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To Broil Spanish Mackerel

A grilled Spanish mackerel seasoned with lemon, butter, pepper, salt, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Broil Spanish Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Split the mackerel down the back.

  2. Rub the mackerel with a little salad oil.

  3. Sprinkle with black pepper and coarse sea salt.

Cook and serve

  1. Place on a grill over a good fire and brown both sides nicely.

  2. Once done, squeeze lemon juice over the mackerel.

  3. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and serve as is or with tartare sauce.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  5. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Spanish mackerel
Provides the main protein, which becomes firm and flaky when cooked over high heat.
Salad oil
Coats the skin so it browns evenly and does not stick to the grill.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, oily flavor of the fish.

The step that matters

Browning both sides over a good fire. Fish is delicate and sticks easily to hot grill bars. Oiling the skin and letting it form a crust before turning helps it release cleanly and keeps the flesh moist inside.

“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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