If you read our last blog, you’ll know that I was recounting the history of the food markets in Aberdeen, as described in the wonderful Annals of Aberdeen, covering the period from the twelfth century to 1818. In the section on the fish market, we can read of one particular fish “product” that was very popular back in those days, not just in Aberdeen but (as is still the case today) throughout the UK. It is, of course, the Finnan Haddie. As the Annals describe it…
“The fishers of Findon, about six miles to the south, bring immense quantities of haddocks to the market every morning, before breakfast, prepared in a peculiar manner, being split, salted and smoked, in the course of the preceding night. They are highly esteemed by many people as a delicacy, find a ready sale, and large quantities of them are bought up, and sent to Edinburgh, and to other places in the south, even as far as London.”
Findon wasn’t just renowned for haddock though…
“Crabs are caught in considerable quantities, on the rocky coast near Findon, and brough to the town every morning, but lobsters very rarely appear in the market.”
Other local villages produced different shellfish, although the spelling has changed a bit in the intervening centuries…
“Muscles are brought from Ythan daily, and sold in large quantities… Shrimps are often found in vast abundance in the proper season, and can be had on the shortest notice.”
See Aberdeen – SeaFood!
Julie Skinner, Resourcing and Benefits Specialist, RGU