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Broiled Salt Mackerel

Broiled whole salt mackerel served with butter‑cream sauce and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Broiled Salt Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the mackerel overnight.

  2. Drain well and wipe dry.

Broil and rinse

  1. Broil the mackerel over a clear fire.

  2. Pour boiling water over the fish for 1-2 minutes. Discard the water.

Finish and serve

  1. Melt the butter in the hot cream.

  2. Pour the butter and cream mixture over the fish.

  3. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

  3. Cream + parsleytop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,392 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt mackerel
Main protein; soaking removes excess salt so the flesh becomes mild and tender.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, coating the fish and carrying a savoury flavour.
Hot cream
Melts with the butter into a smooth, rich sauce that moistens the fish.

The step that matters

Pour boiling water over the fish for 1-2 minutes. Salt mackerel is heavily salted, and a brief hot-water rinse removes surface salt without cooking the flesh. Leaving the water on too long can begin to cook the fish and make it firm and dry.

Swap the parsley

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream. 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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