Behind the Cookbook: The Three Chimneys and The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible

40 years ago, Shirley Spear and her husband opened The Three Chimneys, a restaurant on the Isle of Skye which went on to win a Michelin star and which transformed perceptions of Scottish cooking. We are pleased to be able to add The Three Chimneys and The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible to ckbk and in this Behind the Cookbook feature Shirley, who was the restaurant’s Head Chef until 2005, tells us how her interest in Scotland’s culinary heritage was first awakened and how the seasonal harvest from Scotland’s fields and lochs drove the development of her menu.

By Shirley Spear

My inspiration when I started The Three Chimneys Restaurant was a cookbook given to me by Dad as a gift on my 18th birthday—Theodora Fitzgibbon’s A Taste of Scotland, published in 1970. This is a unique collection of traditional Scottish recipes, some well-known and others less so, but all with intriguing names and notable ingredients. Facing each recipe is a fascinating period picture taken by early photographers, depicting scenes from Scottish life from the mid-to-late-1800s. 

Scottish cooking is inextricably linked with the history of the land and sea. I loved reading all the background information about the recipes, their specific geographic origins and the historic connections between France and Scotland. But more than this, I studied the black and white photographs for clues about the way-of-life in Scotland during the years of my great-grandparents who met in Edinburgh and my grandmother, who grew up as one of their family in rural Galloway before the Great War. From the very beginning of my dreams about having a restaurant, I wanted to highlight the culinary heritage of Scotland and take pride in serving some of the dishes with the quirky names, that I discovered through the pages of that book.

I was hellbent on finding the right property, from the very start. It had to have an historic background of some sort, perhaps an old inn in the Scottish Borders or the Highlands and Islands. When we discovered that The Three Chimneys in Skye was for sale, it matched my dreams, despite its remote location. An original croft cottage with bare stone walls and the remains of stone floors, wooden beams and open fireplaces, it was set close beside the sea along a single-track road in the north west of the island. It seemed to be the perfect setting and was already established as a business we believed we could develop and enhance. 

Through my work in building a reputation for the restaurant as a worthwhile foodie destination, we won awards along the way and expanded the business over 35 years. I gained a name for having helped to trail-blaze cooking with fresh, local ingredients. Generations of Scots, particularly women cooks, had done this long before me, but not in a restaurant environment. Dining-out as we know it today, was in its infancy in the 1980s. When we first opened for business, this was based largely in Edinburgh and Glasgow, but with some very distinguished gems, including Michelin-starred restaurants, scattered throughout the country. Most of these exist to this day, but many more have been added to what is now a vibrant restaurant scene nationwide. Contemporary chefs emphasize and promote the use of local, seasonal ingredients on their menus, highlighting their provenance with pride and talking knowledgeably about the fishermen, farmers and other producers who supply their kitchens. 

I always took enormous pride in talking about the stories behind the ingredients which we were very proud to serve at The Three Chimneys. A highlight was local seafood of all kinds. Fabulous langoustines, lobster and brown crab were fished by creel boats in the waters that surrounded us. I used these served very simply as salads as described in Recipe for Skye on a Plate. Our Prawn and Lobster Bisque was legendary and hot dishes such as Grilled Lobster Vanille and Hot Skye Lobster and Langoustine (pictured above) were incredibly popular. Brown Crab was also used to make a bisque known as Partan Bree, but The Three Chimneys was especially famous for its Bracadale Crab Tart and Skye Crab Risotto.  This can either be served hot as soon as it is ready, or as shown in the recipe, you can chill the cooked risotto and shape it into little cakes, and top with dressed crab meat.

Oysters and mussels were naturally sea-farmed nearby. Mussel Brose, using toasted oatmeal and cream was so popular, a customer once asked if he could be served a second portion instead of a dessert! Oysters were served mostly au naturel, but occasionally added to a sauce, such as in Citrus-Baked Halibut Fillet with Oyster and Champagne Velouté.

Scallops were hand-dived locally and delivered straight to the kitchen door. A Warm Salad of Seared Scallops with Wild Mallard Duck was a wonderful way to serve them (pictured below), and the Marmalade Bible includes a recipe for Fish Kebab with Marmalade Marinade which combines prawns wrapped in bacon with scallops and monkfish.

Fresh white fish from the open seas – including cod, halibut and monkfish - came across to us from the larger fishing port of Mallaig, on the mainland. There is a delicious all-in-one dish of Grilled West Coast Cod and Skirlie Mash which show how I tried to combine traditional recipes and ingredients such as cod and Skirlie (oatmeal fried with onion and butter) and present it in a modern way with a delicate saffron broth and local mussels.

Lamb and beef came from Skye or the wider region. Grilled Loin of Lamb with Leek and Mushroom Pearl Barley Risotto and Wild Garlic Gravy is a stylish dish, but a more traditional one-pot lamb recipe, Hairst Bree, uses a cheaper cut of lamb with an assortment of the wonderful selection of local vegetables. You will find traditional Scottish vegetable side dishes known as Kailkenny, Rumbledethumps and Clapshot all there in the same chapter. 

A wide range of wild game from lochs, moors and hillsides throughout the Highlands and Islands appeared on The Three Chimneys Menu. Examples include Roast Crown of Red Grouse with Beetroot and Blackcurrant Game Gravy and Potted Grouse, an old-fashioned method for preserving cooked meat, which we served with a sharp and fruity, homemade wild blackberry jelly. Another good fruit-based accompaniment is our Marmalade Apple Sauce which works especially well with wild duck or roast pork.

We had access to vegetables of all kinds, particularly root and potato varieties, plus curly kale and cabbage, grown by generations before us on local crofts throughout Skye. More modern crofting methods opened doorways to growing new varieties of fresh herbs and salad leaves which we were delighted to incorporate into the menu. Scotland has a proud farming heritage, particularly dairy farming, and produces a superb range of cheeses including Crowdie. I used some of these cheeses in my cooking, and also served an all-Scottish cheeseboard. Scottish oats and barley form the starting points, respectively, for porridge and whisky—surely two of Scotland’s most renowned products. The Three Chimneys includes a chapter devoted to The Mighty Oat, including a recipe for a humble yet delicious Oatmeal and Potato Soup which attracted a cult following after it was broadcast on Scottish radio.

Traditionally butter would have been churned and Crowdie cheese strained through muslin in many households from rural cottages to grand mansions. Most Skye crofts would have had a cow and some hens, ground their own flour and oatmeal, baked on a girdle over a peat fire, cooked pots of broth and smoked or dried fish by hanging it from the rafters. It was a tough life, but these cooking methods formed the basis of traditional Scottish dishes as we know many of them today. Salting, drying, smoking, pickling, potting and preserving were skills known to many people. I always tried to include a dish that referenced the old methods of cooking, such as potted meats, rollmop herrings or smoked fish such as Arbroath Smokies (a type of smoked haddock) or kippers—for example our Smoked Ham and Haddie Soufflé.

Added to all these wonderful ingredients, I was able to use summer soft fruits grown locally—blackcurrants, raspberries, strawberries, plus gooseberries and rhubarb. We could never have enough fresh strawberries with Whisky and Lemon Syllabub and served with shortbread biscuit. All our baking used Scottish butter, including our scones served with Summer Fruits Jam. My version of Cranachan combined toasted oatmeal, with thick heather honey, whipped double cream, Scottish raspberries and a glug of Skye’s own Talisker whisky. Groset is the old Scottish word for a gooseberry and Groset Fool, made with whipped cream flavoured with elderflower, and Gooseberry Meringue Tart were both delicious ways to sweeten this sharp fruit.

In the autumn, Scottish apples, pears, plums and damsons were put to great use, including making jars of homemade jam and chutney to sell in our whisky shop. Pear Poached in Green Ginger Wine was described as ‘stunning’ by a restaurant critic while our Autumn Pudding was our version of the well-known summer dish, with cooking apples, pears, plums and brambles, rather than soft summer fruits. Our Baked Stuffed Apple used leftover Christmas mincemeat—made with traditional dried fruits—great ingredients for cooking and baking in winter when fresh fruit and berries were not available. 

Making the most of these fresh local ingredients was a key part of the standards we set ourselves, along with offering warm welcome through our doors and high levels of friendly service. We worked hard to build our reputation and despite many set-backs over the years, we achieved great success and worldwide recognition. The Isle of Skye became widely known for its natural larder of delicious ingredients, and remains so to this day. Several chefs, such as Clare Coghill of Cafe Cuil beside Talisker distillery, Michael Smith at Loch Bay, Calum Montgomery at Edinbane Lodge, Calum Munro at Scorrybreac in Portree and Jason Webb at Kinloch Lodge have made their name extolling the tastes and flavours of the island’s wonderful selection of local food. At The Three Chimneys, Paul Green has recently taken over as Head Chef, having begun his career with us as a commis chef almost 20 years ago. 

My first cookbook, The Three Chimneys, includes many of the dishes we served at the restaurant. It is also the story of my early life in Skye with my husband Eddie and our young family. We had arrived as complete amateurs, but we left with a lifetime of hands-on experience. As you browse the book you will come across many of the stories behind the recipes and the ingredients.

My second cookbook, The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible, reflects a lifelong enthusiasm of mine. I was keen to introduce Marmalade as an iconic Scottish ingredient to our Menu, right from the beginning, but as we were not serving breakfast, it had to be in some way other than on toast!  I found a recipe for a steamed pudding and amended it to suit.  The Hot Marmalade Pudding was introduced on the very first night we opened and stayed on the menu for 35 years.  A food guide inspector once described it as, "A hug in a bowl".  

There is always a friendly tussle between Scotland and England and which country invented marmalade.  I was intrigued to learn that Dalemain, a beautiful country mansion near Penrith, had launched the Marmalade Awards in 2005. Over the past 20 years, it has grown into an international event and raises huge amounts of money for local charities in Cumbria.  I was delighted to be invited to participate as a judge for a few years and thoroughly enjoyed taking part.  Thousands of jars are entered for the competition and it is astonishing how different every jar of marmalade can taste!  When Birlinn asked me to write The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible, as one of their series of small books dedicated to specific Scottish ingredients, I was very pleased to oblige and include my own recipes from the restaurant, and more.

Shirley Spear, Jan 2025

Both The Three Chimneys and The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible are available in full to ckbk Premium Members.

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