Caitlin Cullen's Smoked Whitefish Dip

Recipes

Smoked Whitefish Dip

By Caitlin Cullen

This smoked fish dip is super easy to prepare – Caitlin Cullen “made it up” on the spot for our photoshoot. It evolved out of necessity, inspiration and healing. After months of serving thousands of free meals to needy folks during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cullen was hitting the wall. “The only thing keeping me going was a vision of going on this trip to Isle Royale National Park,” says Cullen. Her time camping on this remote island in Lake Superior did more than recharge her. It brought her back to cooking in a soulful, creative way – a feeling she hadn’t had in a long time. Her plan was just to vacation on the island with her partner, Anne. While dining on a fish sandwich and a beer at the national park restaurant, this inveterate fixer who spent her earlier career as a teacher and school principal saw a kitchen that needed help. She wound up working there for five weeks, a job that included smoking and making dip from the salmon and trout that the staff were catching in Lake Superior. In Milwaukee, Cullen gets her whitefish at St. Paul Fish Market. “I love a smoked fish-cream cheese dip,” says Cullen, “and making this was a muscle memory I got to exercise.”

Ingredients

4-6 servings

10-16 ounces smoked whitefish (or other smoked fish of your choosing)

18 ounces block cream cheese, softened

1 Tbsp sour cream

1 tsp capers, chopped

1 Tbsp fresh dill, roughly chopped

1 Tbsp fresh chives, minced

2-3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

Flake apart the smoked fish, taking care to remove all bones. Try to keep the fish in large chunks, and it will naturally break down smaller when mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. Mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, chives, dill, lemon zest, capers, and Worcestershire by hand until well combined. Fold in the flaked fish and serve with toasted bread, crackers, cucumbers, or whatever your heart desires for dipping! If you prefer a smoother dip, you can add more sour cream, some mayonnaise, or even some lemon juice to make the dip tangier.

Pro Tips

1

I always make sure that when chopping veggies for a recipe, particularly a soup or stew, I cut them the same size - or as close to the same size as possible. Not only does it class up a dish when the ingredients look good together, but it ensures you don't end up with crunchy celery and mushy carrots ;)

2

I'm not sure I've ever made a soup, stew, pilaf, pile of lentils - basically, anything that hits a pot or sautee pan - without deglazing the pan with some sort of booze or acidic liquid. After sauteing all veg, and before adding stock or liquid, throw a good splash of wine, beer, lemon juice, or vinegar of choice (cut with a little water if it's vinegar or lemon) into the pan and let it simmer off. Not only does it help get the delicious browned bits off the bottom of the pan and integrated into the dish, but the brightness it will add to any dish is a subtle but strong improvement ;)

3

Restaurant food tastes better ‘cause chefs aren't afraid of heat. I saute pretty much all my veg and sear all my meat on high heat - at least at the start. That heavy browning adds a bunch of flavor and it's worth the risk ;)

Bio

Caitlin Cullen is an educator, chef, entrepreneur, and activist who uses food to help dismantle wealth and health disparities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2016 she opened the social enterprise restaurant, the Tandem, where she provided on-the-job culinary and hospitality training for over 150 young, nontraditional workforce candidates in Milwaukee’s central city. In March 2020, Cullen shifted her restaurant’s focus to an emergency hunger response organization, eventually serving over 125,000 meals to Milwaukeeans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and fundraising over $1 million to support local small food businesses struggling to survive. She is currently the Food Center Director for Kinship Community Food Center, where she continues to use food as a medium to create a more equitable, just, and inclusive Milwaukee for all.

Caitlin Cullen

Kinship Community Food Center

Caitlin Cullen

Kinship Community Food Center

About Kinship Community Food Center

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