Jurel and Mackerel are different fish, but they're close enough in the kitchen to stand in for one another.
Carangidae
Jurel
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.
Full guide →Scombridae
Mackerel
Atlantic mackerel is an oily, strongly flavored fish with iridescent blue-green skin and rich, dark flesh. It is affordable, nutritious, and sustainable. In Spain it is marinated in vinegar as escabeche. In France it is grilled or smoked. In the UK it is popular smoked or pan-fried. Its high fat content makes it ideal for smoking, grilling, and curing.
Full guide →Both are small, oily, strongly flavoured fish grilled whole or escabechado — horse mackerel is firmer, drier and more mineral, and is not actually a mackerel.
| Country | Jurel | Mackerel |
|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Jack mackerel | Mackerel |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | Horse mackerel | Mackerel |
| 🇫🇷France | Chinchard | Maquereau |
| 🇪🇸Spain | Jurel | Caballa |
| 🇦🇷Argentina | Jurel | Caballa |
| 🇲🇽Mexico | — | Macarela |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Carapau | Cavala |
| 🇧🇷Brazil | — | Cavala |
| 🇮🇹Italy | Sugarello | Sgombro |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Stöcker | Makrele |
Browse every species in the atlas on the fish index, or identify one from a photo with Identify my cut.