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Mackerel, Pickled

A preserved fish dish made by boiling mackerel, then brining it in vinegar, pepper, and bay leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mackerel, Pickled

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the fish

  1. Boil the mackerel in salt and water for 15 to 20 minutes.

  2. Remove the fish and place them in a deep earthenware dish.

Make the pickle

  1. In the cooking liquid, add vinegar, black pepper, and bay leaves.

  2. Boil the mixture for 7 to 8 minutes.

  3. Let the mixture cool completely, then pour it over the mackerel.

  4. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel
Is the main protein, which firms up when poached and absorbs the pickling flavour.
Vinegar
Its acidity preserves the fish and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy taste.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the poaching liquid and helps firm the flesh of the fish.
Whole black pepper
Adds a mild, aromatic heat that infuses into the pickling liquid.
Bay leaves
Contribute a subtle herbal aroma to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture completely before pouring it over the fish. Pouring hot pickling liquid over raw or freshly cooked fish can partly cook it further and make the flesh soft and flaky, so it should be cooled first.

“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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