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Mackerel Stewed with Wine

A stew of mackerel cooked in butter, spices, and wine, finished with mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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, melt the butter over medium heat.

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

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

Stew and serve

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

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

  3. Stir the made 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 + port winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Port wine + mustardtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together314 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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 becomes tender as it gently stews in the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the spices into the sauce.
Claret
Provides acidity and liquid that forms the body of the stew sauce.
Made mustard
Adds sharpness and a pungent note that balances the richness of the sauce.

The step that matters

Gently add the mackerel and stew. Fish is delicate and breaks apart if the sauce boils hard or it is handled roughly. A gentle simmer cooks the flesh through evenly while keeping it intact, so turning it once halfway helps it cook on both sides.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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