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Mackerel, Baked and Stuffed

A baked mackerel stuffed with a breadcrumb, suet, parsley, onion, and egg mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mackerel, Baked and Stuffed

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cut the mackerel down the back and remove the backbone, laying the fish flat.

Stuff and roll

  1. Make a stuffing by mixing bread crumbs, suet, parsley, and onion; season with pepper and salt, and bind with the egg.

  2. Divide the stuffing into four portions and place each on a fish.

  3. Roll up the fish from tail to head and secure with skewers or string.

Bake

  1. Bake for 20 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Parsley + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel
Forms the body that is opened, stuffed, and rolled, and cooks into tender flaky flesh.
Egg
Binds the stuffing so it holds together around the fish during baking.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body and a soft texture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it bakes.

The step that matters

Rolling and securing the fish. If the rolled fish is not tightly secured with skewers or string, the stuffing can spill out and the roll can open during baking. Rolling from tail to head keeps the stuffing enclosed.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, bread, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, bread, egg, 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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