No. 1149

Eels a la Marechale

Anguilles a la Marechale

Skin an eel as described in No. 57, suppress the second blueish skin by first laying the eel over a bright charcoal fire, then hold the head in one hand in a cloth, and with another cloth in the other hand, pull off the skin all at once; shave the spinal bone and ventrals with a very keen knife, contrary ways from the bone. Empty out the insides and the blood adhering to the spinal bone, and cut the fish up into three inch lengths; braise in a mirepoix, and white wine stock (No. 419), and fish stock (No. 195). When the fish is cooked, drain, and lay it on a dish, pouring the strained stock over; let get cold, then drain off the pieces, and bread them English style (No. 13), and broil over a slow fire. Add to a supreme sauce (No. 547), reduced with the above stock, some minced truffles, olive shaped quenelles, and small shrimps; serve the eels on a hot dish, and the garnishing separate.

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For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with a stockpot always going; the dish is really three operations — braise, crumb, broil — with a garnished suprême sauce alongside. Read it backwards and start with the stock.

Buy the eel skinnedThe scorching-and-pulling method described here is a professional trick for a live or very fresh eel; a fishmonger will skin and gut one for you, and frozen skinned eel is sold in Asian and Italian markets. Ask for it cut into 3-inch lengths, about 2 lb for four servings.
Eel bloodRaw eel serum is irritant and can cause a nasty reaction on cut skin or in the eyes. Heat denatures it, so the cooked dish poses no issue; wear gloves if you handle the raw fish and have any cuts. The recipe's instruction to clear the blood from the spinal bone is given without explanation.
Mirepoix, 1894 senseNot just diced vegetables. In Ranhofer's kitchen a mirepoix for braising is carrot, onion, celery and herbs sweated with lean raw ham or salt pork, moistened with the wines and stock. That pork is where much of the finished sauce's depth comes from.
The two stocksNo. 419 is the white wine stock and No. 195 the fish stock, as the recipe labels them. A modern substitute is fish stock with a good dry white wine, enough to half-cover the pieces. Braise gently, covered; eel is done when the flesh slips from the bone. Ranhofer gives no timing.
Chilling is not optionalThe pieces are set in their strained liquid and left to go cold so the gelatinous flesh firms up. Warm eel will not hold breadcrumbs and will fall apart on the grill. Chill several hours or overnight.
"Bread English style"Beaten egg with a little oil, then fine dry breadcrumbs, pressed firm. His No. 13 is the house crumbing method; whether it begins with a dusting of flour is not stated here.
"Broil over a slow fire"Moderate, indirect heat — the fish is already cooked, so the goal is a browned crust in 6-8 minutes with turning. Under a domestic broiler, set the pan 6 inches from the element rather than directly beneath it; brush with clarified butter to help colour.
The sauce and garnishSuprême is velouté enriched with cream and butter; here it is let down with the reduced eel braising liquid, so reduce that liquid hard first or the sauce will be thin. "Olive shaped quenelles" are small fish forcemeat dumplings moulded between two teaspoons and poached in barely simmering water. Truffle, quenelles and shrimp go in a separate dish, as instructed, so the crust stays crisp.

A Little History

À la maréchale — marshal's style — is a nineteenth-century French dressing rather than a specific dish: something crumbed and grilled or fried to a gold crust, commonly garnished with truffle, and applied to sweetbreads, chicken breasts, lamb cutlets and, as here, to eel. Charles Ranhofer, who was chef at Delmonico's in New York across some three decades from the 1860s, published The Epicurean in 1894 as an encyclopaedic record of that repertoire, which is why this recipe reads as a set of cross-references to numbered stocks and sauces held elsewhere in the book. Eel sits in its own section alongside pike, carp and sturgeon, and was then a common and inexpensive market fish on both sides of the Atlantic, with American eels taken in quantity from waters such as the Hudson and the Chesapeake. Its status has reversed since. European eel is now listed as critically endangered and its trade restricted, and eel stocks generally are managed or depleted, so a dish that was once thrifty is now a considered purchase — check the provenance of what you buy.