Smoked Mackerel Chowder
Smoked Mackerel Chowder is a complete meal in a bowl with bags of flavour and lots of good things in every spoonful.
In this thick, lightly creamy soup there’s chunks of fish, smoky bacon, onion, celery, leeks, garlic, potato, and peas, all flavoured with fresh dill and bay leaf. With a delicious complex flavour, the chowder feels rather special. But satisfying and filling too, it makes a great, easy dinner.
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Astronomically speaking, Autumn officially began a couple of weekends ago. But I don’t need a calendar to tell me the season’s changed. Because I’m already craving warming soups, and especially when other half and I recently came down with colds. Which meant a bowl of something tasty and comforting that’s simple to make was even more welcome.
The recipe I’m sharing today fitted the bill perfectly. Full of flavour and lightly creamy too, I’ve made Smoked Mackerel Chowder twice in the last few weeks.
WHAT IS CHOWDER?
If you’re not familiar with chowder, you may be wondering what makes soup a chowder. Well, they’re thick soups which usually contain milk or cream. Most notably though, they’re thick not just because of ingredients like vegetables, but because they’re thickened with a roux. This is the same mixture of fat and flour you use to make a bechamel sauce or similar.
Just as roux comes from French, it’s been suggested that the word chowder also has its roots in the French for cooking pot: chaudron. However, it could also be linked to jowter which in Cornish dialect is an itinerant fish seller.
Chowder does seem to be linked at least from the mid eighteenth century to both French and English sailors. Unsurprisingly, fish and shellfish are therefore a common ingredient. Those early chowders, made aboard ship, would have been thickened with hard tack or ship’s biscuit: a mix of flour and water baked hard so it would keep for long journeys. Also in there would be some of the ship’s preserved salt pork. This is reflected today in many chowders containing bacon or ham.
In modern chowders you also might find onion, celery, leeks, corn, potatoes, prawns, clams, smoked haddock, cod, or salmon.
SMOKED MACKEREL CHOWDER
While I used to always make my chowders with smoked haddock, these days I prefer the meatier texture and robust flavour of smoked mackerel. If you don’t live near a reliable source of fresh fish, then smoked mackerel is also a good choice as decent quality is widely available.
To cut down the work, I pay a little extra for smoked mackerel fillets which have had all the little bones removed. This means each fillet comes in two halves. But that doesn’t matter as we’ll be breaking them up anyway.
All the ingredients you’ll need for my Smoked Mackerel Chowder are listed below. You’ll find ingredient amounts and full instructions in the recipe card at the end. But I recommend you read this blog post first for extra tips and step-by-step images.
INGREDIENTS
- Smoked Mackerel. My recipe serves 4 and I recommend 1 fillet per person.
- Olive oil and butter. For sauteing and flavour.
- Smoked streaky bacon. Adds a deep background flavour and increases the smokiness.
- Onion, celery, garlic. Together these form the vegetable base of the soup.
- Leek. For extra vegetable content and flavour.
- Frozen peas. A quick and convenient way of adding more veg.
- Potatoes. Make the chowder hearty and satisfying.
- Bay leaf. Adds an aromatic background note.
- Dill. It’s only quite recently that this lightly aniseed-flavoured herb has become one of my favourites. But if you don’t like it you could swap in parsley.
- Plain flour. Used to make a roux to traditionally thicken the chowder.
- Milk. Whole milk, in combination with stock, makes the soup pleasantly creamy rather than over-rich.
- Stock. I use light chicken stock, but you could swap in vegetable or fish stock.
- Soured cream, crème fraiche, or double cream. Just a few spoonsful at the end add a little silkiness.
- Salt and pepper.
EASY SMOKED MACKEREL CHOWDER
Once you’ve gathered the ingredients and prepared the vegetables, making Smoked Mackerel Chowder doesn’t take long at all.
Start by cooking the bacon in olive oil at high heat until browned and starting to crisp. Then, with the heat down to medium, add the butter and cook the chopped onion and celery with a little salt and pepper until softening without browning. The sliced leek and chopped garlic go in next and when they’re starting to soften stir in diced potato, bay leaf and half the dill.
After a minute or two, stir in the flour and cook briefly to colour it before taking the pan off the heat. Now slowly add the milk and stock, stirring all the time, so that the flour is incorporated without any lumps. Then put the pan back on the heat and keep stirring while it comes to the boil and thickens.
Turn the heat down to a simmer now and pop on a lid. Keep simmering until the potatoes are just tender. Do remember to stir occasionally so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
If you’re adding the soured cream, crème fraiche, or double cream, stir that in now along with the frozen peas. After a couple of minutes, the peas will be done, and you can take the chowder off the heat.
Tear the smoked mackerel into chunky pieces and stir into the pot. As the fish is already cooked, it just needs to warm through in the heat of the soup. So it’s less likely to break up, I do this off the heat.
After five minutes, the smoked mackerel will be hot so you can stir in the rest of the dill. The chowder is now ready to serve.
SERVING SMOKED MACKEREL CHOWDER
I absolutely love this tasty, smoky chowder. With relatively simple ingredients, the extra touches like bacon, butter, fresh dill and a little creaminess give it a complex flavour, making it feel rather special. But with the almost meaty fish, plus potatoes and veg, it’s satisfying and filling too.
A complete meal in a bowl, we usually have Smoked Mackerel Chowder for dinner, sometimes with crusty bread rolls to clear every drop of the delicious, thick broth. Leftovers are great for lunch the next day.
With bags of flavour and lots of good things in every spoonful, I think any fish lover who tries this easy soup will enjoy it too.
Have you made this recipe? Please leave a comment and rating.
Smoked Mackerel Chowder
A complete, satisfying meal in a bowl with bags of flavour and lots of good things in every spoonful.
In the lightly creamy chowder traditionally thickened with flour, there's chunks of fish, smoky bacon, onion, celery, leeks, garlic, potato, and peas, all flavoured with fresh dill and bay leaf.
It's recommended that you read the accompanying blog post before starting the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 125 g smoked streaky bacon (diced)
- 25 g butter
- 1 large onion (roughly chopped)
- 2 stalks celery (sliced)
- salt and black pepper (to taste)
- 1 large leek (approximately 200g, sliced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 500 g potatoes (cut into medium dice)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small bunch dill (or parsley, roughly chopped, large stems removed)
- 25 g plain flour
- 600 ml whole milk
- 400 ml stock (chicken, veg, or fish)
- 125 g frozen peas
- 2 rounded tbsp soured cream or crème fraiche (or 4 tbsp double cream, or leave out)
- 4 smoked mackerel fillets skinned and boned
Instructions
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Put the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add the bacon and cook until lightly crispy.
Reduce the heat to medium, add the butter then stir in the onion and celery plus a little salt and pepper. Cook until starting to soften, turning the heat down if they start to brown.
Stir in the leek and garlic and cook until the leeks are starting to soften.
Add the potatoes, a little more salt and pepper, plus the bay leaf and HALF the dill or parsley, then stir around for a minute or two.
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Stir in the flour and cook for a few minutes until coloured.
Off the heat, gradually stir in the milk and stock to incorporate the flour without lumps.
Put the pan back on a higher heat and stir constantly while it comes up boil. Turn down to a simmer, cover, and cook until the potatoes are just tender. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.
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Stir in the frozen peas and the soured cream or alternative, bring back up to a simmer and cook for a few minutes or until the peas are done.
Taste the soup and add more seasoning if necessary.
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Tear the smoked mackerel into chunky pieces and stir into the soup.
Take off the heat and leave for five minutes for the fish to warm through.
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Just before serving, stir in most of the remaining dill or parsley.
Divide between bowls and garnish with the rest of the herb.
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Leftovers can be stored in the fridge and eaten within 24 hours.
Freezing not recommended.
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