Stuffed Mackerel

Name: Stuffed Mackerel
Yield: serves 2-4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: flour seasoned with salt and pepper; big pinch ground cinnamon; big pinch ground allspice; big pinch ground cloves; 2 heaped tablespoons seedless raisins; 4 heaped tablespoons pine kernels; beaten egg; 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 large onion (about 6 oz) – peeled and finely chopped; 2-2½ lb mackerel (2-4 whole fish) – scaled but not headed or gutted; 4 tablespoons good olive oil, plus more for frying

Preparation info

serves
2-4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Independent Cook

By Jeremy Round

Published 1988

About

The official show-off version of this Turkish dish involves removing the entire contents of the mackerel’s skin-sack through the gills or a tiny hole in the fish’s chin. But even the brusque method outlined below turns the mackerel, plentiful and cheap now, into a real star turn.

Ingredients

2-2½ lb mackerel (2-4 whole fish) – scaled but not headed or gutted
4 tablespoons

Europe
Turkey
Fish course
Pescatarian
June

Method

Wash the fish. Do not slice along the underbelly, but cut off the head and scoop out all the guts with your fingers. Wash the cavity well. Break the backbone, without tearing the skin, a little way up from the tail. Now loosen the flesh inside the skin by repeatedly pushing all over the outside surface of the fish with your thumbs until you feel it give, being careful not to split the delicate