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Mackerel Stewed with Wine

Stewed mackerel simmered in wine, butter, flour, mace, cayenne, mustard, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mackerel Stewed with Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, combine the butter and flour, stirring over medium heat until the butter is melted.

  2. Add the mace, salt, and cayenne pepper, stirring to combine.

  3. Gradually pour in the claret and bring the sauce to a boil.

Stew and serve

  1. Gently add the mackerel to the sauce and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, turning halfway through.

  2. Carefully remove the mackerel and place on a serving dish.

  3. Stir the prepared mustard into the sauce, bring to a boil, and pour 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. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + port winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Mace + port winetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together695 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
The main protein, which cooks gently in the simmering wine sauce until tender.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor, and with flour forms the base of the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the butter and wine sauce so it clings to the fish.
Claret
Provides acidity and depth of flavor, forming the body of the sauce.
Prepared mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that balances the richness of the butter and fish.

The step that matters

Simmering the mackerel. Mackerel is delicate and can break apart if the sauce boils hard. A gentle simmer cooks the fish through while keeping its flesh intact, so turn it carefully.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, pepper, port wine, mustard):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, pepper, 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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