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Mackerel Pie
(Scotland.) Make a forcemeat of the roes and some parsley, onion, butter, bread-crumbs, thyme, sweet marjoram, and the yolk of an egg. Cut the fish into strips and roll them with a filling of this. Arrange neatly in a deep dish, pour in 1/2 cup of stock and cover with a layer of mashed potatoes. Bake 3/4 of an hour and serve hot.
A Scottish fish pie written in the shorthand of a cook who assumed you already knew the proportions. Nothing here is difficult, but almost every quantity is left to judgement.
- Scale it yourselfNothing is quantified except the half cup of stock. For four people, work from two large mackerel (about 2 lb whole), filleted, and roughly 2 lb of potatoes for the topping.
- The forcemeatA workable ratio is the roes from the fish, about a cup of fresh breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons soft butter, a small onion softened first in butter, a handful of chopped parsley, a teaspoon each of thyme and marjoram leaves, and one egg yolk to bind. Season well; unseasoned forcemeat is the usual failure here.
- Roes are the hingeSoft (milt) or hard roe, chopped raw, is what gives this stuffing its richness. Mackerel now reaches most fishmongers already gutted, so ask for the roes in advance or substitute an equal weight of chopped raw fish trimmings. Rinse roes and pat dry before chopping.
- Cutting the stripsFillet the mackerel, pull the pin bones, and cut each fillet lengthwise into strips two fingers wide. Spread thinly with forcemeat, roll skin-side out, and pack the rolls upright and snug so they hold their shape during baking.
- Oven temperatureThe book gives none. Bake at 375F. That suits both the fish and the browning of the potato crust.
- The 45 minutesRolled mackerel is cooked through in 20 to 25 minutes at 375F, and mackerel is an oily fish that turns dry and grainy past that. Bake the assembled dish about 25 minutes, then run it under the grill to colour the potato rather than holding it in the oven for the full three-quarters of an hour.
- Mashed potato toppingMash it stiffer than you would for the table, with butter and only a little milk, or it will slump into the stock. Fork the surface and dot with butter for a browned crust.
- StockHalf a cup of fish or light chicken stock is correct for a snug dish; it should moisten, not stew. If the rolls sit loosely, add no more liquid, use a smaller dish.
- FreshnessMackerel spoils faster than almost any fish sold whole and develops histamine that cooking will not undo. Buy it stiff, bright-eyed and smelling of the sea, and cook it the same day.
Mackerel was a poor man's fish along the Scottish coast, cheap, abundant in summer, and highly perishable. That perishability shaped the cooking: mackerel was eaten fast, and dishes like this one used every part of it, roes included, on the day the boats came in. The potato-topped fish pie is generally traced to the same broad family as the shepherd's and cottage pies of the nineteenth-century British kitchen, where a mashed crust replaced pastry as a cheaper and quicker lid. The recipe is presented here headed simply "(Scotland.)".