Name: Baked Mackerel in White Wine
Ingredients: 3 tbsp Oil; 2 Large Onions, chopped; 3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped; 1 x 400g/14oz tin Chopped Tomatoes; 240ml/8fl.oz. Dry White Wine; 1 tbsp Freshly chopped Parsley; Salt and Black Pepper; 4 Large Mackerel Fillets

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Baked Mackerel in White Wine

Oven190 °C (375 °F, Gas Mark 5)

Time35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F, Gas Mark 5) and lightly grease a shallow oven-proof dish.

Make the sauce

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onions and garlic, and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, wine, parsley, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 15 minutes.

Bake and serve

Spread half of the sauce in the bottom of the baking dish, place the mackerel on top, cover with the remaining sauce, and bake for about 35 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

221Calories

3 gProtein

14 gFat

18 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Mackerel	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mackerel fillets: The main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through in the sauce.
Dry white wine: Adds acidity and aroma, and its liquid helps build the sauce that keeps the fish moist.
Chopped tomatoes: Provide the liquid base and acidity of the sauce, which thickens as it simmers.
Onions: Soften and sweeten as they sauté, giving the sauce body and depth.
Garlic: Adds pungent aroma that mellows during cooking.

The step that matters

Covering the fish with sauce before baking. Fish cooks quickly and dries out easily. Surrounding it with the simmered sauce keeps it moist, while the sauce's liquid gently steams and cooks the fillets through.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, tomato, white wine, parsley, pepper):

Thymefits better
Basilfits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, tomato, white wine, parsley, pepper. 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.

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Baked Mackerel in White Wine