Home › The Principles of Cookery › EELS (a la Poulette)
EELS (a la Poulette)
When the eel has been skinned and cleaned, cut it into pieces, and roll the pieces first in melted butter, and then in flour. Put the portions of fish into a stewpan with equal quantities of white wine and water; add a bunch of herbs, some mushrooms, pepper, and salt, and stew till done; then remove the fish, and thicken the gravy with flour, butter, and egg. After skimming off the fat from the surface, serve quickly, and add a squeeze of lemon-juice, and a little vinegar. Time to stew, three-quarters of an hour. Probable cost, 6d. to 1s. per pound.
A classic French à la poulette treatment set down for a Victorian cook who bought eel live and cheap. Two things need attention: the stewing time and the egg liaison.
- The hinge: the egg must not boilThe gravy is finished with an egg (yolk, in French practice) beaten with a little of the hot liquid, then stirred back in off the heat. If it returns to a boil the sauce curdles into threads. Hold it below a simmer, around 175F, and stir until it coats the spoon.
- Cut the stewing timeThree-quarters of an hour suits a large eel in thick pieces. Cut into 2-inch lengths, eel is done in 15 to 20 minutes; the flesh should just release from the backbone. Longer and it turns woolly and the pieces fall apart in the pan.
- Liquid quantityNo amounts are given. Use equal parts dry white wine and water, just enough to come level with the fish rather than cover it deeply, so the gravy needs little reduction before thickening.
- "A bunch of herbs"A bouquet garni: parsley stalks, thyme, a bay leaf, tied so it can be lifted out. Some versions add a strip of leek green or a few peppercorns.
- Thickening "with flour, butter, and egg"Work equal weights of soft butter and flour into a paste (beurre manié), whisk it into the strained cooking liquid and let it cook two or three minutes to lose the raw-flour taste, then take the pan off the heat before the egg goes in.
- Buying and preparing the eelAsk the fishmonger to skin, gut and cut it; skinning a fresh eel is a job for someone with a nail, a cloth and practice. Eel blood contains a protein toxin that is destroyed by heat, which is one reason eel is never served raw or barely cooked, but it can irritate cuts, so rinse the pieces and your hands well.
- SourcingThe European eel is now critically endangered and its international trade is restricted; farmed eel of other species is the usual substitute, though several of these are themselves threatened, so check the source. Where eel is hard to get, the same sauce suits monkfish or conger.
- MushroomsThe recipe says only 'some mushrooms'; small button mushrooms, whole or halved, answer well. Add them for the last ten minutes so they keep their shape and do not grey the sauce.
- Yield and servingAround 1 1/2 lb of prepared eel serves three or four. Serve it in the pale sauce with plain boiled potatoes or rice, and add the lemon and vinegar at the very end so the sharpness stays bright.
A la poulette names a French white sauce: a velouté loosened with mushroom liquor and finished off the heat with egg yolk and lemon, its pale creamy colour said to suggest a young chicken, though the sauce contains none. It was applied to whatever needed gentling -- mussels, lambs' feet, sweetbreads, tripe and, as here, eel. Eel earned its place in a book like Cassell's because it was abundant and familiar: London ate enormous quantities of it, from Thames and Fen catches and from Dutch well-boats moored at Billingsgate, sold jellied and stewed from street stalls as well as dressed in French sauces for the dining room. The quoted price is sixpence to a shilling a pound, and the point of the treatment is to lift a strong, oily fish into something a Victorian hostess could send to table.