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Salt Mackerel, with Cream Sauce

Salted mackerel served with a creamy sauce made from milk, corn starch, butter, egg, pepper, salt, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Salt Mackerel, with Cream Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the mackerel overnight in lukewarm water, changing to ice‑cold water in the morning.

  2. Rub off all the salt from the fish.

  3. Wipe the fish dry.

  4. Grease a grill with butter.

  5. Brush the fish on both sides with melted butter.

  6. Broil the fish quickly over a clear fire.

  7. Turn the fish gently to avoid breaking it.

  8. Place the fish on a hot‑water dish.

  9. Cover while preparing the sauce.

Make the cream sauce

  1. Heat the milk until scalding.

  2. Stir in the corn starch mixed with a little water.

  3. Add the butter, pepper, salt, and chopped parsley to the thickened sauce.

  4. Beat the egg lightly.

  5. Gradually pour the sauce over the egg, stirring for one minute over low heat.

  6. Pour the sauce over the fish.

  7. Keep covered over hot water until 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Corn + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together943 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

Salt mackerel
Provides the main fish flavour and firm flesh that the sauce accompanies.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it a smooth, creamy body.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as it heats.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce and fish.
Egg
Enriches the sauce and, when gently heated, thickens it further.

The step that matters

Gradually pour the sauce over the egg. Adding hot sauce to beaten egg slowly, while stirring over low heat, tempers the egg so it thickens smoothly. Pouring too fast or over high heat can scramble the egg and leave lumps.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, butter, pepper, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, butter, pepper, egg. 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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