Home › The Principles of Cookery › Eels, Baked
Eels, Baked
Take a large eel that has been skinned and well cleansed. Fill it with a forcemeat composed of the following ingredients: three table-spoonfuls of bread-crumbs, and the same quantity of shelled shrimps, a little pounded mace, pepper, salt, and two ounces of butter, pounded to a paste. with the beaten yolk of an egg. When stuffed, put the eel into a round baking-dish with water and sherry, the quantity of the former being twice as much as that of the latter, add two or three ounces of butter, and bake. When ready to serve, skim and strain the gravy, and pour it over the fish. Garnish with slices of lemon. Time, three-quarters of an hour to bake. Probable cost, 6d. to 1s. per pound. Sufficient for two or more persons.
A Victorian way with a fish that was once cheap and everywhere in Britain. The method is sound; most of the work is in sourcing and in reading the oven instruction that the book never gives.
- Oven temperatureNo temperature is stated; the book leaves it to the cook's judgement, as it does throughout. A moderate oven, around 350F, suits this: the liquid should barely tremble rather than boil, or the flesh tightens and the forcemeat weeps out.
- Sourcing the eelEuropean eel is now CITES-listed and trade in it is restricted; what you find will usually be farmed Japanese or American eel, often sold pre-killed and skinned at an Asian fishmonger. Ask for it skinned and gutted, head off, as the recipe assumes that work is already done.
- Eel bloodRaw eel serum contains a protein toxin that irritates skin, eyes and gut. It is destroyed by heat, so a properly baked eel is entirely safe, but rinse the cavity well and wash hands and board before touching your face.
- Size and timingThree-quarters of an hour suits a thick eel of two pounds or more, coiled in the dish. A slender one of a pound will be done in 25 to 30 minutes; the flesh should come cleanly from the backbone.
- The forcemeatThree tablespoons of crumbs and three of shrimps is a small quantity, enough for a modest eel; double it for a large one. "Shelled shrimps" means the tiny brown shrimp sold peeled and cooked, not prawns, and they should be chopped rather than left whole. The butter and egg yolk bind it, so pound or pulse to a paste as directed.
- MaceBlade mace pounded in a mortar, or a scant quarter teaspoon of ground mace. It is the outer covering of nutmeg and warmer than nutmeg itself; too much dominates the shrimp.
- The braising liquidTwo parts water to one part sherry, as directed; the recipe does not say how much, and enough to come partway up the fish rather than cover it works well. Use a dry or medium sherry; cream sherry makes the gravy cloying.
- Skimming matters hereEel is very fatty and the cooking liquor will carry a heavy slick. Skim thoroughly, then strain and, if you want it thicker, reduce it briefly before pouring over.
- Yield'Two or more persons' is vague. A two-pound eel with the stuffing will serve three or four as a main course with potatoes; a small one will stretch to two.
Eel was for centuries a cheap and widely eaten fish in England: the Thames and the fen rivers supplied London markets in quantity. Shrimp forcemeat with baked fish turns up elsewhere in Victorian cookery, borrowing a delicate shellfish note to lighten something heavy. Eel stocks in Europe have collapsed since, and a fish that Victorian cooks treated as everyday cheap food is now a restricted and comparatively expensive one.