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Eels, Entree Of
Take two large eels, bone them, and lay them flat; put light forcemeat, well seasoned, upon each; roll them up separately, bind them round with tape, put them into a stewpan with a gill of sherry, a clove of garlic, half a bay-leaf, four peeled shallots, a little thyme, and a pint of veal broth. Let them stew till done, then strain the liquor, skim it free from fat, season to taste, thicken with flour and butter, and reduce to half a pint. Put the eels into a deep dish, glaze the tops, and serve up with the sauce under them; place pieces of fried bread round the dish. Probable cost, 3s. 6d.
A Victorian made dish: two eels boned, stuffed, rolled and gently braised, then served on a reduced sauce. Most of the work is in the boning and rolling, and the sauce is finished separately.
- The hinge: roll tightly, poach gentlyThe roll must be bound firmly enough to hold its cylinder while the flesh contracts, and the liquid should never do more than tremble. A rolling boil splits the skin and pushes the forcemeat out at the ends.
- A gillA quarter of an imperial pint, 5 fl oz (the US gill is 4 fl oz, so slightly smaller). The pint of veal broth is likewise a British Imperial pint, 20 fl oz, so scale up slightly from a US pint.
- Sourcing the eelThe European eel is critically endangered and listed on CITES Appendix II, and wild stocks are heavily restricted; much of what is sold now is farmed, including Japanese and American eel. Ask for it skinned and boned if the fishmonger will do it.
- Handling raw eelEel blood contains a protein toxin that irritates cuts and eyes; it is destroyed by cooking, but rinse hands and board and keep raw eel away from open skin.
- ForcemeatA Victorian "light forcemeat" here means breadcrumbs, suet or butter, chopped herbs, lemon zest and egg to bind — a panade-style stuffing rather than a dense sausage meat. Season it assertively, since it is tasted through the eel.
- TapeButcher's tape, a flat cotton band. Kitchen twine at half-inch intervals does the same work; remove it before glazing.
- TimingTwo large boned and stuffed eels take roughly 30 to 40 minutes at a bare simmer. Eel is fatty and forgiving, but overcooked it turns woolly rather than silky.
- Thickening and glazing"Thicken with flour and butter" is the kneaded flour-and-butter paste known as beurre manie: roughly equal parts, worked cold and whisked into the strained, skimmed liquor, then reduced to half a pint. Victorian glazing usually meant brushing the tops with reduced meat glaze; a spoonful of the reduced sauce brushed over and passed briefly under a hot grill is a workable substitute.
- Yield and costServes perhaps four as a first course, two as a main. The "probable cost, 3s. 6d." is Cassell's usual note of market price for the finished dish, sherry and veal broth included, and says little about the price of eel on its own.
An "entrée" in a Victorian menu was not a main course but a made dish served between the fish and the roast \ , as opposed to a plain joint. Eel suited that role well: it is fatty enough to stay moist in a braise, its long body boned out into a natural sheet for rolling, and it was abundant and cheap in nineteenth-century Britain, sold live from tanks in London markets and eel-and-pie shops. Cassell's, which aimed to cover every ingredient a household might meet, gives eels a long run of entries — stewed, spitchcocked, collared, in pies — and this one belongs to the more genteel end of the range, using sherry, veal broth and shallots to lift a fish that was often said to be coarse. That eel is now a scarce and protected species, while veal broth is a specialist purchase rather than a stockpot staple, reverses the economics of the dish almost exactly.