever for a soup, if only I wasn’t a gosh-darn veggie I’d have tried it years ago!

    Reply

  31. Laura says

    Oh wow what a spectacular place to have some warming soup – love Scotland – lived in Edinburgh for almost two years and need to go back

    Laura x

    Reply

  32. Johanna GGG says

    I love the words Funicular and cullin skink but while I love to make vegetarian versions of Scottish dishes I can’t see myself doing it with cullen skink as fish is challenging. I would like to go up the funicular railway partly so I could just say the word over and over as I told people I had been on it 🙂

    Reply

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