Danish Rye with Smoked Mackerel & Cucumber
Hot-smoked mackerel broken over dark rye, a sharp horseradish cream underneath it, cold cucumber and dill piled on top.
Why it works
Hot-smoked mackerel arrives cooked and already salted, so the only real work is lifting it off the skin in wide flakes rather than mashing it into paste. Beating horseradish into crème fraîche gives the bread a layer that is cold and sharp against oily fish, and it seals the rye so cucumber juice cannot soak in before the plate reaches the table.
Method
- Run a peeler down the length of the cucumber to make long ribbons, stopping when you reach the seedy core. Pile them on the board, toss with the flaky salt and leave for 5 minutes.
- Stir the crème fraîche with the horseradish, the lemon zest and half the juice until it stiffens a little. Taste it: it wants to be sharp enough to make you blink, because the fish will blunt it.
- Pull the skin off the mackerel and lift the flesh away in wide flakes, running a thumb along each one to find the line of fine pin bones. Leave the flakes whole.
- Squeeze the cucumber ribbons gently over the sink — a surprising amount of water comes out and they should feel limp and glassy — then toss them with the rest of the lemon juice.
- Spread the rye with the horseradish cream, two slices per plate. Lay the mackerel on in its flakes, drape the cucumber over, tuck the sliced radishes in among it, and finish with dill and a hard grind of black pepper.
For the toddler
Smoked mackerel is salted through, so give them one small flake at most, buried in plenty of plain crème fraîche with none of the horseradish stirred in, or poach a piece of fresh white fish and use that instead. Take their cucumber ribbons before the salt at step 1. Cut the rye crusts off and slice it into soft fingers, cut the radish into strips rather than coins, and check every flake for pin bones.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Hot-smoked trout, or a peppered mackerel fillet if you want the heat doubled. Cold-smoked salmon works, though it wants the mustard rather than the horseradish.
Cut the cucumber into coins and skip the salting; the cream layer holds the water off the bread on its own.
A soft-boiled egg halved onto each plate, or pickled red onion for something sharper.
Assembled, it softens within the hour. The flaked mackerel and the cream keep 2 days covered in the fridge and make a good sandwich.