Arbroath Smokies: What They Are, How to Eat Them, and Why the Name Is Protected

An Arbroath smokie is a haddock, salted, tied in pairs by the tail, and hot-smoked over hardwood until the flesh is cooked through, copper-brown outside and pale and steaming inside. It arrives ready to eat. That last point is the one visitors get wrong: unlike the cold-smoked haddock that goes into Cullen skink, a smokie has already been cooked by the smoking.

It is also one of Scotland's protected food names — and unlike a great many things claimed to be, this one genuinely is.

The name is protected

Arbroath Smokies is a registered Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). It was registered with the EU on 2 March 2004 and carried into the UK scheme on 31 December 2020, and it sits on the UK register under class 1.7, fresh fish, molluscs and crustaceans and products derived therefrom. You can read the register entry and follow it through to gov.uk.

What that means in practice: you cannot smoke haddock in Aberdeen, or Peterhead, or Grimsby, and sell it as an Arbroath Smokie. The name is tied to production in the Arbroath area and to a registered specification. Smoked haddock made elsewhere is smoked haddock — a fine thing, a different thing.

This is the distinction that catches people out with Dundee cake, 15 miles up the same coast, whose application for the same kind of protection was refused in 2023. Two Angus foods, two very different legal positions.

How they are made

The process is short, hot and physical:

1. Haddock, gutted and beheaded, dry-salted for a period to firm the flesh and draw moisture.
2. Tied in pairs by the tail — the pairing is not decorative. It is how the fish are hung over a stick to smoke, and it is why smokies are still sold in twos.
3. Hung over a hardwood fire in a barrel or pit, covered with hessian to control the heat and hold the smoke.
4. Hot-smoked until cooked through.

The result is a fish that is smoked and cooked in one operation. This is the difference from Finnan haddie — the other great Scottish smoked haddock — which is cold-smoked, stays raw, and must be cooked afterwards.

Why they are still smoked in barrels

The whisky barrel — half a barrel, sunk into the ground or set in a stone surround, with slats laid across the top to hang the fish from and a wet hessian sheet over that — is not heritage theatre. It is a very efficient small smoker: the depth holds the heat, the hessian traps the smoke and lets the smokehouse control the temperature by lifting or lowering it, and the whole thing can be run by one person turning out fish continuously.

The smoke comes from hardwood, typically beech or oak. Softwood is not used and would taste of resin.

It also explains the shape of what you buy. The fish are hung in pairs over a stick because that is how you get them into a barrel, and they come out of it tied that way. Every part of the finished product's appearance is a consequence of how it is made.

How to eat one

The correct answer is: warm, with butter, standing near the person who sold it to you.

Failing that:

• As it comes. Open it out, lift the backbone away — it comes out cleanly in one piece — and eat the flesh with butter, black pepper and bread. No cooking needed.
• Warmed through. Ten minutes in a low oven, wrapped in foil with a knob of butter. This is the standard home treatment and it is the best one.
• Under the grill, opened out and dotted with butter, for three or four minutes.
• Flaked into other things — a smokie pâté with cream cheese and lemon, folded through scrambled egg, or into a risotto or omelette at the end.

Do not boil one and do not overcook it. It is already cooked; anything you do beyond warming it is drying it out.

Smokie vs Finnan haddie vs dyed smoked haddock

The bright yellow fillets in most supermarkets are dyed, usually with annatto, and are a different product from either of the traditional Scottish smoked haddocks. Undyed cold-smoked haddock is what a Cullen skink wants.

Buying them

They are sold in pairs, still tied. Look for firm, glossy fish with the skin intact and no dried-out or cracked areas — a smokie that has sat too long goes leathery at the tail end.

Genuine smokies travel: several Arbroath producers post them chilled or frozen overnight, and they freeze well for a couple of months. A good fishmonger elsewhere in Scotland will often have them in, particularly on a Friday. If what you are offered is loose, single, and pale, it is not a smokie.

Frequently asked questions

What is an Arbroath smokie?

A haddock that has been salted, tied in pairs by the tail, and hot-smoked over hardwood until cooked through. It is sold ready to eat, and the name is protected as a PGI, meaning it can only be produced in the Arbroath area to a registered specification.

Do you need to cook Arbroath smokies?

No. Hot-smoking cooks the fish, so a smokie can be eaten cold as it comes. Most people warm it through — ten minutes in a low oven wrapped in foil with butter — but that is reheating, not cooking. Boiling or long cooking dries it out.

What is the difference between an Arbroath smokie and Finnan haddie?

A smokie is hot-smoked and therefore cooked; Finnan haddie is cold-smoked and remains raw, so it has to be cooked before eating. Smokies are deep copper-brown and sold in pairs; Finnan haddie is pale and sold as split fish or fillets.

Is the name Arbroath Smokie legally protected?

Yes. Arbroath Smokies holds Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, registered with the EU in 2004 and carried into the UK scheme on 31 December 2020. Smoked haddock produced outside the protected area cannot be sold under the name.

Can you freeze Arbroath smokies?

Yes, for a couple of months. Freeze them in their pairs, wrapped well, and defrost in the fridge. Producers routinely post them frozen.