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To Pot Mackerel, Gurnards, Basse, Mullet, Etc.

A baked fish dish cooked in clarified butter with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pot Mackerel, Gurnards, Basse, Mullet, Etc.

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Split the fish and remove the backbone. If large, divide into four parts; if small, into two.

  2. Season the fish like trout and char.

Bake

  1. Place the pieces in a baking dish and cover with clarified butter.

  2. Cover the dish with paper.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about two hours.

Press and pot

  1. Allow the fish to cool, then press between two baking dishes, draining off the gravy.

  2. Place the fish in pots and cover with clarified butter.

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. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together331 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Nutmeg + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together642 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mackerel
Firm, oily fish that holds its shape and stays moist during long, gentle baking.
Clarified butter
Fat that coats the fish, adding richness and keeping it moist while it bakes.
Sage
Adds a herbal aroma that complements the richness of the fish.

The step that matters

Pressing after cooling. Pressing the cooled fish between dishes packs the flesh and drains off the gravy. Draining too little leaves excess liquid, which can make the potted fish watery and less firm.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, pepper, allspice, nutmeg. 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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