Serve Eels, Stewed
INGREDIENTS for dish sufficient for 6 persons.-2 lbs. of eels, 1 pint of rich strong stock, 1 onion, 3 cloves, a piece of lemon-peel, 1 glass of port or madeira, 3 tablespoonfuls of cream; thickening of flour; cayenne and lemon-juice to taste. AVERAGE COST, 3s. the Wash and skin the eels, and cut them into pieces about 3 inches long; pepper and salt them, and lay them in a stewpan: pour over the stock, add the onion stuck with cloves, the lemon-peel and the wine. Stew gently for 1/2 hour, or rather more, and lift them carefully on a dish, which keep hot. Strain the gravy, stir in the cream and sufficient flour to thicken; mix all together, boil for 2 minutes, and add the cayenne and lemon-juice; pour over the eels and serve.
TIME. hour.
SEASONABLE from June to March.
A straightforward brown stew of eel enriched with fortified wine and cream. The main adjustment for a modern cook is sourcing and preparation, not technique.
- Buying eelAsk the fishmonger to kill, skin and gut the eel for you; freshwater eel is sold live at many Asian and Mediterranean markets. Two pounds of eel, bone in, feeds four to six as a main course with potatoes or rice.
- Skin and bloodEel skin is tough and slippery and should be removed before stewing. Fresh eel blood is an irritant if it gets into a cut or the eyes, so rinse the pieces and the board well; cooking destroys it entirely, and the finished stew is perfectly wholesome.
- "Rich strong stock"Beeton's stocks are meat-based, so read this as a well-reduced meat or veal stock, not fish stock. Her pint is an imperial 20 fl oz, so about 2 1/2 US cups of good brown chicken or veal stock gives the depth she is after; a fish fumet will taste thin against the port.
- Wine measureA "glass" of port or madeira is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, a quarter cup, though period sources vary and some make a wineglass as much as a quarter pint. More than a couple of ounces and the sweetness of the port takes over the sauce.
- Stewing timeHalf an hour is right for thick pieces of eel, which has firm, gelatinous flesh and does not fall apart like white fish. Thinner tail sections will be done in 15 to 20 minutes, so add them later or keep them for stock.
- ThickeningDo not shake dry flour into the hot strained gravy. Work the flour into an equal weight of softened butter, or slake it in a little cold cream, then whisk it in and boil the full 2 minutes to cook out the raw taste.
- FinishingAdd the cayenne and lemon juice off the heat and taste as you go. The lemon is there to cut the richness of eel fat and cream, and the sauce needs enough acid to feel sharp on the tongue.
- SeasonableThe June-to-March note reflects the wild eel season in Britain. European eel is now critically endangered and largely restricted in trade; farmed eel (Japanese eel is itself listed as endangered) or a firm oily fish is the usual substitute.
Eel was one of the great staples of English river and estuary cooking for centuries: cheap, abundant in the Thames and the Fens, and sold live from tanks in London street markets well into the twentieth century. Beeton gives eels boiled, fried, in pies, in soup and collared, and this stewed version is the dressy one, built on strong meat stock, port or madeira and cream in the manner of a Victorian brown fish stew rather than the vinegary jellied eels of the pie-and-mash shops. She puts the average cost at three shillings. The season she gives follows the wild fishery; today the European eel is critically endangered and protected under international trade rules, which is why a recipe once considered everyday food has become almost impossible to cook in its original form.