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Broiled Spanish Mackerel

Broiled Spanish mackerel seasoned with salt, butter, lemon, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Broiled Spanish Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Split the fish down the back and remove the backbone.

  2. Wash the fish in cold water and dry it with a clean cloth.

  3. Sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt.

Grill and serve

  1. Place the fish on a buttered grill with the flesh side down over a clear fire.

  2. Cook until it begins to brown, then turn to cook the other side.

  3. Combine melted butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

  4. Serve the fish hot on a warm dish and pour the mixture over it.

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 + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Spanish mackerel + lemontop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together32 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

  5. Spanish mackerel + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together34 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Spanish mackerel
Forms the main body of the dish and carries the flavour of the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the fish brown on the grill.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich fish and butter.

The step that matters

Cook until it begins to brown, then turn. Fish flesh is delicate and sticks or breaks easily. Starting flesh side down over a clear fire lets the surface set and release, so turning too early can tear it.

“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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