On my first ever visit to Scotland I had some Cullen Skink. It was delicious and has remained in my memory ever since. Skink is the Scots word for broth, and Cullen Skink is a soup made with smoked haddock, milk, potato and onion. It originates from the town of Cullen, in Scotland.  

At the time I first ate Cullen Skink, I had no idea a branch of my maternal Scottish ancestors hailed from Cullen as far back as the 1600s. The connection is through my 4x great-grandmother, Helen Addison.

Cullen is a coastal town, once in Banffshire, now in Moray, and from what I’ve determined, Helen’s paternal ancestry is from Cullen via the Addison and Sklatter families. I’m still researching people in those families, but have found some DNA matches that help confirm a link.

Perhaps it’s no wonder I love eating Cullen Skink, though the origins of Cullen Skink are rather more recent.

Initially, Cullen Skink referred to a type of broth made with the scrapings of beef from the front legs of cattle. Hard times in the early 1890s left the Northern people unable to buy this product. By this time, Cullen Harbour (completed in 1819) had become the thriving centre of herring fishing and the village also specialised in the production of smoked haddock. With many families in the local villages having a fishing background, they turned to smoked haddock which was in plentiful supply. By using smoked haddock and various other products all put together, a distinctive delicious soup was made and hence Cullen Skink was born.

~ Cullen Skink & Cullen Skink World Championships, Discover Cullen, https://discovercullen.com/cullen-skink/, accessed 31 May 2026.

You might be wondering how to make your own Cullen Skink, and if so, there are quite a few recipes available online. Here are some variations to try:

• BBC Good Food https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cullen-skink
• Scottish Scran https://scottishscran.com/simple-cullen-skink-recipe/
• Lost in Food https://lostinfood.co.uk/traditional-cullen-skink/
• Love Scotland https://lovetovisitscotland.com/the-scottish-soup-that-sounds-wrong-until-you-try-it-then-you-want-nothing-else/

Selected references

Cullen Skink & Cullen Skink World Championships, Discover Cullen, https://discovercullen.com/cullen-skink/, accessed 31 May 2026.