# How to cook cullen skink for one?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 17, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758 "2015-11-17T00:22:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/1 "2015-11-17T00:22:11Z")
Paging the chefs! One of the local dishes I really enjoy is cullen skink. Unfortunately all the recipes I’ve found are for 4+ people. How can I reasonably scale it down for one? Or will it keep in the fridge for re-heating later?
Or should I pig out and have the whole thing myself for a main meal instead? 🙂
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/2 "2015-11-17T00:37:05Z")
Pig out is always an option!
Looking over the various recipes, it looks like it could be halved without too much difficulty. Or make a full batch and freeze the left-overs for later.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/3 "2015-11-17T02:47:46Z")
I have a cookbook I bought close to 30 years ago. I think it’s called _A Wee Scottish Cookbook_. There’s a recipe for cullen skink in it that I’ve always wanted to try, but I’ve never known where to get finnan haddie.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/4 "2015-11-17T03:40:20Z")
Hm. There doesn’t appear to be any actual skink in cullen skink…
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### Author:  [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/5 "2015-11-17T03:56:20Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I have a cookbook I bought close to 30 years ago. I think it’s called _A Wee Scottish Cookbook_. There’s a recipe for cullen skink in it that I’ve always wanted to try, but I’ve never known where to get finnan haddie.
Wikipedia says you can substitute: “An authentic Cullen skink will use finnan haddie, but it may be prepared with any other undyed smoked haddock.”
What’s a skink?
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/6 "2015-11-17T03:58:07Z")
> **[Skink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skink)**
>
> For genera, see text.
> Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Skinks are characterized by their smaller legs in comparison to typical lizards and are found in different habitats except arctic and subarctic regions.
> Skinks look like lizards of the family Lacertidae (sometimes called true lizards...
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### Author:  [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/7 "2015-11-17T15:52:06Z")
I’ve never made it, but just looking over the recipes I’ve found online it looks like something that would freeze perfectly well. No reason not to make an over-large (for one) batch and save for another day.
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### Author:  [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/8 "2015-11-17T16:02:56Z")
How about finding undyed smoked haddock in the US? I won’t say I have looked that hard but definitely not at my local grocery store. Any tips?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/9 "2015-11-17T16:29:35Z")
> [@kayT](#):
>
> Wikipedia says you can substitute: “An authentic Cullen skink will use finnan haddie, but it may be prepared with any other undyed smoked haddock.”
> [@LVBoPeep](#):
>
> How about finding undyed smoked haddock in the US? I won’t say I have looked that hard but definitely not at my local grocery store. Any tips?
I can’t even find frozen haddock here, let alone smoked haddock.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/10 "2015-11-17T17:35:37Z")
> [@kayT](#):
>
> Wikipedia says you can substitute: “An authentic Cullen skink will use finnan haddie, but it may be prepared with any other undyed smoked haddock.”
>
> What’s a skink?
That same article says a skink is a shin, which is something you might make soup from. But why a soup made from fish would acquire the name is a mystery.
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### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/11 "2015-11-17T18:58:11Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Hm. There doesn’t appear to be any actual skink in cullen skink…
Neither is there any Cullen, to my disappointment. But then, who’d want his lunch to go all sparkly if the sun comes out?
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-cook-cullen-skink-for-one/737758/12 "2015-11-17T19:00:40Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> [Skink - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skink)
Yes, I had never heard of Cullen Skink before and had to look it up to make sure it wasnt prepared with lizards. :eek: