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Mackerel Fillets

Mackerel fillets simmered with salt, parsley, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Mackerel Fillets

Ingredients

Directions

Poach

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

  2. Cover the fillets with cold water and add salt and parsley.

  3. Bring the water to a slow boil, skimming off any scum.

  4. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, then check if the fillets are done by testing with a fork.

  5. Carefully lift the fillets out with a slotted spoon and drain.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with butter and parsley, or 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. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel fillets
The main protein; gently poaching firms and flakes the flesh without toughening it.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the hot fish when served.

The step that matters

Simmering gently after the slow boil. Once the water reaches a slow boil, keeping it at a gentle simmer for only 2-3 minutes cooks the fish through while keeping it moist. Vigorous boiling would break the delicate fillets apart and toughen the flesh.

“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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