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Mackerel, Boiled (Wash and clean carefully after)
Wash and clean carefully, after removing the roes. The mackerel is in its greatest perfection when there is little roe. Lay the fish and roes separately into cold water, and to a gallon of water add from three to four ounces of salt and two table-spoonfuls of white vinegar; when at boiling point, skim, and simmer only until done. Much depends on the size of the fish. Remove at once when done, or from their great delicacy of skin they will crack if kept in the water. The usual test, when the eyes start and the tail splits, should be attended to. Serve on a napkin with the roe, and fennel or anchovy sauce in a tureen. Time, about ten minutes after the water boils. Probable cost, 3d. to 4d. each.
A straightforward poach in salted, acidulated water. The only real skill is knowing when to stop.
- Start in cold waterThe fish goes into cold water, which is then brought to the boil — this keeps the very delicate skin from splitting. Once it reaches a bare simmer, hold it there; a rolling boil will tear the fish apart.
- Salt and vinegar quantitiesThree to four ounces of salt to a gallon is roughly 1/3 to 1/2 cup to an imperial gallon (about 4.5 litres), a moderately salty water that seasons the flesh. The two tablespoons of white vinegar firm the surface protein; cider vinegar or lemon juice would do the same job.
- TimingThe recipe allows about ten minutes from the boil and warns that much depends on the size of the fish. A whole mackerel of around 12 oz fits that timing; a larger fish will want a few minutes more, a small one rather less. The flesh should just release from the backbone at the thickest part.
- The old doneness test"The eyes start and the tail splits" is a genuine visual cue on a whole fish — the eye turns opaque and pushes forward. A thin knife at the backbone or an instant-read thermometer at 140F is easier to judge.
- Lift it out immediatelyThe warning about cracking skin is the hinge of the recipe. Mackerel left standing in hot water goes to pieces; have a wide slotted spatula or a poaching rack ready before you start.
- The roesThe recipe puts the roes in separately; being much smaller than the fish they will be done sooner, so check them early. Roes are rarely sold in supermarkets now, so a fishmonger order — or simply omitting them — is the practical route.
- Serving on a napkinA folded linen napkin on the platter absorbed the poaching water so the fish did not sit in a puddle. A clean tea towel or a bed of paper then parsley does the same. The "tureen" for sauce is simply a sauceboat.
- YieldOne mackerel per person. Fennel sauce (a white sauce with chopped blanched fennel fronds) or anchovy sauce both cut the oily flesh; a sharp gooseberry sauce is the other classic English pairing.
Mackerel was among the cheapest fresh sea fish in Victorian Britain, and by a tradition often repeated it was one of the very few allowed to be cried in the London streets on a Sunday, precisely because it spoils so fast — the oil-rich flesh turns within hours of landing. Cassell's prices it at threepence or fourpence apiece, and the book bothers to note that the fish is at its best with little roe: a spawning mackerel has spent its fat reserves on the roe and the flesh is correspondingly thin. The fennel sauce called for here is an old English pairing, recorded in cookery books well before the nineteenth century, and rests on the same logic as gooseberry sauce, another traditional accompaniment: something sharp or aromatic to answer a very oily fish.