Recipe: Josh Niland's Delicate Salt and Vinegar Blue Mackerel

For the lucky few that have managed to score a seat at Josh Niland's Saint Peter and eaten this delicious dish, life can be neatly bisected into two periods: before eating Josh Niland's Salt and Vinegar Blue Mackerel and after. After is better.

This tender fish, presented dramatically with a delicate and fresh taste will be the hero of any dinner party. Served with whipped cultured butter and soft bread to soak up the strong brine, it's delicious. 

Thanks to this Josh Niland recipe, you can make this dish yourself at home!

● 4 very fresh boneless blue mackerel fillets, tail intact (about 80 g each)
● 80 g (2/3 cup) sea salt flakes
● 250 ml (1 cup) champagne vinegar

● 120ml Gordal olive brine
● 80ml extra virgin olive oil
● Warm sourdough bread to serve
● Cultured salted butter to serve

• To pickle the mackerel, season the skin side and flesh side evenly with the salt.
• Place the mackerel on a tray and refrigerate, uncovered, for 2 hours.
• After two hours, submerge the fish in a bath of the vinegar and juniper berries and leave to chill for 30 minutes.
• Remove the pickled mackerel from the vinegar. Make sure to keep the vinegar aside for later.
• Turn the fish so it is flesh side down with the skin side facing up.
• Using your fingers, grab on to the corner of the skin closest to where the head would have been and gently pull the skin off the flesh leaving behind the ‘silver skin'.

• Slice the mackerel thickly into slices of about 1 cm each from the head to the tail.
• Assemble each mackerel across 4 serving plates. Fanning each piece out from the tail of the fish.
• Pour the Gordal Olive Brine & extra virgin olive oil over each plate of mackerel evenly before serving.
• Be sure to serve the dish with warm sourdough bread and butter and sit back and watch as your guests eat the dish in awe!

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