Mackerel or mackerel - what's the difference and how to cook? Mackerel: description, habitat, bait, fishing methods

Mackerel and mackerel lying on store shelves are different fish. But sometimes both products are sold as "mackerel", which misleads the consumer. In order not to make a mistake when buying fish, you need to know how mackerel differs from mackerel.

General information

The commercial fish under consideration belong to the mackerel family, all representatives of which spend their lives in the pelagic (not connected with the bottom) zone of the seas. As predators, mackerels are well adapted to rapid movement in the water. Their plump, elongated body ends in a tail with a widely forked fin. Characteristic features mackerels - a number of small fins located in the tail, as well as a bone ring around the eyes.

From the whole family, let's move on to its representatives of interest to us. First, let's look at the images of two fish. This is mackerel:

And here in the photo - mackerel:

Comparison

Each of the fish of the same family has its own characteristics. So, the difference between mackerel and mackerel is their size. Mackerel grows larger. In the powerful jaw of this predator are clearly visible sharp teeth. The belly of the fish is gray or yellowish. The coloration is often spotted, and the markings can cover both the top and bottom of the carcass.

Mackerel, compared to other members of the family, is a small fish. In its size, it is inferior to mackerel. The sales are dominated by Atlantic mackerel. It can be recognized by the picturesque coloration in the form of stripes passing from the back to the sides, but not affecting the light abdomen.

What is the difference between mackerel and mackerel when comparing their taste? It should be noted here that mackerel in nutritionally less valued. Its meat is not as tender as that of mackerel. However, as an ingredient for dishes that require lean fish, mackerel is fine. For example, it can be added to a salad after boiling.

Meanwhile, it is better to smoke or pickle mackerel, which is more tasty in this form. This fish, unlike mackerel, is oily, which eliminates the need to add oil when baking it.

Mackerel - Atlantic mackerel - belongs to the mackerel family, lives in the temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. It has dark gray skin without scales.

Mackerel meat is tender, tasty, and lacks small bones. It is often used for the preparation of canned food and balyk products. In addition, mackerel is salted, smoked hot and cold, boiled, stewed, baked, stewed in sour cream, in tomato or marinade, grilled, adding spices ( Bay leaf, pepper) and prunes.

It is not recommended to cook aspic and first courses from mackerel, as it has meat dark color with a strong specific odour.

Depending on the place of fishing and appearance There are several types of mackerel: king, spotted, striped and golden. Fat content of meat various kinds mackerel varies, it ranges from 0.4 to 10%.

It is important to take into account that mackerel fat oxidizes very quickly in air, therefore, when preparing it in ice cream, it is necessary to use protective coatings.

Benefit

1. Mackerel meat contains a large number of protein, phosphorus, selenium (30 mcg per 100 g of product), sodium, iodine, magnesium, potassium. In a small amount are present: calcium, iron, copper and zinc.

2. Atlantic mackerel contains the following vitamins: C, A, D, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B9, B12 (promotes the formation of red blood cells and the normal functioning of the nervous system).

There are also useful saturated fatty acids (palmitic, stearic), monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic, erucic, palmitoleic, gadoleic), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (Omega-3, arachidonic, linoleic, steoric).

3. 200 grams of mackerel contains a daily dose of iodine!

4. Regular consumption of mackerel meat helps prevent stroke and heart disease. Mackerel is also recommended for people with peptic ulcer stomach, with problems with bone tissue and with "problem" thyroid gland, however, there are some contraindications (see "Harm").

5. Mackerel meat is used in separate diets.

bad memory;

fast fatiguability;

muscle cramps;

fragility of nails and hair loss;

slow growth in children;

hypertension; exhaustion;

drowsiness;

depression;

peptic ulcer;

cervical erosion;

muscle dystrophy;

brain hypoxia;

violation of acid-base metabolism in the body;

nervous exhaustion;

weakened immunity;

osteoporosis;

cramps in the stomach;

living in cold countries;

living in hot countries;

heart diseases;

metabolic disease;

diseases of the duodenum;

rehabilitation period after surgery;

the use of contraceptives;

the use of estrogen-containing drugs;

alcoholism;

drinking tea;

drinking coffee;

Mackerel is a fish from the mackerel family. Mackerel is a predator and lives in the coastal maritime zone. This fish is commercial, so it can be found on the shelves of many fish stores. Mackerel gets into stores from the seas and oceans, where it is caught.

habitats

This fish is caught off the coast of Europe, America and Africa. The main amount of mackerel is found:

• in the Atlantic Ocean;
• in the North Sea;
• off the coast of Norway.

The main condition for the habitat of this fish is the water temperature, which should be in the range from +8 to +20 degrees. The fish hibernates at a depth of up to 200 meters, so the reservoir where this type of mackerel is common should be deep enough.

Chemical composition and benefits

Mackerel contains:

1. A considerable amount of fat.
2. a significant amount of protein.
3. Carbohydrates.
4. Microelements.
5. Vitamins.

If the fish was caught in winter time, then it can contain up to 30% fat. Protein in mackerel is not less than 18 g per 100 g of product. The protein contained in this fish is very High Quality and digested several times faster than beef and even rabbit meat.

Despite the high fat content, mackerel is not considered a high-calorie food. On average, there are 200 kcal per 100 g of fish.

How to catch more fish?

I have been active fishing for quite some time and have found many ways to improve the bite. And here are the most effective ones:

1. Cool activator. Attracts fish in cold and warm water with the help of pheromones included in the composition and stimulates her appetite. It is a pity that Rosprirodnadzor wants to ban its sale.
2. More sensitive gear. Reviews and instructions for other types of gear you can find on the pages of my site.
3. Lures using pheromones.

You can get the rest of the secrets of successful fishing for free by reading our other articles on the site.

The high value of the meat of this fish lies in great content unsaturated fatty acids. These substances have antioxidant properties.

Antioxidants Protect living cell from destruction by free radicals. Otherwise, there is a risk of developing such a serious disease as oncology, therefore, daily consumption of this fish for food significantly reduces the likelihood of this disease.

Mackerel contains a lot of:

• phosphorus;
• potassium;
• sodium;
• manganese.

These elements are extremely important for the functioning of many body systems, and their daily use is very beneficial. It is very good to eat mackerel during pregnancy, and the use of this product in childhood helps eliminate the risk of developing diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency.

Due to the high content of nutrients, mackerel promotes the synthesis of proteins and hemoglobin in the blood.

Including mackerel meat in your diet is great for work of cardio-vascular system. This fish contains healthy cholesterol, which does not harm human health. Eating mackerel meat enhances cerebral circulation, which is why it is so important to include this product in the menu for older people.

Application in cooking

Mackerel is a very sought after fish among chefs. different countries. Consider the main ways to prepare it:

Thus, mackerel is very common. commercial fish, which can often be found on store shelves. Its meat is very tasty and healthy, because it is rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Be sure to include this fish in your diet! Be healthy!

Cooks and hobbyists tasty food fish such as mackerel are highly valued. Especially often it can be seen on the tables of our compatriots in salted and smoked form. But few people know that sometimes unscrupulous sellers pass off its relative, mackerel, as mackerel. This fish lives in the waters Atlantic Ocean, and it can really be easily confused with the more famous "sister".

How to distinguish them?

It is in this case that we will try to understand in detail.

Like mackerel, mackerel is a fish of the Mackerel family. They are similar in size, but if you are offered a choice of larger and smaller carcasses in a store or market, it is better to choose the one that is smaller - then you are more likely to buy mackerel. Mackerel will, of course, be fatter and larger. This is due to the fact that the stocks of this fish in the ocean are still large, and therefore the young are not actually used in the fishing industry. Only adults get to consumers.

What kind of fish?

Sometimes confusion also arises when importing - as usual, all imported products are labeled on English language as the most common. And among the subjects of Great Britain, both fish are called the same - mackerel. Perhaps that is why the same mackerel is sometimes called mackerel. The fish are similar. And to distinguish it, you need to know some important features each of them. Well, for this you need to see at least once what it is, mackerel fish. You can see photos of her and mackerel in fishing books or magazines. Outwardly, they are very similar: both of a silvery-greenish hue, the same shape. The differences lie in the so-called branded "tiger stripes". In mackerel, they are located clearly on the back. But mackerel, in addition to stripes, also has dark spots. They not only decorate the back of the fish, but also flow onto its abdomen.

Fishing for mackerel usually takes place between April and October from fishing boats. But from the shore it is best to start fishing at the peak of summer - June and July.

Why is mackerel fishing necessary?

Like mackerel, mackerel is an oily fish, which means it is rich in saturated omega-3 acids, which are important for maintaining human health. She is actively used for food, although she loses to her "relative" in palatability. You can distinguish mackerel meat - it is tougher than mackerel, it quickly becomes dry during heat treatment. It also differs in color - in mackerel, when cutting, the meat is pale pink. Mackerel is a fish with a grayish tinge of meat. Cutting it is quite simple - you do not need to remove the scales, and the fillet is easily separated from the ridge with an ordinary knife, there are no small bones in it.

To cook it with maximum benefit, it is better to choose a cooking method such as grilling. For more juiciness, you can water it. lemon juice, grease with olive oil, and also wrap the carcasses in foil. on the coals on the grill, it will retain juiciness and softness, and the almost complete absence of bones in this fish will make it a favorite dish for both adults and children.

(mackerel, bonito, tuna, mackerel, bonito)

The name "mackerel" is associated with the open ocean, yachts, and "mackerel" - with blocks of frozen fish, at best - with smoked fish. In fact, mackerel is the name of mackerel adopted in English-speaking countries. Her relatives are tuna and bonito.

Previously, many ichthyologists believed that mackerel, bonito and tuna should be considered separately. Indeed, what can a thirty-centimeter mackerel and a tuna, whose length exceeds four and a half meters, have in common. But between small mackerels and huge tuna, you can place a continuous row of species of mackerel fish that occupy an intermediate position in size and lifestyle. Therefore, all these fish are combined into one mackerel family. Scombridae. The family turns out to be large, it includes 51 species of fish, most of which have an important commercial value. The appearance of all mackerels indicates that they are fast swimmers.

For convenience of consideration and preparation, we will divide all mackerels available to Israelis into three groups: not very large, shorter than 1 meter, from one to 2-3 meters - bonito (these are bonitos, king mackerels and small tunas), and very large, longer than 3 meters - big tuna.

Mackerel is a very beautiful schooling fish, with a spindle-shaped body, a thin strong caudal stalk and a powerful crescent-shaped tail. It rarely grows up to 60 cm. It is characterized by high but variable abundance and occupies an important place in the coastal and ocean fisheries. Mackerel feeds on plankton and small fish and lives up to 17-18 years. It lives at a temperature of 8-20°C, swims quickly (up to 100 km/h in the throw) and makes long-distance migrations.

In Israel, this fish is called mackerel, and in ichthyological Hebrew - "colias". Two types of mackerel are caught in our country, you just need to know where to catch. Atlantic mackerel - Scomber scombrus can be found in the Mediterranean. It is one of the most common species in the North Atlantic. Found along the coast North America from Labrador to Cape Hatteras, off the coast of Europe - from the Canary Islands to Iceland and Norway, as well as in the open ocean and in the seas: Baltic, North, Norwegian, Barents, Marmara and Black. Israeli fishermen in the Mediterranean caught more than 3 tons of mackerel in 2004.

And in Eilat you can try to catch Australian or spotted mackerel S. australasicus . She lives in the western part Pacific Ocean(from China and Japan in the north to the Hawaiian Islands in the south), off the coast of Australia and New Zealand, in the northern part of the Indian Ocean (Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Oman). There is also Japanese or Eastern mackerel - S. japonicus , she also lives in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but it does not swim to the Red Sea, and it gets into stores in a frozen form. Atlantic mackerel grows up to 3.5 kg, Japanese mackerel 3 kg, and Australian mackerel, which is found in the Red Sea, is the smallest, Weight Limit- 1 kg.

In spring, the fat content of mackerel is low, about 3%, and in autumn up to 30% of the body weight of the fish is fat. Therefore, autumn oily mackerel is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins D and B 12. Such fish is good for smoking and grilling. True, I don’t think that with an abundance of other fish in stores, it makes sense to boil or fry frozen mackerel - the smell is too strong. But I respect mackerel smoked in cold or hot ways.

But here are two rather curious recipes:

1. Mackerel casserole.

Cut fresh or frozen mackerel fillet (1 kg) into small pieces, add a small onion, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of ground white pepper and a teaspoon of ground cumin, a small boiled potato and a tablespoon of starch to the fish. Grind all this in a blender. Fry over medium heat in a Teflon pan. Serve with boiled potatoes and carrots, green or cucumber salad with sweet vinegar.

2. Mackerel with gin and grapefruit juice sauce.

2 small fresh mackerel
1 large green grapefruit
1 small sweet onion, finely chopped
gin,
2 teaspoons brown sugar
50 g butter,
Orange juice,
starch.

For marinade:
squeeze grapefruit juice, add an equal volume of gin to the resulting juice and mix.
Put the fish in the marinade for a couple of hours. Remove the fish from the marinade and grill for 5-8 minutes on each side, until the meat near the spine is opaque. At the same time, fry the onion in oil until golden brown. Add marinade, sugar, spices, starch and orange juice to the onion and, reducing the heat, stir the sauce until it thickens.
And for lovers of culinary experiments - advice: in order to mitigate the specific smell of this fish, Western sources recommend marinating mackerel in lime juice (this lemon is so bitter) or serving with spicy sour sauces - gooseberry or cranberry.

Just good tuna goes to the grill and steaks. The fact is that tuna muscles are very similar to meat. Even raw fish when cut is a blood-purple color, like weathered beef or game. (). A fried tuna steak is easily mistaken for a beef steak by an inexperienced person. In the ideal case, the carcass is cut right on the ship and frozen in the form of portioned steaks, which you will defrost in your kitchen. Features of frying are not to overdry the already dryish meat. Overcooked tuna is tough and tasteless. When frying tuna, you need to treat it like meat, more precisely, with loin when you want to fry it with blood. Then the meat will be elastic, with a pleasant color and intense smell. Pieces of tuna must be carefully breaded so that the juice does not flow out. It is best to roll first in flour, and then in fine semolina - this is thinner than in breadcrumbs. Be sure to fry the steaks with large quantity onion and oil to make a sauce. Tuna goes well with vegetables.

And yet, most people are familiar with tuna only in canned form. Many probably believe that tuna just floats in the ocean in neat cylinders of cans. Anyway, these are the cheapest canned fish our country, from which they do not become less tasty. You can eat the contents directly from the jar, or you can put it on a plate along with mashed potatoes from the package and get lunch in 2 minutes. You can, crushing with a fork in a jar, spread tuna pate on bread, toast or put it in pita, or you can make a salad by mixing tuna with anything.

And it turns out that tuna is a very elite and very democratic fish at the same time. Her sport fishing is an expensive hobby, and fishing provides a livelihood for many poor people. Tuna sushi, sashimi and steaks are exquisite and expensive dishes, and canned food is a common food for every day. It could very well be that while you're munching on tuna-in-oil vodka in nature, someone is munching on sake sushi made from the same fish that's in your canned food. And those parts of her carcass that were considered unfit for food for you and an unknown gentleman, went to "whiskas-tuna" for your pussy.

But we will stop at an intermediate option and cook tuna fillet in Teriaki sauce.

For 1 serving you will need:

300 g tuna fillet,
1 small zucchini,
3-4 st. spoons of teriyaki sauce
1 lemon
spices.

Cooking method.

Marinate tuna fillets in teriyaki sauce for 1 hour.
Cut the zucchini into thin circles and simmer in boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes.
Drain the water. Put the marinated tuna on a grill or pan and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side (it is customary to serve tuna not fried to the end).
Pepper, but do not salt (the sauce is quite salty). Arrange the zucchini slices on a warmed dish and top with the tuna fillet. Drizzle with warmed remaining teriyaki sauce.

Very good tuna, salted at home.

Quite often, pieces of tuna fillet on the skin weighing 2-4 kg are sold in Israeli stores. They can be salted at home. The salting technology that I use is very simple, but long.

So, let's go to the store, look at the tuna. Please note that at approx. same weight fillets can be long and thin, or they can be short and thick.

We come home, look at what containers we have so that the whole piece fits in there and is covered with liquid. I use plastic boxes with press-on lids.

Again we go to the store and buy tuna of the right size.

The first stage of salting is technical. At home, we wash off the ice crust from it, without defrosting it, put it in the selected container, fill it with water from the tap, so that the piece is covered with liquid. Take out the fish and set aside.

Add salt (~4 tablespoons per kilogram of fish) and sugar (1 tablespoon) to the water and stir until dissolved. (You can add dill, garlic, and whatever else you want to the brine, but I didn’t feel these additives in the finished fish. All this can be added in the second stage).

We put the fish in the brine, if necessary, add water so that the piece is covered. We close the lid, shake several times so that the brine is evenly distributed.

We put it in the refrigerator for 2 days. Shake the container 2-3 times a day to speed up the exchange processes between fish and brine.

After two days, we take the fish out of the brine, rinse it very lightly with running water and wrap it in a clean cloth (I use viscose napkins in rolls). We put it all in plastic bag(do not tie tightly!) and return to the refrigerator for 3-7 days. During this time, the salinity in the entire thickness of the piece of fish is leveled.

We cut off as much fillet from a piece as we plan to eat in the coming days, and put everything else in the same rag in the freezer, but close the plastic bag tightly so that the piece does not dry out.

The piece that we plan to eat, cut into thin slices. (And from the piece that we cut off in the freezer as needed, it’s very good to cut not completely defrosted fish, thin neat pieces are obtained).

And we begin the second stage - creative. Preparing the filling from vegetable oil. NOT OLIVE, because good olive oil will harden in the refrigerator. I use canola.

And here is a huge scope for imagination. On the basis of vegetable oil, you can compose various sauces by adding garlic, dill, chili sauce, soy sauce, liquid smoke, wasabi, etc. You can do a little first to see if it's good

We place the pieces in the sauce, so that each is covered with it, and put in the refrigerator for a day. Shake occasionally so that the sauce penetrates the fish better.

And that's it! This is how we gradually or quickly eat the entire frozen piece and go for a new one. Next time we make the necessary adjustments to the first and second stages, because everyone has different pieces of fish and tastes.