Skye Dawn Pollack Broth
Staffin Bay at dawn: a pollack run off the Trotternish cliffs
The scene is specific — low light on the Trotternish Peninsula, rock-cut currents where pollack sit tight against the ledges. Anglers land fish around 40–60 cm that turn into the heart of a simple, smoky Skye broth.
Ingredients
Use 600–800 g pollack fillet, one to two handfuls of kelp (fresh or rehydrated), one onion, two potatoes, a litre of light fish stock or water, a clove of garlic, salt, pepper and a knob of butter.
Method is direct: sweat the onion in butter, add diced potato and kelp, then cover with stock and simmer 12–15 minutes. Add pollack pieces for the final 4–5 minutes until opaque. Keep the fish moving gently so it flakes, not falls apart.
Gear notes born of place: shore rods around 2.7–3.0 m, reels in the 4000–6000 range, braid 0.15–0.20 mm with a 0.35–0.45 mm fluorocarbon leader; pilkers 20–60 g or small soft lures work best along the 6–15 m rock margins.
Serve the broth hot with buttered oat bread or a toasted roll. A steaming bowl on a damp morning, gulls wheeling above Staffin, is as close to Skye as a recipe gets.