Jack mackerel and Jurel are the same fish. Different languages, different markets, one species — so a recipe calling for one works exactly as written with the other.
Jurel is the everyday oily fish of the Iberian Atlantic — cheap, abundant, and eaten far more often at home than in restaurants. In Portugal, as carapau, it is close to a national staple: grilled whole over charcoal with olive oil and vinegar, or fried small and eaten whole. Northern Spain and the Canaries call it chicharro. The flesh is darker and firmer than sardine, with a pronounced iron flavour and a line of tough scutes along the tail that should be trimmed before cooking. It is at its best grilled, escabechado, or canned. Despite the English name it is not a mackerel and not closely related to one: it belongs to Carangidae, alongside pompano and amberjack, and its firmer, drier flesh behaves differently in the pan. Chilean and Peruvian jurel is a different but closely related Trachurus species sold under the same name.
One species, one fishmonger’s counter at a time.
| Country | Called |
|---|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Jack mackerel |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | Horse mackerel |
| 🇫🇷France | Chinchard |
| 🇪🇸Spain | Jurel |
| 🇦🇷Argentina | Jurel |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Carapau |
| 🇮🇹Italy | Sugarello |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Stöcker |
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