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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

Fischbrötchen and balık ekmek (fish rolls, two ways)

25 min · 4 rolls

Port-city fish rolls: Hamburg's with pickled herring or fried fish, onion and remoulade, Amsterdam's with raw herring and onion, Istanbul's with grilled mackerel and salad. At home, grilled or pan-fried mackerel is the easiest and best.

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The real one

You need

• 4 mackerel fillets, skin on (or 4 Bismarck or matjes herring fillets from a jar, for the no-cook version)
• 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper
• 1 lemon
• 4 crusty white rolls (or half baguettes for balık ekmek)
• 1 small red onion, sliced into thin rings
• 2 handfuls shredded lettuce, 1 tomato, sliced
• For the quick remoulade: 4 tbsp mayonnaise, 1 tbsp chopped cornichons, 1 tsp capers, chopped, 1 tsp mustard, 1 tsp chopped dill
• Optional: sumac and chili flakes (Istanbul style)

How to make it

1. Prep (5 min): Mix the remoulade. Toss the onion rings with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon (and a pinch of sumac for Istanbul style).
2. Cook the fish (6 min): Pat the mackerel dry, score the skin twice, oil and season. Lay skin side down in a hot pan (or on a grill) and press flat for 10 seconds. Cook 3 to 4 minutes until the skin is crisp and the flesh turns opaque most of the way up, then turn for 30 seconds. Squeeze lemon over.
3. Warm the bread (3 min): Split the rolls and toast the cut sides on the pan or grill.
4. Build (3 min): Hamburg style: remoulade, lettuce, the fish (or herring), onion rings. Istanbul style: lettuce, tomato, the mackerel, onion with sumac, lemon and chili flakes.
5. Serve at once, with a beer or, as on the Golden Horn, a glass of pickle juice.

Tips

• Pin-bone the mackerel with tweezers before cooking; run a finger down the fillet to find them.
• Jarred herring rolls take 5 minutes and need no cooking at all.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.