They were once standard fare at Scottish fishmongers, enjoyed as a delicacy after being wrestled out of lochs and coastal waters from Skye to the north-east. 

But eventually the mighty clabby dhu, the Scottish name for a horse mussel which can grow as big as a dinner plate and live for 50 years, dropped off menus as their numbers dwindled thanks to over-fishing. 

Eventually, they joined dishes such as potted heid and powsowdie – sheep’s head broth – known only to grandparents and those with a taste for very traditional Scottish cooking. 

However, a chef from Skye who made it his life’s mission to track down an elusive clabby dhu for his larder has finally sated his appetite after spending decades scouring the shore. 

The Herald:

The giant mussel dwarfs a regular one when placed beside it.

Chef Calum Montgomery, 29, grew up on the island and heard stories of the giant shellfish from older relatives, which takes its name from the Gaelic word “clab”, meaning a large mouth, and “dhu”, meaning black or dark.

But despite a constant vigil on the coastline looking for a one, which is around three times the size of a regular mussel, he discovered only empty shells.

Finally, after years of searching, Mr Montgomery found a live specimen measuring 15cm across which dwarfed a regular mussel when placed beside it.

The cook, who made the unusual discovery at Loch Ainort at Luib, Skye, said his relatives’ recollections of finding them regularly dated back about 30 years.

He and other chefs at his family’s business, the Edinbane Lodge, often
go out to scour the shoreline for seaweed and shellfish which can be used to research dishes before they go on the menu.

But never before had a clabby dhu appeared among their scavenging baskets. 
Like other shellfish, horse mussels grow in beds on the sea floor, but take especially long to mature.

As well as being fished for their own meat, the shellfish are hugely vulnerable to dredging or any disruption to their reefs and beds.

Mr Montgomery said: “They are quite rare round about Skye – my family have been telling me for years that they used to be plentiful on the shores. It was pretty amazing to find one.

“I’ve been hearing about them for a long time and have found empty shells, but this is the first live one I’ve found.

“Sometimes regular mussels might have a large shell but not much meat. It does taste the same but it’s a different texture.”

He added: “I don’t know why clabby-dhu became less common. It takes a long time for mussels to get to that age.

“They are in deep water, and I found that one at really low tide.”

The Herald:

Mussels usually come in smaller varieties

Mr Montgomery is trying to rediscover recipes and traditional methods of cooking which were used on Skye hundreds of years ago.

He has a reputation for experimenting to find new twists on traditional Scottish food, and recently came up with a new dish featuring guga – salted gannet chick from the tiny islet of Sula Sgeir, about 40 miles north of Ness on Lewis.

To prepare the clabby dhu, he sliced the flesh into four pieces and steamed the mussel with shallots and garlic.

But he said that if he ever finds another clabby dhu, he will cook it in the traditional Skye method that his grandparents remember, and pan-fry it.

However, the chef’s find did not phase his relatives, with his  mother-in-law describing it as “a baby”, saying she had found ones twice that size.

Shirley Spears, founder of the award-winning Three Chimneys restaurant on Skye, is also an advocate of traditional Scottish cooking who is known for making the most of local ingredients and time-honoured dishes. 

The Herald:

Shirley Spears

Mrs Spears said: “It used to be that people would harvest oysters from the shore because that was their daily fare. 

“But nowadays they are all farmed on ropes and rafts and have become something which you eat in a restaurant rather than at home. 

“But in ancient times they were part of people on the coast’s staple diet.

"Musselburgh is named for its mussel beds and oysters were eaten in great quantities by the poor people of Edinburgh, with the foundations of many buildings on the Royal Mile found to contain thousands of shells.”

She added that Scottish cooking and traditional food had made a huge comeback in recent years, and that people now expect to see it on menus.

Mrs Spears said: “I’ve never made a sheep’s head broth, but I could.

“When we started out 30 years ago menus were in French and you’d more likely see lasagne and chips in a pub than anything Scottish.

“But I loved our dishes like cullen skink and salted herring. Even the names are brilliant.” 

The Herald:

Clabby dhu, where are you? The beach where the discovery was made