A thick smoked-haddock soup with potato, onion and milk, named after the Moray village of Cullen. Edinburgh's standard winter-warmer starter; on every Scottish menu in the Old Town.

Cullen skink first appears in print in Meg Dods' Cook and Housewife's Manual in 1827, though the dish itself is older fishermen's fare from the Moray Firth. The Edinburgh bistro circuit adopted it as a heritage starter through the 1980s, when Scottish provenance returned as a kitchen marketing pitch. The naturally-smoked Finnan haddie (haddock cured over green wood) is the canonical fish; the soup should be milk-based, never cream-thickened, and the potato is roughly broken rather than blended. The World Championships of Cullen Skink have run since 2010 in Cullen itself, and Edinburgh's bistro versions reliably circulate through the top placings.

5 editor picks for Cullen skink in Edinburgh, ranked by editorial score. All Edinburgh signature dishes · Cullen skink across every city.