Why it works: Fennel and butter work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 647 recipes. Both carry anethole, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓
To Boil Mackerel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the mackerel by opening it and removing the insides carefully.
Wash the mackerel and the roes gently in cold water.
Cook
Fill a pot with cold water, add salt, and bring it to a gentle boil.
Place the mackerel in the pot and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, skimming off any scum.
Watch for the tails to split and the eyes to start; remove the mackerel when done.
Serve
Serve the mackerel on a napkin with fennel or gooseberry sauce and melted butter.
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.
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Fennel + buttertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together647 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mackerel
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through in gently simmering water.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the fish when served on the side.
The step that matters
Simmering at a gentle boil. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil cooks the fish evenly and keeps its flesh tender and intact. Skimming scum keeps the cooking liquid clear.
“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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