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Broiled Salt Mackerel

Broiled salted mackerel served with butter and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,933 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Broiled Salt Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Wash and soak the mackerel in cold water for 12 to 14 hours.

  2. Hang the fish by the head to drip for 8 to 10 hours before cooking.

  3. Wipe the fish clean.

Grill

  1. Heat a grill over live coals.

  2. Grease the grill with a piece of salt pork or bacon.

  3. Place the fish on the grill, skin side up, and broil until brown.

  4. Turn the fish carefully.

  5. Separate any parts that stick with a knife.

  6. Brown the other side.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooked, transfer the fish to a hot dish, skin side down.

  2. Distribute small lumps of butter on top.

  3. Sprinkle with pepper.

  4. Place in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for a few minutes to let the butter soak in.

  5. Serve immediately.

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. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel
Salted fish forms the main body of the dish, its salt already seasoning the flesh.
Butter
Melts into the hot fish, adding richness and moisture and carrying flavor.
Salt pork or bacon
Greases the grill and adds savory fat that flavors the fish as it cooks.

The step that matters

Turn the fish carefully. Cooked fish flesh is delicate and can tear or break apart when flipped. Loosening any parts stuck to the grill first helps keep the fish in whole pieces.

“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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