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Broiled Mackerel

A mackerel stuffed with fennel, parsley, and mint, then broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fennel and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 625 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Broiled Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the herbs

  1. Boil the fennel, parsley, and mint for a short time, then chop finely.

  2. Mix the chopped herbs with butter, flour, pepper, and salt.

Stuff and broil

  1. Stuff the mackerel with the herb mixture.

  2. Oil the gridiron and the fish.

  3. Broil the fish over a clear, slow fire until cooked through.

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. Fennel + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together625 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + minttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,198 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Fennel + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,216 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Fennel + minttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together168 recipes

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

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, cooking to flaky, tender flesh under the heat.
Butter
Adds fat that keeps the herb stuffing moist and rich as the fish cooks.
Flour
Binds the butter and chopped herbs together into a stuffing that holds its shape.
Fennel
Contributes a mild aniseed aroma that flavours the fish from within.

The step that matters

Broil over a clear, slow fire until cooked through. Fish cooks quickly and dries out easily. A slow, steady heat cooks the thick, stuffed centre through without scorching the skin, while the butter in the stuffing keeps the flesh moist.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fennel, parsley, butter, flour, pepper. 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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