Just after we thought we had perfected the smoked mackerel dauphinois dish we decided to try yet another different potato! Classically, dauphinois potatoes is made using a floury potato – but we had found the waxy potato Linda 1974 made a great tasting dish – see here. 
Now I would still stand by that, it is a great dish!! However, we had the opportunity to try the dish with a different potato, this time Red King Edward 1916 – again from Carroll’s Heritage Potatoes. This is a relatively rare version of the King Edward – first appeared as ‘Fellside Hero’ in Northumberland. From my limited experience they are less flavoursome than Linda 1974 – but their texture is especially suited for this dish. As an added bonus they cook beautifully in their skins and the skins stay red after cooking – so an added aesthetic bonus!
The advantage of the floury potatoes is that they add their own creaminess to the overall dish. And if I am right that they are not quite as tasty as the waxy Linda 1974 potatoes, the deep rich smoky taste of the mackerel in this dish adequately cover any of those potential weaknesses!
The method of preparation is absolutely identical to our previously published recipe except that this time we did not peel the potatoes first as we wanted to retain their red skins. They were cooked on the MiniMax set up indirectly in a cast iron roasting dish and cooked at around 170C for about an hour.
If the top doesn’t brown as much as you would like simply place under a hot grill for 2 minutes. This was not a problem we had here though! And just to make sure you don’t eat too much fill a third of your plate with a fresh green salad before serving! It goes beautifully with the green salad.
Do give the dish a go in this or the previous version
– you will not be disappointed!!
Smoked Mackerel Dauphinoise Potatoes
A beautifully smoky Dauphinoise potato dish enhanced with smoked mackerel and mustard
Ingredients
- 250g Smoked mackerel
- 400g floury potato (we used Red King Edward 1916)
- Medium sized onion 1
- 250ml of milk
- 100ml of cream
- 2 tablespoons of grain mustard
- Salt and pepper
- Mustard seeds (optional)
Directions
- Step 1 Do not peel the potatoes, just parboil for around 6-8 minutes. Cool so can be handled and slice around 5-7mm thick.
- Step 2 Finely slice the onion into rings and place as the first layer in a greased medium sized roasting dish. Add the potatoes as the second layer lightly salting as you go. Then add the chunks of skinned mackerel. Repeat until the roasting dish is full then top with a layer of potatoes.
- Step 3 Press down the layers to remove any large air spaces.
- Step 4 Mix the milk cream and mustard and and add to the dish to flow between the layers. Finally add some extra mustard seeds over the top.
- Step 5 Put into the Big Green Egg set for indirect cooking at around 170-180C or into a domestic oven. Leave until the potatoes are cooked through and the top is a golden brown.
- Step 6 Serve by itself or with a green salad
