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Stuffed Mackerel

A mackerel stuffed with roe, herbs, breadcrumbs, and egg, baked and garnished with parsley and raspings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Stuffed Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Split the mackerel down the back and remove the roe.

  2. Boil the roe in water for one minute, then chop it.

  3. Mix the chopped roe with herbs, parsley, bread crumbs, and seasoning.

  4. Combine the roe mixture with the egg.

Assemble and bake

  1. Spread the mixture over one mackerel.

  2. Place the other mackerel on top of the first.

  3. Put the fish in a deep baking tin.

  4. Cover with greased paper.

  5. Brush with dripping.

  6. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 minutes.

Serve

  1. Place the fish on a hot dish.

  2. Garnish with alternate rows of parsley and raspings.

  3. Serve with anchovy sauce.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel
Forms the body of the dish, with the stuffing sandwiched between two fish.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the roe and egg, giving the stuffing body and a light texture.
Egg
Binds the roe and crumb mixture so it holds together when baked.
Dripping
Fat brushed over the fish that promotes surface browning and adds richness.
Parsley
Adds fresh, aromatic flavour to the stuffing and the garnish.

The step that matters

Covering with greased paper before baking. The paper traps steam so the fish cooks gently and stays moist, while the greasing keeps it from sticking. Without it the surface can dry out or tear when the fish is lifted.

“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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