Broiled Fresh Mackerel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the mackerel and remove all the thin black skin from the inside.
Sprinkle the inside with coarse sea salt and keep it in a cool place until ready to use.
Wash off the salt with cold water and wipe the fish dry.
Broil and serve
Place the mackerel in a wire broiler with the skin side facing the fire.
Once the skin is well heated and begins to parch, turn the fish and broil the inside until it is a delicate brown.
Transfer to a hot platter, butter it, and serve immediately.
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
- Provides the main flesh, which firms and flakes as it cooks over direct heat.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the flesh and draws out surface moisture before the fish is washed and dried.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky finish when spread over the hot fish.
The step that matters
Drying the fish after washing off the salt. Surface moisture left on the fish turns to steam under the broiler, which slows browning and can leave the skin soggy instead of lightly parched.
“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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