MARINATED MACKEREL from Boscastle

About three months ago someone asked if I had this recipe? I found it in my 1920s Cornish Recipes book, so a few days ago I decided to make it, when my friend Jeny was coming for lunch.

The recipe comes from Boscastle and I will quote the ingredients and method.

4 or more mackerel [I used fillets]

2 chopped bay leaves 

parsley

6 cloves

blade of mace

spring of thyme

1 onion

10 peppercorns

salt and vinegar

“clean and prepare mackerel and arrange in a pie dish, chop the onion and parsley and sprinkle over the fish. Add other ingredients with salt to taste. Pour over sufficient vinegar to cover well and bake in a moderate oven for 40-50 minutes. When cooked, put the fish carefully on a dish and strain the vinegar over them. Leave until cold and serve”.

All this sounds very straightforward. My freezer is full of mackerel as my husband and son in law love to go off sea fishing. Last Sunday I saved all the best large fillets.

I follow the instructions. Please see photos on my Blog. But I use a shallower dish, so that the fillets are not piled up too much. I also intend to reduce the timings slightly as I think that might be for whole fish. A moderate oven is approx fan 160C. [I am a saddo with a chart inside one of my kitchen cupboards!]

I decide to boil and reduce the vinegar before spooning over the fillets too.

note: I am presuming that I should use malt vinegar. I have no blades of mace in my cupboard so left that out and used a pinch of nutmeg instead! I used one stalk of parsley and mixed peppercorns.

The end result? So soft and flavourful. I loved it. Proper old Cornish fare.