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Broiled Mackerel with Browned Potatoes

Broiled mackerel served with browned potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Broiled Mackerel with Browned Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Select large fresh mackerel with full eyes.

  2. Split the mackerel and wash it quickly, then dry with a cloth.

  3. Grease a broiler and arrange the mackerel inside.

  4. Dust with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Broil and serve

  1. Place the mackerel flesh side down over a clear fire.

  2. Cook for 10 to 18 minutes, depending on thickness, then turn.

  3. While the skin side is browning, spread the upper side with butter.

  4. Serve on a hot platter, garnished with mashed potatoes browned in a hot oven.

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 + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + buttertop 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
Forms the main body of the dish; its oily flesh cooks through and stays moist over direct heat.
Plain butter or maitre d'hotel butter
Adds fat and richness to the upper side of the fish as it cooks.
Mashed potatoes
Browned in a hot oven, they add a golden crust and a soft, starchy contrast to the fish.

The step that matters

Turning the mackerel. Turn only when the flesh has set and the skin has browned, since moving fish too early tears it and makes it stick to the grill. Thickness determines the timing, so check for flaking before turning.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Carrotfits less well
  4. Onionfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter. 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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