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Spanish Mackerel Saute, Brown Butter
Trim, draw, wipe and cut the head off a three-pound fresh Spanish mackerel. Split in two through the back and remove the spinal bone, season well all around with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper, baste with a little cold milk and lightly roll it in flour. Heat one and a half tablespoons melted butter in a frying pan, place the fish in the pan, and fry for six minutes on each side. Dress on a hot dish, drain off the butter from the pan, add half ounce butter and toss on the fire until of a nice brown colour, then pour a tablespoon good vinegar in, toss lightly and pour it over the fish, decorate with one lemon cut in quarters and a little parsley greens and serve.
A plain sauté with a brown-butter pan sauce, and the sauce is where the dish is won or lost. The fish itself asks almost nothing beyond a hot pan and restraint.
- The hinge: brown the butter, do not burn itAfter the fish comes out, pour off the cooking butter, which by then carries scorched flour, and start fresh with the half ounce (1 tablespoon) of new butter. Swirl it over medium heat until the milk solids turn hazelnut brown, 60 to 90 seconds, then get the vinegar in immediately — it stops the browning as much as it flavours.
- Half ounce butterOne tablespoon. The frying quantity, one and a half tablespoons, is scant for a three-pound fish; two to three tablespoons in a wide pan gives better colour without turning it into a shallow fry.
- Six minutes a side is for a whole split fishThe two boned halves off a three-pound mackerel will often run around three quarters of an inch at the shoulder and want roughly four to five minutes skin-side down, two on the flesh side. Standard guidance is 145F at the thickest point; cooks who prefer the fish moister pull it lower, as Spanish mackerel dries out fast.