Mackerel rillettes

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 300 g, you will need:

• 1 2 mackerel
• 2 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 3 70 g butter
• 4 2 tablespoons cream
• 5 1 tablespoon French mustard
• 6 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 7 parsley
• 8 salt
• 9 pepper
• 10 chive flowers (optional)
• Total weight: 860 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
40 min.	20 min.	1 hour

Step by step recipe

1	Ask your fishmonger to prepare 2 mackerel for you: cleaned and the head cut off.
2	Rinse thoroughly under cold running water, then put in a large pan of cold water with 1 tablespoon coarse salt.
3	Put on low heat and poach gently at a simmer for about 10 minutes. Ideally, check the temperature of the fish flesh with an electronic thermometer. It will be cooked once the centre of the thickest part reaches 122°F (50°C).
4	Remove the mackerel from the poaching water and leave to cool, then take all the flesh off the bones and discard the rest (skin, bones, etc.). Unfortunately, there's no getting away from it: this is a long and tedious job. Put all the boned flesh into a bowl.
5	Add 70 g butter, 2 tablespoons cream, 1 tablespoon French mustard, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, the finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper to the fish.
6	Mix well with a fork. Check the seasoning. Transfer into jars and leave overnight, at least, in the fridge.
7	When you want to serve your rilletes, toast some slices of bread (rounds of French baguette here).
8	Spread the rillettes generously on the toast and decorate, if you like, with a few chive flowers. Then enjoy!

Remarks

Do feel free to vary either the ingredients or the amounts in this recipe. The general spirit of it is: poached mackerel flesh, a little butter and/or cream, herbs and spices of your choice, plus a hint of acidity (normally lemon juice, but vingar or white wine will also work).
For a tastier version, poach the mackerel in a fish stock, rather than salted water.

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