Kaethe Hoeltzell’s Finnan Haddie

Bacon, who doesn’t lick/like bacon?!

Actually, bacon has nothing to do with this column, which is about the magic of smokey flavors – in this case, Finnan Haddie, or cold smoked haddock. Smoked foods are terrific, and ever so much more popular now for all the stay-at-home chefs. No matter what you smoke, it’s a fun experiment!

Many proteins that walked on two legs, four legs, flew, swam or tried to hop away can be appreciated on their arrival from the smoker. It might very well be that you can avoid my wonderful recipe and just fry up some Finnan Haddie instead of the bacon that could adorn your Sunday eggs. I should never say never, but the reason I like writing these stories is to share flavors that might interest you. Finnan Haddie is on the top of the list when it comes to an old-school retro never-heard-of-it kind of a dish.

This smoked treat is older than old school – it’s from the biblical spring which begat fishtory (that’s fish-history for the sober among you not enjoying the chardonnay). I’ll bet even though Saint Peter was a fisherman of sorts, he would have traded in his Birkenstocks for a plate of Finnan Haddie and a side of buttered gluten-free matzo. There are Finnan Haddie references that date back to 16th-century Scotland – you know, the place where Mel Gibson made that superb movie about a legendary hero who united the kilted tribes fighting the English, all while gobbling down one of my faves, haggis. The word is, there is a town called Findon (pronounced locally as “Finnan”) that started to smoke haddock so it would transport better.

The flavor of this smokey species of vertebrae melded into very creative dishes, and I am sharing a not-so-traditional take that my Latvian mom came up with (or a least I give her the credit). This subtle Finnan Haddie treatment of succulent fillets of haddock is still very popular in the North Atlantic Isles, and has a place in some of the oldest classical pubs. Sorry to say, this fish is expensive to get shipped in but worth the experiment for all you couch potato chefs who like to explore the exotic side of your kitchen. Good fish ain’t cheap and sometimes cheap fish ain’t good (except for deep-fried panko-crusted smelts plunged into a Sriracha-mayo dip).

My mom always made her “Finnan and Haddie” early in the day so it was served as a cold stew dinner in a glass dish. I always appreciated looking at foods inside those Pyrex dishes just to see how they were made, layered and cooked out. For the 67 years of memories and tall tales that remain in my brain, I cannot remember any distinctive side dishes that were served with F&H, so I will leave that to you. I will, however, throw together the standby boiled tiny red potatoes (to mop up the savory smokey sauce) and some pan-seared shishito peppers* as an appetizer when I feel like having something colorful in the background. All of this will go great with some West Coast chardonnay I'll drink during prep, while cooking and certainly during the meal, which will be bursting with color. I can't miss bringing y’all some color to the Biscayne Times, and to honor my mother and what she left me – memories and recipes. I still cherish those few old-school cookbooks that might curl a young chef’s hair.

This salted smoked fish must be cooked to make these dishes work. It would seem to me that any smoked fish protein would yield quite the tasty item for a sushi bar. Not so in this case. But since I didn’t make this Finnan Haddie, let’s all go the route of fully cooked. Tracking down a good source led me to Richard Penfold of Stonington Seafood, a very congenial merchant with some fine recipes on its website. Many recipes treat the fish by poaching it in milk or a diluted milk mixture to keep the fish flakey, moist and together. My recollection is that my mother just quickly blanch-poached the fillets in a milky bath, then towel dried them before a light dusting of plain flour and a hasty sauté, which will all be revealed in the recipe. 

I hope that you get to smell the fragrance of the roses that you’ll send to your mother on her day, and the smoked goodness of Finnan Haddie. Are you smellin’ (the smokiness) what I’m telling’?

* Pan-seared blistered shishitos are so much fun, in that about 1 out of 10 can just set your arsch (German for ass) on fire. It’s really bad luck if the plate you get has beaten the odds down to 1 out of 3. Funny, I now realize why my very devout Aunt Ilse would giggle whenever I mentioned the Adrienne Arsht Center – she really blushed on that name! So much for the history of names and semantics. Do wear an apron when cooking these little rascals, who spit hot oil real far from the pan. Now I know not to cook in my underwear during the cover of COVID isolationism. I hope you beat the fiery odds. Whole Foods generally has great shishitos.

KAETHE HOELTZELL’S FINNAN HADDIE

Serves: 4

Prep time: 30 minutes

Chill time: 3-4 hours, minimum

Finnan Haddie chill time is time for you to chill. Have a sip – or two or three? – as you ponder and then prep what your sides will be.

INGREDIENTS

·      1 cup whole milk

·      2 1-pound bags Finnan Haddie (Stonington Seafood packs are thick-cut, skin-on fillets shipped frozen – find them at StoningtonSeafoods.com.)

·      1 pack Badia bay leaves (You’ll need several leaves for the poach and then for the sauce.)

·      Flour, for dredging fillets

·      Fresh cracked black pepper

·      Extra virgin olive oil

·      Unsalted butter

·      1 large sweet onion, sliced into thick half circles

·      16-ounce can Italian-brand stewed plum tomatoes (Cento is a good.)

·      1 heaping tablespoon sugar

·      1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

·      10-12 small red potatoes

·      1/2-pound bag shishito peppers, washed and dried

·      Kosher salt

PREPARATION

·      Mix milk with 1 cup water and briefly set aside.

·      In a deep sauté pan over medium heat add diluted milk mixture (just enough to cover the fish) and several bay leaves; cook for four minutes until bubbling, then place thawed fillets in pan to poach for no more than 90 seconds; remove pan from heat and let cool.

·      Use care and a good fish spatula to remove fillets from liquid and lay on a paper towel to drain; reserve a few tablespoons of the milk liquid and set aside.

·      Season flour with a very good amount of freshly cracked black pepper and lightly – lightly! – dredge blanched fillets in flour mixture.

·      Literally blow off any heavy spots of flour “dust” and then place fish in a medium-heated sauté pan with a very little 50-50 mix of oil and butter; lightly brown both sides of fillets (no more than a minute per side). Gently remove and set aside to cool.

·      Place onion in skillet, and with a few spoonfuls of water and a splash of olive oil, sweat until translucent; remove from heat.

·      Arrange half the sautéed onions on the bottom of a deep 13 x 9-inch Pyrex dish.

·      Open the can of stewed tomatoes and fork-crush them into chunks inside the can with their juice; add tomatoes with their juice, sugar, peppercorns and several bay leaves into the pan with the remaining onions and bring to a bubbling simmer. Set aside to cool. (This tomato base shouldn’t be too thick; thin with reserved milk liquid if you need to.)

·      Place fillets on top of the cooked onion slices in the Pyrex dish. Now artistically spoon the tomato-onion “sauce” over the fish to cover it completely. The sauce should seep underneath the fish; maybe wiggle the dish a little to make sure, as it needs to “simmer” the fish as it cooks in the oven.

·      Place covered dish (aluminum foil works) in a preheated 350º F oven for 10 minutes; remove, leave covered and let rest. Then leave covered and chill for 3-4 hours.

While the F&H is still chilling, pour yourself a glass of chardonnay and set the potatoes to boil until they’re fork tender (about 25 minutes), then drain and sprinkle with olive oil.

The shishitos are next. These are a panic to make and eat, praying your partner gets the really hot ones. In a hot skillet with a large amount of olive oil, add the shishitos and sprinkle profusely with kosher salt. Keep the pan constantly moving so that all sides of the peppers begin to sear very brown. You want to blister them babies like sunburnt tourists! Laughing all this time while you remember the pain of your first sunburn is a fine way to count your blessings.

Plate your chilled F&H, some sliced potatoes and the seared shishitos and dig in. Drink a schlug of wine and dig in some more. Now your brain understands the value of a good smoked fish that is not on a bagel.

Sid Hoeltzell is an award-winning Miami-based commercial food and beverage photographer and former “MasterChef” contestant. He has completed more than 450 commissioned works for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, teaches food photography seminars, and is a preferred fine art photographer for Christie’s, Sotheby’s and private collections.