Ingredients.— 4 middling-sized mackerel, a nice delicate forcemeat, 3 oz. of butter; pepper and salt to taste. Mode.—Clean the fish, take out the roes, and fill up with forcemeat, and sew up the slit. Flour, and put them in a dish, heads and tails alternately, with the roes; and, between each layer, put some little pieces of butter, and pepper and salt. Bake for ½ an hour, and either serve with plain melted butter or a maître d’hôtel sauce. Time.—½ hour. Average cost for this quantity, 1s. 10d. Seasonable from April to July. Sufficient for 6 persons.
Note.—Baked mackerel may be dressed in the same way as baked herrings, and may also be stewed in wine.
MACKEREL, Boiled.
Ingredients.—¼ lb. of salt to each gallon of water. Mode.—Cleanse the inside of the fish thoroughly, and lay it in the kettle with sufficient water to cover it with salt as above; bring it gradually to boil, skim well, and simmer gently till done; dish them on a hot napkin, heads and tails alternately, and garnish with fennel. Fennel sauce and plain melted butter are the usual accompaniments to boiled mackerel; but caper or anchovy sauce is sometimes served with it. Time.—After the water boils, 10 minutes; for large mackerel, allow more time. Average cost, from 4d. Seasonable from April to July.
Note.—When variety is desired, fillet the mackerel, boil it, and pour over parsley and butter; send some of this, besides, in a tureen.
MACKEREL, Broiled.
Ingredients.—Pepper and salt to taste, a small quantity of oil. Mode.—Mackerel should never be washed when intended to be broiled, but merely wiped very clean and dry, after taking out the gills and insides. Open the back, and put in a little pepper, salt, and oil; broil it over a clear fire, turn it over on both sides, and also on the back. When sufficiently cooked, the flesh can be detached from the bone, which will be in about 10 minutes for a small mackerel. Chop a little parsley, work it up in the butter with pepper and salt to taste, and a squeeze of lemon-juice, and put it in the back. Serve before the butter is quite melted, with a maître d’hôtel sauce in a tureen. Time.—Small mackerel 10 minutes. Average cost, from 4d. Seasonable from April to July.
MACKEREL, Fillets of.
Ingredients.—2 large mackerel, 1 oz. butter, 1 small bunch of chopped herbs, 3 tablespoonfuls of medium stock, 3 tablespoonfuls of béchamel; salt, cayenne, and lemon-juice to taste. Mode.—Clean the fish, and fillet it; scald the herbs, chop them fine, and put them with the butter and stock into a stewpan. Lay in the mackerel, and simmer very gently for 10 minutes; take them out, and put them on a hot dish. Dredge in a little flour, add the other ingredients, give one boil, and pour it over the mackerel. Time.—20 minutes. Average cost for this quantity, 1s. 6d. Seasonable from April to July. Sufficient for 4 persons.
Note.—Fillets of mackerel may be covered with egg and bread-crumbs, and fried of a nice brown. Serve with maître d’hôtel sauce and plain melted butter.