Stuffed Mackerel

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

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