Wash and scrape the fish. Soak all night, changing the water at bed-time for tepid, and again early in the morning for almost scalding. Keep this hot for an hour by setting the vessel containing the soaking fish on the side of the range. Wash, now, in cold water with a stiff brush or rough cloth, wipe perfectly dry, rub all over with salad oil and vinegar, or lemon-juice, and let it lie in this marinade for a quarter of an hour before broiling it over clear coals.

Lay on a hot dish and spread with a mixture of butter, lemon-juice, and minced parsley. The mackerel will be so far superior to that cooked in the old-fashioned way that it will amply repay you for the trifling additional work.

Boiled Mackerel

Wash, scrape, and soak as directed in the last recipe. In the morning lay in hot water for an hour. Throw this away, put the fish into a large frying-pan, cover with boiling water, to which has been added a tablespoonful of vinegar, and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Dish upon a heated platter and pour over it a white sauce. Cover it and leave it to stand over boiling water for five minutes that the sauce may soak into it, and it is ready for the table.