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Eel Stew
Skin and clean 2-3 pound eel, carefully removing all fat from inside. Cut in 11/2-inch lengths, put into kettle with enough cold water to cover them; add 2 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, cover closely, and cook slowly until meat is tender (about 1 hour). Thicken with 2 tablespoons flour mixed with a little cold water, add 4 tablespoons butter, a generous dash of pepper, and more salt, if needed. 3-POUND EEL
A plain water-based stew that depends almost entirely on cleaning the fish properly and not overcooking it. Two details in the original need attention before you start: the fat, and the hour.
- Sourcing the eelThe European eel is listed on CITES Appendix II, and the EU has banned commercial export of it; American eel stocks are assessed as depleted. Buy from a fishmonger who can name the source, and expect it sold live or freshly killed, since eel spoils quickly.
- SkinningEel skin is tough and slick. The usual method is to cut through the skin behind the head, grip the head with a cloth or pliers, and peel the skin down the body in one piece. Many fishmongers will do this on request.
- The fat is the pointEel carries a heavy line of fat along the belly cavity and under the skin. Left in, it makes the broth greasy and gives the stew a muddy taste. Scrape the cavity clean and trim visible fat from the trimmed sections.
- Cut sizeThe original reads 1½-inch lengths. Thicker eel can go to 2 inches; smaller than 1½ and the pieces break apart in the pot.
- An hour is too longAn hour is likely longer than needed -- chunks of this size are usually tender in 20 to 30 minutes at a bare simmer, and a long hour risks the pieces falling apart around the bone. Test at 20 minutes with a fork.
- Slow means slowKeep the water at a shiver, never a rolling boil, or the pieces will fall off the vertebrae and cloud the broth.
- ThickeningMix the 2 tablespoons flour with about 3 tablespoons cold water to a smooth slurry, stir it in, and let it cook two or three minutes so the raw flour taste goes. Stir the butter in off the heat so it emulsifies rather than splitting.
- Salt and yieldTwo teaspoons salt for a pot of water this size is modest; season again at the end. A 2-3 lb eel, skinned and gutted, will serve about four with bread or boiled potatoes.
Eel was a staple of American river and estuary cooking well into the twentieth century, caught in weirs, pots and set lines and eaten fresh, smoked or pickled. It is the kind of fish an angler could take from a stream or tidal creek and cook the same day in a single kettle. The stew itself is barely a recipe in the modern sense: water, salt, parsley, a flour thickening and butter. The frank abundance the recipe assumes is gone; both the American and European eel have declined sharply since it was written, and the fish that was once cheap food is now comparatively scarce and expensive.