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Stewed Mackerel

A mackerel dish simmered in gravy, parsley, fennel, shallot, ketchup, anchovy essence, butter, port wine, mustard, lemon, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 859 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Stewed Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Combine the gravy, parsley, fennel, and shallot in a pot.

  2. Add the ketchup, essence of anchovies, and floured butter.

  3. Stir until the mixture boils.

  4. Slowly add the port wine.

Cook the fish

  1. Add the thoroughly cleaned and boned mackerel.

  2. Stew gently for 20 minutes, turning the fish halfway if possible.

  3. Carefully dish the fish.

Finish and serve

  1. Add mustard, port wine, and lemon juice to the sauce.

  2. Boil the sauce briefly.

  3. Pour the sauce over the fish.

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. Shallot + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together859 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + fenneltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together625 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Fennel + shallottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together146 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Fennel + mustardtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together292 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel (in the method)
Is the main protein, gently stewed until cooked through in the sauce.
Gravy
Forms the liquid base of the sauce that the fish simmers in.
Butter
Floured butter thickens the sauce as it melts and cooks, adding body and richness.
Port wine
Adds depth and a little sweetness to the sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savoury sauce.

The step that matters

Stir until the mixture boils. Flour in the butter must be heated and stirred so it cooks out and thickens the sauce smoothly; stopping early leaves a raw flour taste and lumps.

Swap the fennel

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, shallot, ketchup, walnut, butter, port wine, mustard):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Fennelthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, shallot, ketchup, walnut, butter, port wine, mustard. 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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