Boiled Mackerel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the inside of the mackerel thoroughly.
In a kettle, combine the water and salt to cover the fish.
Cook
Bring the water to a boil gradually, then skim the surface.
Simmer gently until the fish is cooked, about 10 minutes after boiling.
Serve
Serve the mackerel on a hot napkin, alternating heads and tails.
Garnish with fennel and serve with fennel sauce or melted butter.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Mackerel
- Is the main protein, cooked gently in salted water until its flesh turns opaque and firm.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the poaching water so the fish is lightly flavoured as it cooks.
The step that matters
Simmer gently after bringing to a boil. Once the water boils, a gentle simmer cooks the fish evenly. A hard, rolling boil can toughen the flesh and break it apart, so keep the heat low.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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