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Mackerel, with Wine, Stewed
Stew three small mackerel or two large ones in a sauce made in the following manner. Dissolve a piece of butter about the size of an egg, in an enamelled stewpan; when melted stir in a tea-spoonful of flour, a salt-spoonful of salt, a pinch of cayenne, a blade of mace, pounded, and, lastly, add little by little three glassfuls of Burgundy. Simmer the fish for twenty minutes or less, according to size, arrange them neatly on a dish, stir a spoonful of French mustard into the gravy, pour this over the fish, and serve very hot. Probable cost, from 4d. to 6d. each. Sufficient for four persons.
A short red-wine braise for whole mackerel, written when a "glassful" was understood to be a wine glass rather than a tumbler. The two things worth adjusting are the cooking time and the point at which the mustard goes in.
- Butter the size of an eggAbout 2 oz, or 4 tablespoons. With only a teaspoonful of flour against it, this is a loose, buttery sauce rather than a thickened one — do not expect it to coat.
- Three glassfuls of BurgundyA Victorian wine glass held roughly 2 fl oz, so about 3/4 cup total. Any dry red will do; the point is acidity and colour, not the appellation.
- Enamelled stewpanThe specification matters. Red wine and fish in bare cast iron or unlined copper will take on a metallic taste and grey the sauce. Use enamelled cast iron or stainless steel.
- A blade of mace, poundedMace is the lacy covering of the nutmeg seed; a blade pounded gives somewhere between a quarter and a half teaspoon of ground mace, depending on its size. Ground mace from a jar is a fair substitute, added with the salt.
- Twenty minutes is too longCooking time -- The recipe already allows "twenty minutes or less, according to size", and the shorter end is what you want: small whole mackerel are done in about 8 to 12 minutes at a bare simmer, fillets in 5 or 6. Mackerel is oily but fine-flaked, and dries out well before twenty minutes. Test at the backbone: the flesh should just release.
- French mustardA French prepared mustard, most likely of the Dijon type. The recipe adds it to the gravy after the fish has been dished; stir it in off the heat, as boiled mustard turns bitter and can make the buttery sauce separate.
- Yield and costFour servings, as stated. The "4d. to 6d. each" is a period price note for the fish, not part of the method.
Mackerel spoils faster than almost any fish sold in a Victorian market, which is why cookery books of the 1870s and 80s give it so many strongly flavoured treatments — gooseberry sauce, vinegar and fennel, mustard, and here red wine. It was cheap, abundant in British waters through late spring and summer, and traditionally one of the few foods hawked on London streets on a Sunday, precisely because it would not keep to Monday. Pairing red Burgundy with fish looks contrarian to modern eyes, but mackerel's fat and pronounced flavour stand up to tannin in a way that white-fleshed fish do not, and the finishing spoonful of Dijon is the same trick that anchors the classic French maquereau à la moutarde. Cassell's, compiled as a household dictionary rather than a chef's book, tends to give these dishes with a probable cost attached — a reminder that its readers were budgeting a week of dinners, not building a menu.