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Broiled Salt Mackerel

Broiled salt mackerel marinated in oil, vinegar, and lemon, then broiled and served with butter, lemon juice, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Broiled Salt Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wash and scrape the fish.

  2. Soak the fish overnight, changing the water at bedtime for tepid water and again in the morning for almost scalding water.

  3. Keep the water hot for an hour by placing the vessel on the side of the range.

  4. Wash the fish in cold water with a stiff brush or rough cloth and wipe it dry.

Marinate and broil

  1. Rub the fish all over with salad oil and vinegar or lemon juice.

  2. Let the fish marinate for 15 minutes.

  3. Broil the fish over clear coals.

Serve

  1. Serve on a hot dish and spread with a mixture of butter, lemon juice, and minced parsley.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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, whose salt-cured flesh is softened by soaking to reduce its saltiness.
Salad oil
Coats the fish surface, adding moisture and helping it brown during broiling.
Vinegar or lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the fish and helps tenderize its surface.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that melts over the hot fish for a smooth finish.
Lemon juice
Adds bright acidity that balances the richness of the butter topping.

The step that matters

Soaking the fish overnight with water changes. Salt mackerel is very salty, so soaking in fresh water draws salt out of the flesh. Too little soaking leaves the fish harsh, while the warm-to-hot final soak helps it relax and become tender.

“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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