Smoked Haddock Kedgeree

Kedgeree is a breakfast dish that most people now eat at eight in the evening, and it is better for it. The bones of it are rice, smoked fish and egg, and the difference between a good one and a beige one is entirely in what you do with the poaching liquid.

One pan, two uses

Poach the haddock gently in the milk with a bay leaf until it flakes, about eight minutes. Lift the fish out, strain the milk, and use it as part of the liquid for the rice. The rice comes out faintly smoky and pale gold, and you have not bought a stock cube.

Undyed smoked haddock is what you want. The bright yellow kind is dyed, tastes the same, and turns the finished dish a colour that looks like a photograph from 1974.

The eggs

Seven minutes from a rolling boil, then straight into cold water. You want the yolk set at the edge and still soft in the middle, so it breaks into the rice rather than sitting on top of it like a decoration.