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Pickled Mackerel

Mackerel cured with salt, pepper, cloves, allspice, baked, then pickled in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pickled Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean the mackerel by cutting them open slightly and washing them in salt and water.

  2. Place the cleaned mackerel in a baking pan.

  3. Sprinkle the mackerel generously with coarse sea salt, black pepper, whole cloves, and allspice.

  4. Add enough vinegar to the pan to cover the fish.

Bake and pack

  1. Bake the mackerel at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes.

  2. Layer the baked mackerel in a stone jar, sprinkling a little salt between each layer.

  3. In a pot, heat enough vinegar to cover the mackerel, adding whole cloves and allspice.

  4. Once all the fish are baked and in the jar, pour the hot vinegar mixture over them and cover tightly.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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, and its oily flesh firms and holds shape when cooked and pickled.
Vinegar
Acidifies the fish, preserving it and giving the pickled sharp flavor.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the fish, helping it keep its texture during pickling.

The step that matters

Covering the fish fully with hot vinegar in the jar. Fish left exposed above the liquid can spoil and dry out, since the vinegar's acidity only preserves the parts it covers. Pouring hot vinegar over the fish and sealing the jar tightly keeps everything submerged and airtight.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, clove, vinegar, wine):

  1. Allspicethe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Rosemaryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, clove, vinegar, wine. 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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