A Restaurant Lifeline, Five Years Later: How to Make Mangal 2’s Mackerel Pide

This was a big one at Mangal 2 during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mackerel pide pretty much kept the restaurant financially afloat for two whole months. Five years on, here’s the recipe for you.

Serves 4

Mackerel Pide

4 Mackerel fillets (pinboned or V-cut and dried in the fridge for 24 hours)
1 Turkish pide or large focaccia
1 bunch dill
1/2 bunch parsley
500ml sunflower oil
20g salt
75g egg yolk
20ml lemon juice
20g isot pepper

Method

Blend your dill, parlsey, salt and oil together in a blender until your blender feels hot and the oil is bright green — place in fridge and allow to steep for 2 hours.

Then place a cheese cloth in a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and begin straining.

Whisking vigorously, emulsify your dill oil with the egg yolk – to make sure it doesn’t split, ensure all ingredients are cold. (Consider putting your oil in the freezer for 30 minutes before this process and if your emulsion is splitting, add a very small amount of ice water to bring it back.)

Add lemon juice and salt to taste and place it in the fridge.

Meanwhile, over a medium heat, place a stainless steel grill rack directly onto the coals, if you’re barbecuing – place your mackerel skin-side down. You can also do this under the grill with skin facing up. Every 10-20 seconds give the grate a tap, this will stop the mackerel sticking to it. When the skin has caramelised, remove off the heat, rest and allow it to permeate through the meat.

In the meantime, slice your bread through the middle and toast on (or under) the grill.

Add emulsion to the bottom layer of your pide, your mackerel on top then the bread

Finish with (smoked) olive oil and isot pepper.

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A post shared by Sertaç Dirik (@sertacdirik)

Sertaç Dirik a London-based chef and the co-author of Mangal II – Stories and Recipes.

Photography by Harriet Langford.