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How to Spitchcock an Eel (See under Skewer Combinations)

See under Skewer Combinations Eel Whitebait: No other whitebait is nearly as soulsatisfying as eel whitebait. Baby eels, called angulas in Spain, the length of your little finger, have a fine nutty savor when fried in olive oil. They're caught at night, largely along the rocky coast of Portugal, attracted by the light in the fisherman's boat and netted by the millions. When we first encountered them we knew they were something special and imagined from their cooked looks that they were some rare kind of blind fish caught in subterranean springs. We didn't learn that they're just eels until years after, and still don't entirely believe it.

Iberians have other unusual seafoods, one of them a mussel about the the size of a doll's leg, it wears a loose wrinkly stocking and a shiny black patent leather shell for a shoe. You take off the shoes and stockings and eat the luscious white leg calves raw. The razor clam that looks exactly like an oldfashioned razor closed up is another oddity in this line. You can get them in American seaports, both Atlantic and Pacific.

Elephant: Trunk and feet are treasured parts, since the tail's too small to be of much account. Elephants are cooked exactly like camels, the trunk boiled like the hump, and feet treated as calves' feet or frittered. So when somebody unloads a white elephant on you, you'll know just what to do.

A powerful jelly is made of ivory trimmings from the tusks: when stirred up in wine, it's a tonic supposed to make you live as long as Jumbo. Such meat and bone wines are popular in Africa and the Orient. You'll find more of them under Tiger.

Frogs' Legs: While frogs' legs are neither seafood, shellfish nor good red herring, they belong in this section along with the cold blooded, vicious snapping turtles, alligators, snails and squid. We Yanks learned to relish these green glug-gluggers centuries ago from invading Frenchmen whose own nickname is "frogs' because of their fondness for this delicate white meat every epicure compares with chicken breast. Although not yet 100% American, frogs are hunted with steel grab sticks and bare fingers all the way from southern Louisiana to northern Michigan. Their styles of preparation are legion in and out of doors, ranging from plain fried to Frog á la King in which frog meat takes the place of the chicken breast it resembles. Indeed, the giant frogs of Trinidad are called "mountain chickens."