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A simple boiled mackerel fillet served with butter, parsley, and optional Maitre d'hotel sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Poach

  1. Place the mackerel fillets in a wide stewpan or saucepan in a single layer.

  2. Cover the fillets with cold water.

  3. Add salt and parsley.

  4. Bring the water to a slow boil.

  5. Skim off any scum.

  6. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

  7. Check if the fillets are done by testing with a fork.

  8. Carefully lift the fillets out with a slotted spoon.

  9. Drain the fillets.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with butter and parsley.

  2. Remove the skin and pour Maitre d'hotel sauce over them.

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. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Parsley + saucetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,693 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel fillets
Provide the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks in gently simmering water.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the hot fish.

The step that matters

Bring the water to a slow boil and simmer briefly. Gentle heat keeps the fish tender and intact, while a hard boil can break the delicate flesh apart. Skimming removes coagulated proteins that cloud the liquid and spoil the look of the fish.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce. 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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