Mackerel Escabeche

The perfect preparation for shoulder season

Here’s a bonus Friday edition, because I’ve been on a tear and have lots of posts to share. I also made the breadcrumbs post free, which I had meant to do but forgot to adjust the settings accordingly when I scheduled publication. So go enjoy that one if you haven’t yet—you’ll be needing breadcrumbs for some of the upcoming offerings.

On the heels of my fermented Mexican escabeche post, I was inspired to cook an Iberian version. Instead of pickled jalapeños, the Spanish/Portuguese dish (itself derived from an Arabic preparation, which likely originated in Persia) involves cooking fish with vinegar or citrus and other flattering flavors to produce a singularly tasty result.

I started by buying a whole mackerel, since oily fish love vinegar the most. I cut the head and tail off, but did not fillet the body. It’s easier to cook it whole, and once the meat is cooked you can get 100% of it off the bones. It lifts right off, and then the spine peels away from the lower half. Cooking fish with the bones will also give you a more gelatinous sauce, for what that’s worth (a lot). If your mackerel or similar fish is whole, you can obviously ask your fishmonger to stop monging for a minute and fillet it for you.

If you haven’t yet, I’d recommend getting one or two whole fish recipes under your belt. It’s a wonderfully primal way to eat, much more engaging and interactive than just fork-and-knifing a pre-cut piece. And nothing presents like a whole fish on a platter, bedecked with sauce (the photo above would have been much more impressive if I had left the head and tail on, but the fish would have thus required my biggest pan, and I was not entertaining anyone so I cut them off).

This dish is wicked right off the stove, and even better after an overnight rest in the fridge, where the fish takes on a wonderfully marinated character. It’s also the perfect showcase for all your late summer produce, since tomatoes, peppers, and onions all feature prominently and there’s lots of room for whatever else might be happening (like the zucchini and copious herbs in this iteration). With a few tweaks, it’s also a recipe that can mesh seamlessly with flavors from all over the world—since there are already variations firmly established in cuisines from the Middle East to the Mediterranean to the Caribbean to the Philippines and beyond.