Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide, shallow pan for poaching
• •Small saucepan for the sauce
• •Fork for flaking the fish

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the haddock

   Lay the haddock in a wide pan, skin side down, and pour over the milk. Drop in the bay leaf and peppercorns. Set it over a gentle heat and bring the milk to a bare simmer. Not a boil. You want the surface to tremble, nothing more. Let it poach for six or seven minutes until the fish is just cooked through and flakes easily when you press it with a fork. Lift the fish out onto a plate and keep the milk. Every drop of that poaching liquid is flavour you've already earned.

   Look for undyed smoked haddock, the pale, straw-gold sort, not the electric yellow. The dyed kind tastes the same but looks like it belongs in a different conversation entirely.
2. 2

   Flake the fish

   When the haddock is cool enough to handle, peel away the skin and break the flesh into large, rough flakes. Don't be too careful about it. You want some pieces chunky enough to find with a fork, not a fine paste. Run your fingers through the flakes and pick out any bones. Set aside.

3. 3

   Make the cream sauce

   Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. When it foams, stir in the flour and cook for a minute, stirring constantly, until the raw smell disappears and the paste smells biscuity and warm. Pour in the strained poaching milk a little at a time, stirring as you go. The first few additions will seize and thicken. Keep stirring and keep adding. Once all the milk is in, let the sauce simmer gently for three or four minutes until it coats the back of a spoon without dripping straight off. Stir in the cream.

   The sauce wants to be loose enough to spoon, not thick like wallpaper paste. If it tightens too much, add a splash more milk. You're looking for something that flows slowly when you tilt the pan.
4. 4

   Bring it together

   Fold the flaked haddock gently into the sauce. Let it warm through for a minute or two, no more. Stir in most of the parsley and a squeeze of lemon, just enough to cut through the richness. Taste it. The fish is already salty from the smoke, so you're unlikely to need more salt. A few grinds of black pepper, though.

5. 5

   Toast and serve

   Toast the bread properly. Not the pale, half-hearted sort. You want it golden and firm enough to hold what's coming without collapsing. Place each slice on a warm plate and spoon the creamed haddock over the top, letting the sauce run down and pool around the edges. Scatter the remaining parsley over it. Eat it straight away. This is not a dish that waits.

Chef Tips

• •The bread matters as much as the fish. A thick slice from a proper loaf, sourdough or a good farmhouse white, toasted until it has some backbone. Thin sliced bread turns to mush under the sauce and you lose the contrast that makes this dish work.
• •Don't salt the sauce until you've tasted it. Smoked haddock carries enough salt on its own, and the poaching milk concentrates it further. Season with lemon and pepper instead. The lemon does more than salt ever could here, lifting the richness without you quite knowing why.
• •If you have a spring onion or two going soft in the fridge, slice them finely and stir them through the sauce with the parsley. They add a quiet sharpness that suits the smoky fish. Not essential, but a good addition if they're there.
• •A poached egg on top turns this into something more substantial. Let the yolk break into the cream sauce. It's not traditional, but tradition isn't the point. Supper is.

Advance Preparation

• •The haddock can be poached and flaked earlier in the day, kept covered in the fridge. The poaching milk should be saved and refrigerated alongside it. Make the sauce and bring everything together just before serving.
• •This is not a dish that reheats well. The toast softens, the sauce thickens. Make it fresh and eat it immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 310g)