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Spiced Mackerel

A pickled mackerel prepared with vinegar, nutmeg, mace, and cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Spiced Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the mackerel overnight.

  2. Boil the mackerel until tender, then remove the bones.

  3. Place the fish in a stone jar.

Pickle

  1. Boil the vinegar with the grated nutmeg, mace, and cloves.

  2. Pour the spiced vinegar over the fish.

  3. Let it sit for about two days before using.

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

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 firms up as it is boiled and then pickled.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that preserves the fish and balances its richness.
Nutmeg
Contributes warm, sweet aroma to the spiced vinegar.
Mace
Adds a delicate, peppery aroma that complements the fish.
Cloves
Provide a strong, warm aroma that flavours the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Boil the mackerel until tender, then remove the bones. Boiling too long can make the flesh break apart, while stopping too early leaves it firm and hard to eat. Removing the bones after cooking is easier once the flesh has softened, and the fish must be whole and intact before the acidic vinegar is poured over it.

Swap the mace

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

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

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