Thread: How I Cook My King Mackerel

Not only is this method easy, but for me, it is one of the best ways to eat King Mackerel. I haven't tried frying it yet, but I'm not too big on frying a lot of things.

First, when you filet out your king, portion the filets into 6 to 8 oz chunks.

Second, call up family and friends and tell them you have enough fish to feed an army and the barbecue is ay your house tonight.

Next, get all your stuff together that your gonna need:

Prudhommes Blackened redfish magic(Can be found in Publix, it is the only thing I season my seafood with)
Oil
Butter
Mackerel

Once you have everything together, turn your oven on to about 375 degrees and light up the grill. Your gonna your grill more towards the high side because your gonna want to get a nice little char on the fish. Use the oven to finish the fish in so it wont dry out on the grill.
While your oven and grill are heating up, season your mack with the Prudhommes . You can go heavier with the seasoning if you want it more blackened style or less if you want just a little seasoning. Once you have it seasoned, drizzle a little oil on the filets and rub it to coat the fish evenly.
Once your grill is hot, make sure it is clean and oiled up to prevent sticking. Place the mack on it and give the fish a nice little char on both sides. Pull of grill and place on a greased baking pan. Place a pat of butter on each piece of fish and place in oven. Depending on the thickness of the fish, it will take about 4-8 minutes to finish. Do not over cook because it will dry out!
Remove from oven and enjoy!

I find that one key to a good tasting King Mackerel is soaking it before cooking. Which ever way I cook it, I find that soaking it for an hour or Two in ice cubed ice water in the fridge, with one or 2 caps fulls of concreated Crab Boiled added to the water (about 3/4 gallon)takes some of the unpleasent taste that some ppl encounter when eating Kings. Do the same thing, but with Milk, or 1/2 milk 1/2 water, may even remove more of the stong fish taste.

Cool, you know what norman v. was telling me the other day, was that he soaks a lot of his fishier fish like stripers from the canals up north or kings in lemonlime soda. Sounds cool to try too.

I soaked some of my frozen king left over from this summer in half milk and half water last night. The unpleasant aftertaste was almost completely gone, leaving some great smoked fish in it's place.

Thanks guys.

been soking kings in sprite for years. rremoves about all the blood and oils. works great on doves too! also spainsh boiled in sprite and seasoned in Tony C's is a great poor man lobster!

Thanks for the post RockinChef88.

Mackerel is great when cooked with bacon wrapped on with a toothpick by the way. Really makes the flavor pop. Great call on the redfish magic--I love that spice and put it on virtually everything.

As for soaking, using the 50/50 water/milk solution will remove freezer/frost taste from frozen fish in addition to the "fishy taste." Milk baths are essential for removing electrolytes with the use of enzymes. Coconut milk and buttermilks add some nice flavors when used for soaking as well, and will achieve a similar purpose. For the holidays, soak some fish in Eggnog, and enjoy the end result! It does not penetrate like milk, though, and you'll need to make some incisions to get it properly into the meat. Makes fish fit well with the holiday spirit(s).

[quote author=Viking Guy link=topic=182.msg3872#msg3872 date=1325589788]

Mackerel is great when cooked with bacon wrapped on with a toothpick by the way.
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Now take it to the next level. Before wrapping in bacon, stuff with cream cheese and jalepenos. Grill on medium heat until the bacon is just this side of too done to eat. I've done this with duck breast and backstrap as well.
+1 on soaking in water. Although I do it for a couple of days and change the water several times on duck and venison. Meat so pink you'd think it was veal.

The only way I have cooked King myself is soak it in buttermilk all day in the fridge then run cold water over it to rise the buttermilk off, place the fish on foil rub in olive oil, salt pepper and garlic to you liking and slice of lemon wrap the foil and grill for 20 mins. It's simple and most have probably had it that way but it had no strong fishy taste at all.

[quote author=Rich1 link=topic=182.msg3726#msg3726 date=1325270885]
I soaked some of my frozen king left over from this summer in half milk and half water last night. The unpleasant aftertaste was almost completely gone, leaving some great smoked fish in it's place.

Thanks guys.
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Add a little ground ginger (about 1/2 tspn per pound) to your soak to neutralize the 'fishy' taste or odor.
And always trim all the 'redmeat' off your fillets before freezing ;-)

Wow. Great recipies gotta try some of these!