Eel pie

[erehweslefox]

I totally knew di reston would come through with an eel recipe. Reston, has anyone told you recently you are awesome?

I like the Cornish one. I am descended from a bunch of Cornish malcontents. My ancestors were NOT NICE. One of the things they specialized in was building big bonfires on the cliffs to lure ships into their doom to loot.

My beloved ancestors were offered a choice, the noose, or exciting opportunities in the colonies, which is how the Stevens came to America. Unlike most in this new venue, they eschewed political power, or even any reasonable political participation. Finding Massachusetts too hospitable, they migrated naturally to upstate Vermont.

There they fought against New York, up until the revolution started, fought the Brits for a while (Champlain raid? All those cannons? That was us), settled back in to fighting the New Yorkers.

I bet my great grandmother had an eel pie recipe.

Thanks di Reston!

Best wishes,

TBS

 

[GotGarlic]

I don't know if this is important to you, but Seafood Watch from the Monterey Bay Aquarium lists eel as a type of seafood to avoid. It's raised in fish farms in Asia that cause environmental problems and they may use chemicals that can harm human health.

About Eel

Buyer beware! Eel ("unagi" in sushi) is very popular, but also on the "Avoid" list. Look for other seafood that's rated "Best Choice."

For details, see this page: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/groups/eel/overview

 

[di reston]

I totally agree with Gotgarlic - better safe than sorry every time! I think I'd choose monkfish as a good alternative. The thing I like about these recipes is that they are modern day and yet still distinctly Medieval - mixed herbs were medicine back then. There were some recipes that also had nutmeg and cinnamon in them, which is, again a direct throwback to British medieval food, the spices being brought back to England in the first place by the Crusaders.

Hope your recipe goes well, bon appetit!

P:S: thanks for the compliment - I always try to bear in mind that this is a sharing community where we pass on the knowledge we have. There are lots of threads I can't contribute to because they all refer to American gadgets or methods of doing things, or dishes that haven't and never will make their way across the Pond - but all that for me is a learning curve, and I read everything that's posted with great interest!

di reston

Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[CakePoet]

Also eel is red listed, that means endangered fish.

 

[dragnlaw]

Mom & Dad loved to fish and hunt. I did NOT like duck or fish. blech. But when I was a little older and we lived in Hamburg, Dad took us to a restaurant down on the docks. Up a long wooden staircase, and embedded in the walls were fish tanks. You chose your fish from them.

Dad had the eel, (shudder) but I was fascinated with that flat fish, white on the bottom and both eyes on the top! LOL and when I learned that eye migrated around I was even more enthralled. Dad and the waiter showed me how to lift the skin, eat, then lift out the bones intact, and eat the other half. I was in heaven! So proud and sophisticated for a 13 yr old!

It was still another 20 - 30 years before I would eat any other kind of fish!

 

[GotGarlic]

Also eel is red listed, that means endangered fish.

Yes, I meant to mention that, too, that they're endangered. Curious what you mean by "red listed." What list are you referring to?

 

[CWS4322]

Mom & Dad loved to fish and hunt. I did NOT like duck or fish. blech. But when I was a little older and we lived in Hamburg, Dad took us to a restaurant down on the docks. Up a long wooden staircase, and embedded in the walls were fish tanks. You chose your fish from them.

Dad had the eel, (shudder) but I was fascinated with that flat fish, white on the bottom and both eyes on the top! LOL and when I learned that eye migrated around I was even more enthralled. Dad and the waiter showed me how to lift the skin, eat, then lift out the bones intact, and eat the other half. I was in heaven! So proud and sophisticated for a 13 yr old!

It was still another 20 - 30 years before I would eat any other kind of fish!

I think all of us have at one time or another been fascinated by the flounder's migrating eye. I remember learning that when I read Günter Grass' novel The Flounder (Der Butt).

 

[CakePoet]

Green peace has a redlist of fish that should not be for commercial use due to being endangered. Sweden government has it own red list which is even more species.

 

[di reston]

There was a request for a recipe. I posted it. Then I suggested that monkfish would be a good substitute. Of course I'm concerned about what's safe and what isn't, which is why I suggested monkfish. Polease don't think I'm being irresponsible about a recipe. I posted eel recipes as requested. That doesn't mean that you have to use eel. People always tweek recipes, and I am perfectly aware of that. We always have to be safe with food, and be assured that I'm fully aware of that. I posted the original recipes. It doesn't mean you have to do them word for word.

di reston

Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[Mad Cook]

So as many of my recipes, there is a story behind this.

As you know, I spend a bit of time with my cooking researching medieval recipes. One thing that keeps coming up in English cooking is eel.

My beloved Wife said at one time, while researching this recipe, 'I will eat an eel pie when Trump is President' We know how that ended up.

So, I am planning an eel pie. Hoping there is someone here that has made one before. We have British and Irish People right? rj, Craig, anybody? Help me please.

I do have the eels. Took a bit of driving about.

So recipe ideas for a man with a freezer full of eels, a penitent spouse, the usual mix of spices and other stuff you would expect, and lodge cast iron, skilet and dutch oven.

I would be interested to hear what you think of eel as an ingredient.

Hoping we have some British friends or reston or Craig chime in.

Best,

TBS

I'm English and I've never eaten an eel because they are not as common in fishmongers in the north-west where I live.

There is an Eel Pie Island in the River thames at London The Tiny island on the Thames that once held The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and the UK's Largest Hippie Commune

Yes, I know you didn't need to know that but the pictures show it to be rather pretty.

Back to eels for eating. Try Jane Grigson's "Fish Book" (alternative name for the earlier version is "Fish Cookery") or "English Food". She loved eels and has recipes for them. There's a copy of the Fish Book on Amazon for one UK penny.

(You'll have noticed from my past postings that I am a Jane Grigson fan!)

 

[di reston]

Absolutely true! Eel Pie island still exists to this very day, and the eel pies that they do are considered the 'nec plus ultra' - Latin for 'the very very best' of eel pies. I've never heard of any illness or worse of people eating this dish. Jane Grigson is still one of the best experts on British cookery, and her daughter Sophie has continued the tradition. Well worth following.

By the way, just as a matter of interest, Eel Pie Island is the property of the owners of the eatery where they make it.

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[Suthseaxa]

I've just checked my copy of the Forme of Cury and there is no mention of an eel pie, but there is a nice salmon pie which you could perhaps adapt.

Tart de brymlent. Take fyges & raysouns, & waisshe hem in wyne, and grinde hem smale with apples & peres clene ypiked. Take hem vp and cast hem in a pot wiþ wyne and sugur. Take calwer samoun ysode, oþer codlyng oþer haddok, & bray hem smal, & do þerto white powdours & hoole spices & salt, & seeþ it. And whanne it is sode ynowgh, take it vp and do it in a vessel, and lat it kele. Make a ciffyn an ynche depe & do þe fars þerin. Plaunt it above with prunes damysyns: take þe stones out; and wiþ dates quartered and piked clene. And couere the coffyn, and bake it wel, and serue it forth.

Admittedly though, I have never tried eel, so I am unsure if the flavours would match up!

 

[skilletlicker]

Lived a long life of adventurous eating but never tasted eel.
Never even seen one on a fish hook, menu or in a grocery store .
Feeling deprived.

 

[buckytom]

I"ve only had/made Japanese style bbq'd eel over rice, aka Unaju, bit these recipes make me want to try something different.

My unaju from this past summer:

 

[erehweslefox]

First off, thanks for the input. It will make the recipe come together.

Second, thanks for ideas on eel. Suthseaxa, yeah I do for medieval recipes go to Forme of Cury, Have you read Maxime de la Falaise, Seven Centuries of English Cooking?

Third, anyway, eel as an endangered species? Have any of you ever canoed in Canada or North Eastern USA? They are all over the place. I consider them an invasive species, and I am gonna eat them, before the eat me.

They aren't to the taste of the north american food eater, but I think they can be eaten. I did have to reach out to an immigrant community to find a source. It isn't at the corner grocery store.

I'll let you know how it works out when I do the pie. Following closely to the fishe pies from Falaise, and I think Sutheaxa would recognize them from Forme of Cury.

 

[CraigC]

Yes, I meant to mention that, too, that they're endangered. Curious what you mean by "red listed." What list are you referring to?

She is probably referring to a CITES (Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species) listing. The snakes that I used to breed required a CITES permit to ship internationally.

 

[erehweslefox]

Hey, thanks for bringing up the red list and the CITES listing.

My current fishmonger, probably does not look at that list. He makes a run up to NYC and one down to Maryland once a week, supplies a lot of restaurant trade, and I am fairly convinced he is connected to some form of organized crime.

However, really good fresh fish.

I think I should be careful what I ask him for, and if the eels I have are endangered, I am going to be quite sad, but they are in my freezer, and as such, while not being repurchased, shall be eaten.

Concerned as any about our fisheries. I don't know, any ideas about using a morally questionable food source? I mean going to the grocery (best fish around here is at Wegmans) is also questionable. This guy goes directly to source, gets the best fish. I also kind of think if I wanted a dolphin steak, or a nice penguin he could just get that.

I don't usually need rare ingredients, but I did want eel, just because it was so central to the eel pie recipe I've been looking at. Wanted to try it.

TBS

 

[GotGarlic]

Concerned as any about our fisheries. I don't know, any ideas about using a morally questionable food source? I mean going to the grocery (best fish around here is at Wegmans) is also questionable. This guy goes directly to source, gets the best fish. I also kind of think if I wanted a dolphin steak, or a nice penguin he could just get that.

The decision about whether to use a morally questionable source of anything obviously lies with each individual As I mentioned before, Seafood Watch - www.seafoodwatch.org - is the source I use for information on which fish and seafood to buy and which to avoid.

I would certainly not buy anything from someone I suspected of being involved with organized crime (!!!), but I guess that's me

 

[dragnlaw]

... and I am fairly convinced he is connected to some form of organized crime.

TBS

uh oh... be careful! that is perilously close to slander, not to mention retribution/retaliation and maybe a stinky fish in your future. This is the internet you know...

 

[medtran49]

I don't usually need rare ingredients, but I did want eel, just because it was so central to the eel pie recipe I've been looking at. Wanted to try it.

TBS

And are we going to get pictures? It seems you write/talk about these odd recipes, but we never see pics?