Pan-Fried Mackerel (Godeungeo-gui)
Rubbing the mackerel with a vinegar-oil mixture before pan-frying cuts the fishy smell and leaves a clean, savory flavor. It's a simple recipe: salt-cure the cleaned mackerel, then sear it in a hot pan until golden.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Mackerel2
- Cooking oil2 spoons
- Vinegar2 spoons
- Coarse saltA pinch
Directions
- 1
Clean the fresh mackerel, sprinkle with coarse salt, and let it rest in the fridge for 2 hours to draw out the blood. Salted (jaban) mackerel can be used right away.
- 2
Rinse the salted mackerel thoroughly under running water. (Don't soak it in a bowl — rinse it directly under the running tap instead.)
- 3
Mix vinegar and cooking oil in a 1:1 ratio. (For 2 mackerel, about 2 tablespoons of oil plus 2 tablespoons of vinegar is just right.)
- 4
Pat the rinsed, drained mackerel dry, then coat it evenly with the mixture, rubbing it into the skin like a massage.
- 5
Make sure to coat the flesh side evenly as well.
- 6
Heat a pan over high heat and place the mackerel skin-side down. Cook for 1 minute, then flip.
- 7
Cook flesh-side down for 1 minute 30 seconds, then lower the heat to medium-low and flip occasionally to cook it through evenly.
- 8
Flipping too often can break up the flesh, so turn it only two or three times to finish cooking.
- 9
Since there's no extra oil besides what's rubbed onto the fish, there's no oil splatter to worry about, and there's noticeably less smoke and smell while cooking. Plate it up and you're done!
Tips
If you use salted (jaban) mackerel, you won't need the coarse salt separately.