Mix it up with taste of the sea
Spread on hot toast, a decent smoked mackerel paté is easy to serve with drinks, or loosened up with a little cream, as a dip for batons of fresh vegetables. I like a blob of it on a bowl of vegetable soup, or warmed gently to serve over pasta. It can also make an easy filling for quiches.
Making a fish paté is as easy as blending a fillet of fish with a tablespoon of cream cheese, yoghurt, or fresh cream. Add the juice of half a lemon, and a little paprika for fresh salmon. Cook fresh salmon or mackerel first, and allow to cool.
Smoked fish needs very little seasoning, so taste before adding salt. Smoked or grilled fresh mackerel benefits from the addition of some horseradish (sauce or very finely grated fresh). Chopped, fresh parsley and spring onion are good with fresh fish. Remove the skin from the fish first, and pick out any bones.
Bought fish patés are a great standby, and many of those we surveyed this week were worth the money.
A chunky, lightly processed texture provides interest here, along with gently smoked mackerel. But it’s the judicious addition of horseradish that lifts this to the level of a top quality paté. The favourite of the smoked mackerel patés. Fair price.
A light mixture, quite smooth, the hint of horseradish on the label is not discernible and the mackerel is quite tough. Not much flavour.
Lots of hard stalks. Leaves felt and looked like fresh thyme, but did not taste of the herb. This spoilt an otherwise fairly nicely fishy paté. Quite a few small bones, too.
A thick coating of butter preserves this traditional French blend of smoked salmon, butter, white wine and lemon juice. Very well-balanced flavours with a nice, natural texture that is not over processed. A delicious treat and favourite salmon paté. At English Market and Douglas Woollen Mills shop.
52% smoked salmon, mayonnaise, fresh lemon juice and black pepper combine in a good balance of fishiness with a light texture.
With a natural, fresh salmon flavour this paté has a texture of minced fish rather than processed, and is all the better for it. Even at a decent, 53%, a little more salmon would have given more flavour to better balance the mayo, which was a little overbearing. The 2.5% cucumber was not noticeable.
53% cream cheese is strongly flavoured, like a cheddar, and overpowers the smoked-salmon flavour. The cucumber and spring onion listed are not discernible. Lemon juice fails to liven an over-creamy mixture.
This retro product has 90% salmon and 6% butter, as we might expect of a potted fish. It also has added, concentrated soya protein. This may be responsible for the dilution of the flavour and a slightly grainy texture, which also masks the listed tomato purée, sugar and ground white pepper. With a shelf life of two years, it could be handy to have in the store cupboard as comfort food, but only for emergencies.
