Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Mackerel, Caveach.. — Divide large fresh fish, -after being well cleansed and dried in a cloth, into five pieces, and rub each piece with spice as follows :— Pound an ounce of black pepper and six blades of mace, mix them when pounded with two ounces of salt, and half an ounce of grated nutmeg. Use all the above spices for six fish, rubbing well in, that every piece may be thoroughly seasoned with spice, then fry in oil. Drain, and put the fish neatly into a jar, which fill with good vinegar, adding clarified butter or oil to exclude the air. Tie down closely. Mackerel so prepared will keep for six months. Time, ten minutes to fry. Probable cost, 4d. to 6d. each. Mackerel,' Fillets of.— Put a tea-cupful of stock and bechamel sauce mixed into a stewpan. Add a lump of butter, about an ounce, some chopped parsley previously scalded, salt, and cayenne. Cut two fine fresh mackerel into fillets, having first well cleansed them. Put the fillets into the sauce, and simmer over a slow fire until done, when place them on a hot dish before the fire. Thicken with a little flour, boU it up, and throw it over the fillets, with a squeeze of lemon-juice, if liked. Time to simmer, twenty minutes. Probable cost, Is. 7d. Mackerel, Fillets of, Stewed (another way). — Dissolve two ounces of butter in a stewpan, with nearly a dessert-spoonful of flour, and mix them together until smooth. Add half the rind of a lemon, a tea-spoonful of soy, a salt-spoonful of pounded mace, haK a teaspoonful of salt, and a pinch of cayenne. Into this sauce place fillets from two fresh mackerel. Shake the pan over the fire to get the fish equally covered with the sauce, turning them in about eight or ten minutes. When they are done enough, remove the fillets to a hot dish, boil up the sauce with a couple of glassfuls of port, and pour it hot over the fish. Time, fifteen to twenty minutes. Probable cost, Is. 6d., exclusive of wine. Sufficient for thi'ce persons. Mackerel, Fried, French. — Bone three fine mackerel, removing the heads and tails, dry them well in a cloth, or rub a little flour into them, so as to remove all moisture, sprinkle with pepper and salt, and fry lightly in either butter or lard. They should be of a fine golden colour, and well drained. Place them on a dish, and either pour the following sauce over them, or serve in a tureen: — Stew the bones of the fish in half a pint of stock, add a thickening of butter and browned flour, say, one ounce of butter and a tea-spoonful of flour, well worked up together, the juice of a lemon, and a little browning to colour it. Or, if preferred, serve the fish with mustard-sauce, in. which a table-spoonful of some good store sauce, such as Reading, Worcester, or Harvey, has been stirred. Time, about fifteen minutes. Probable cost, 4d. to 6d. each. Sufficient for five or six persons. Mackerel, Pickled. — Boil six mackerel in salt and water ; when done, take them up, and lay them in a deep earthenware dish. Add three-quarters of a pint of vinegar, a quarter of an ounce of whole black pepper, and three bay-leaves to the liquor the fish was cooked in. Let it boU for seven or eight minutes, and when quite cold, pour it over the mackerel, cover down tightly, and in twenty-four hours the fish will be ready for use. Time, fifteen to twenty minutes to boil. Probable cost, 2s. 8d.