Why it works: Milk and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Salt Mackerel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the salt mackerel in cold water or buttermilk for 1‑2 days, changing the water occasionally.
Before cooking, place the mackerel in a shallow dish and cover with hot milk to remove the strong taste.
Remove the mackerel from the milk and pat dry with a napkin.
Cook and serve
Broil the mackerel on a gridiron like fresh fish.
Serve with a sauce made from lemon juice.
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
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Buttermilk + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together501 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Buttermilk + milktop 41% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt mackerel
- Is the main fish; soaking draws out the salt and mellows its strong flavour.
- Cold water or buttermilk
- Soaking liquid that draws out salt; buttermilk also adds a mild tang.
- Hot milk
- Soaks up some of the strong, fishy taste before the fish is cooked.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity to the sauce, brightening the rich, savoury fish.
The step that matters
Soaking the salt mackerel. Salt fish is very salty and strongly flavoured. Soaking it long enough in changed water draws out excess salt, so the fish tastes balanced rather than harsh once cooked.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (buttermilk, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against buttermilk, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
More salted mackerel recipes
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.