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Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 50 minutes Total: 1h30 Cost of ingredients: £4/mackerel on 18/02/10 (£9.70/kg); pitted black olives in brine, drained weight: 163g, £0.56.
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| Mackerels of 400g each |
Mackerel: a wonderful tasty fish at a reasonable price with no environmental problem. It is best in autumn when its fat increases from its normal 4% to 15%. Beeing an oily fish, it is also good grilled. Also eaten raw as sashimi ("Saba" family in Japanese). Mackerel ("Scomber") were widely eaten in Roman times.
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| Closed clay pot |
Römmertopf: Clay pot said to have originated in Roman times (hence its German name). Apicius' de re coqvinaria mentions cooking a fish "minutal" cooked in a "caccabum", a covered pot for stews (III,1,165) which might or might not have had the same shape and which might or might not have been immersed in water before cooking. Use of Römmertopf: Leave the two parts in water for 15 minutes, throw the water, put the ingredients inside and cook in a cold oven increasing the temperature gradually. The food is steamed and all the juices kept.
1. Gutted mackerels of 400g each, cut off head and tails to fit in Römmertopf.
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| Cut off head and tail |
2. Fry one or two large onions in pan with olive oil. Add on top of mackerels.
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| Fry the onions and add |
3. Add 2-3 laurel leaves, the juice of two lemons and aromates. I personally like the taste of Sichuan peper with its tickling and slightly numbing effect.
4. Put in cold oven gradually increasing the temperature to 180ºC. Leave for 20 minutes. Then at 220-240ºC for 30 minutes.
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| Add lemon juice |
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| Before been closed and entering the oven |
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| Exiting the oven |
5. Serve. One mackerel per person. Sauce it with the tasty liquid at the bottom at of the pot.
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| Serve |
Environment: Atlantic Mackerel/Saba is rated as "Best Choice" (the best rating) by by the Blue Ocean Institute.
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