Eels...

We don't do (in the dished up sense) a great deal of freshwater eel here in the land downunder but our rivers and dams are stocked with the slimy suckers. Some as thick as your arm. Do any of you eat the stuff on a regular basis? Are there eel dishes unique to a particular area perhaps? I'd appreciate your tested recipes. I might go out and jag myself a couple and give them a test drive.

DD can't help with recipes. But occasionally here we see smoked eel and eel pate, both of which are excellent. Think there are small companies producing the product.

I once tasted a freshly caught one (really fresh). It was slimy as one imagined and full of bones. Ugh!

The pie and eel stuff in the UK - my husband tasted once - eels plus the green 'gravy'. Now we eat a lot of things including jellyfish and sea slugs, but he said it was the most revolting thing he'd ever eaten.

However, to go back to my original comment - smoked eel (like smoked salmon) and eel pate - I really think it's got a market. I genuinely enjoy both.

Yeah, I'm aware of the smoked eel angle, aa, as there is a company here in Tasmania that imports the smoked variety worldwide and at one point had a contract to supply the privileged punters flying in the pointy end of Qantas with their product. I've occasionally jagged the odd one when trout fishing and just wrapped it in foil and let it steam away in the embers of a fire but have never bothered researching a way to dish it up as a main.

Never had the big ones as an encounter with a jeelied eel as a child put me right off. I'd like to try smoked eel though.

I am off to Spain today and the area that i am going to in the North has a river that is famous for its elvers. Delicious, lovely little things. I will have a plate of those while I am there. Just gently friend with a pinch of salt and a little garlic.

tilly - make sure you report back after your tasting!

I'd hazard a guess that you could substitute elvers for whitebait in patties. All eyes and crunchy little bones.

7/30 was "doyo-no-ushi-no-hi" in Japan, and peopel traditionally eat grilled eel on this day for a protein fix to help stave off heat exhaustion. My farmers' market had guys grilling unagi (river eel) which was braised with a teriyaki-like sauce and I bought two gigantic ones which I served over rice that evening. It was fantastic! The name of the dish is "kabayaki",

EW NO! They are more like soft fishy little noodles.

#6 Cocodrilo - that sounds interesting indeed, except that you don't tell us about the bones which for me is the worst problem with eel. Please explain!

Brown and Forrest in the UK has wonderful smoked eel. For Londoners, they have a stall at Borough Street market on the first Saturday of the month.
A few years back I had a boating holiday in New Brunswick. My old mate Danny caught an eel one day. I cut it up and fried it, finishing the dish with soy sauce and chilllllllllli.

Eels, jellied or smoked, is one of those foods I've always thought 'must try' - but never have done. Maybe they'd be nice atop a slice of toast?

tonya - you must have seen eels in the window of a shop winding themselves round and round lumps of ice. Ugh. Shouldn't be surprised you never tried them as I never did.

But smoked or done in a pate - really great.

But #9 and others - how to deal with the bones!!?

Baby eels known as elvers used to be a delicacy in merry olde England, particularly in Gloucestershire. Does anyone know how they were prepared? Pie and mash shops in London also served-up larger eels with what was described on the menu as liquor - a green gravy. I could never bring myself to eat 'em, but I did like the meat pies, brown gravy and mash. These traditional working man's eateries were quite common in London - particularly the East End - until some 10-years ago when new affluence and fashions rendered them 'old hat' Shame really. I believe that there are fewer than half-a-dozen traditional Pie & Mash shops (also serving eels) left in London. I don't think the Pie & Mash shop ever made its way out of London.

Eel is very popular in Holland.

The infamous King John died from eating a surfeit of lamperys, an eel-like fish!

#8 The bones are very fine, and since they are soaked in teriyaki sauce and grilled I think that softens them even more. They are edible, just like anchovy bones are. The main backbone is removed and also grilled with the same sauce, however it becomes hard and crunchy and is often eaten as a snack with beer!

Lampreys suck.
Scary Picture!

Eel is considered a delicacy in Poland, however widely available. Smoked eel is most popular. Sometimes it's deep fried or in jellied.
The meat is very tender but firm. It's a bit fatty, but tasty. Best enjoyed with a shot of vodka, as a starter.

Some people are being put off by eel's "unhygenic" food habits (they are carnivors and predators).

Before eating yor eel, it is advisable to purge them for a week or two, leaving themin a cage in free-flowing water. This will help minimize the muddy tatse and give them a chance to empty their guts, making cleaning much easier.

To start, take a hammer and nail your eel to a convenient rafter. Let it stop writhing - this will take a while and you may want to leave the room for a stiff drink - and then make an incision around the nech, just behind the gills. Do likewise down the belly. Using a pair of pliers, grasp the skin on the back where you've cut it and peel the eel. If you are feeling particularly industrious, you can wash the skin with vinegar and cure it to make a fine leather.

Now, wash the eel thoroughly, removing all traces of blood. You can, if you want, remove the fillets from the backbone; I prefer to just cut the eel into three-inch segments.

Dredge your segments in seasoned flour and fry in butter until brown in a cast iron pan (this is important). Set aside and drain the excess oil. Fry a few slices of bread in the same pan, adding more butter as needed. Again, set aside. Return the eel to the pan and add a generous splash of white wine. Simmer for a bit, until the eel is cooked Remove the eel and place on the toast. To the cooking liquids in the pan, add shredded spinach amd, if you have any lying around, sorrel. Allow it to wilt. Pour this over the eel.

Enjoy.

Here is some useful information about eels from my new favorite website.

You can nail it to a tree if no rafter is convenient.

I've never had a problem with bones in an eel. Agingaquarian, are you sure you had a proper eel, Anguilla anguilla, and not a conger or a moray -- which are a different kettle of fish?

Don't red the book or see the movie The Tin Drum/Der Bleichtrommel if you're a sensitive type and you want to continue eating eels.

By the way, OP said "freshwater eel" which they may be down there where they're stocked. Where they're native, they're catadromous, spawning in the Sargasso Sea, with the little ones then making their way towards Europe or North America.

I love eel sushi, and once got the Japanese dish described above (a big el chunk over rice). the bones were soft enough that they didn't bother me, and it wasn't slimy.

I don't know about the eels you're catching but I think the freshwater one's I've had taste like catfish. You'll probably have good luck if you google catfish recipes so maybe try one of those that looks good.

Much meatier, oilier, and denser flesh than catfish IMHO

Cannibal!

The Jeffrey Dahmer of the eel world.

Is Devine the love of your life?

I had some fried fillets of eel in Macau this afternoon. They came with an olive oil dressing chock full of chopped garlic and spring onion and went down very well with chilled rose.

#27 is a bragger! phooey

Quote: Some people are being put off by eel's "unhygenic" food habits (they are carnivors and predators).

So are most of us.....

#12 -- I think I just saw elvers for sale in Chinatown NY. two or three inches long, pure white except for two black eye dots. If they weren't elvers I don't know what they could have been. They looked to me like the kind of thing you would dredge in flour and deep fry.

#30 They might have been loaches. (Those are good eatin', too!)

Now- have all of you tried sea eel as well? I'm sure most sushi restaurants now serve both 'unagi' (river eel) as well as 'anago' (sea eel). They are quite different, and I know a lot of people here who cannot handle the rich, oiliness of river eel, but have no problems eating sea eel.

#32 -- I hesitated over the word "oily". High in fat content is what I meant. I've seen "oily" used to describe high-fat fish e.g. bluefish. It doesn't mean that they actually drip with oil.

#31 -- Googled images of elvers and loaches (There are are a surprising number of people named Elver, by the way) and they definitely weren't loaches, which I don't think we have this side the Atlantic anyway. I'm pretty sure they were elvers.

FACTOID: Don't eat too much...Henry I of England died of a surfeit of lampreys.

JOKEOID:

Q What's forty feet long and smells of piss?

A A 'conger' in an old folks home.

Appreciate that recipe, 'turnip, sounds good. Consider it filed under to do.

Vinny #18. Same here. Our elvers are spawned up in the Coral Sea in far North Queensland somewheres and make their way back upstream into rivers and dams.

#33 -- The elvers on Google images all have something grey (a grey back or grey stripes). The ones in Chinatown where completely white, no?

The things in Chinatown were definitely pure white. I'll have to look at Google Images again.

Maybe they were elvers after all. This picture comes from this page, where it is referred to as "glass eel". This page says "Baby eels -- elvers -- start out clear. Bait shops call them “glass eels” around our coastal areas and sell them for bait. Must be great fun putting one of these little greased snakes on a hook." I don't know about that last sentence, but if elvers "start out clear", the things in Chinatown may have been that.

Prepare the eel as above, up to the browning. This time, after the eel has been browned, add to the pan carrots, onions and celery, cut to a medium dice. Cook in the same pan until they just start to soften and the onions begin to get golden. Degalze with a splash of red wine and add a cup or so of fish stock with a bouquet garni. Reduce this liquid by a bit less than half, then put the eel back in the pan and simmer gently until it is cooked through. You can finish it with cream or butter if you like, but I find this unecessary.

Is good with crusty bread or boiled potatoes.

Thanks again..

No worries, eel be alright.

I feel a little eel just reading that elvers recipe. Yuck.

I would recommend a doctor, but he might not be a good eeler.

What excuse do you have for being a git on GS? Oh yes you are the resident moron and annoyance aren't you eely?

So what will be your next handle? You will probably need to come up with one soon.

I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

#38 -- I think they were indeed glass eels. Thanks.

Yes, the onions will soften faster than the celery, which will soften faster than the carrots, but that is fine. You end up with a broad variety of textures in this dish, and a nice deep flavor. Braising them in red wine has the advantage of masking the muddy flavors that may come out if the eel hasn't been properly purged. Using the same basic technique, you can also braise them in beer or stock.

My last good eel recipe is probably the easiest... Once you have dispatched the eel with a nail through the head and waited for it to stop writhing, wash it down with vinegar and coarse salt to remove the slime. Gut the creature and throughly scub out the inside. If you want to leave the head attached, trim out the gills with some shears. Also trim off the fins. Marinate overnight in a brine of one quart water, two quarts vinegar, one quarter cup salt, one tablespoon sugar and some allspice and juniper berries, brought to a boil and then cooled.

(The fastest way to do that, by the way, is to boil the vinegar with the seasonings, then add the water in the form of ice cubes. Make sure the brine is completely cool.)

When it is time to cook, rinse the eel well, then fill the body cavity with fresh thyme and thin slices of lemon.

Now, depending on your taste you can either coil the eel - start with the tail at the center and winding it into a sort of flemish coil, with the belly side up, then secure it with either skewers as you would a rope sausage or with butcher's twine - or grill it lying straight. I think grilling it straight works better because you can char the skin on all sides instaed of leaving a slimy layer of skin where the coils were touching.

Both make for startling presentations, so if you or your guests are squeamish, cut the eel into six- or seven-inch lengths.

Grill the eel over very high heat. Try to keep it well above the coals, if you can, because it will drip quite a bit and flair up a bit.

Let the skin char while the inside cooks through, then peel and eat with beer. Be prepared to use your fingers.

Conger eel you squeal like a pig, that must be why they like you in Georgia.

Presentation is key in eel dishes. I like to coil the skinned eel in a roasting pig's mouth with just it's head and beady little eyes peeking out of the pig's slowly roasting snout. A small apple wedged in the eel's mouth, and you've got a noteworthy spit roast.