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To Pickle Mackerel, Called Caveach

A method of pickling mackerel by seasoning, frying, and preserving in vinegar and oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pickle Mackerel, Called Caveach

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean and divide the mackerel, cutting each side into three or leaving them undivided and cutting each fish into five or six pieces.

  2. Mix the pepper, nutmegs, mace, cloves, and coarse sea salt into a fine powder.

Season and fry

  1. Make holes in each piece of fish and thrust the seasoning into them, rubbing each piece with some of the mixture.

  2. Fry the seasoned fish in oil until browned, then let them cool.

Pickle and preserve

  1. Place the cooled fish into a stone jar and cover with vinegar.

  2. Pour oil on top for long-term preservation.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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, becoming firm and flaky when fried and pickled.
Vinegar
Acidifies the fish, preserving it and giving it a sharp, tangy flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the fish and helps draw out moisture to aid preservation.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, pungent aroma and heat to the seasoning mix.
Nutmeg
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour to the seasoned fish.

The step that matters

Frying the seasoned fish until browned. Browning develops flavour through the Maillard reaction, but overcooking dries the fish. Letting it cool fully before jarring keeps the vinegar from being diluted and prevents spoilage.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

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