Hmm. All the recipes I find online, including the one I posted (from something called ''Cooking With Dog'', weird) start with a package of frozen roasted eel. Doesn't anyone start with raw eel? How fun can it be, to re-heat a pre-roasted eel?

Any bait shops near you? In CT, in the summer, live eel are sold in bait shops. My sister buys extras to free a few.

Jo

Recall the words of Ogden Nash:

I don't mind eels
Except as meals.

OT--and as long as we're quoting Ogden Nash, all you married men out there should remember his famous poem, 'Advice for Husbands':

To keep the marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up!

The eels we caught in Baja were amazing.

We were fishing for rockfish, getting skunked, then started pulling in eels. We asked the panga skipper if they were good to eat, he responded in the affirmative, so we said let's stay here and collect some meat. Thick, long, thrashing eels with sharp teeth. A hot day in the Sea of Cortez, the eels were dumped in the middle part of the panga, and they remained alive and fiercely biting - all day. Unfortunately I was in the bow and the beer was in the stern. At the end of the day, the skipper had those struggling eels filleted in 10 minutes and we packed the cooler, loaded the jeep, and were headed back to LA. Ah, to be young, tanned, and single. Actually, SWMBO was already in the picture then, so I guess young and tanned would be fine.

I have had a lot of respect for eels ever since - as animals and as food. But these frozen ones were yucky. I'm going to the market this afternoon, if they haven't any fresh eels, I'll do a mackerel using the above recipe.

You mean you didn't give it to the cat? :-)
(Sung in my best Dean Martin voice)
"When the eel that you feel is a really big eel
That's a moray........."

My cats are sometimes fussier about what they eat than I am.

Posted by colleenoz "You mean you didn't give it to the cat? :-)
(Sung in my best Dean Martin voice)
"When the eel that you feel is a really big eel
That's a moray........."

LOLOLOL!!!! Good one.

dcarch

ROFL, Colleen, that WAS good.

John, I've only had eel twice, both in sushi places, and it was strong, rubbery and icky both times. Now you've got me wondering what good eel tastes like..

Annie

The only eel I've ever had was smoked.
And that was many MANY years ago!

But I remember it as being very good.
Maybe a little tough sometimes.
But so-o-ooo good!
It was a very rare treat,
along with smoked shrimp,
That we had once a year or so.

It was cut into sections when we bought it,
Seems like they were 4 or 5 inches in diameter.
I have no idea what a whole one would have looked like.

Sure wish I could get something like that now ! !

Sigh. . . .

Rusty

Maybe there are different sorts of eels. The ocean eels in the Sea of Cortez had a light texture, lighter and milder than cod. They were pretty big eels. The roasted eel I've had in sushi places has been . . . variable. I think those are usually smaller eels.

I found the quote below in an online ''sushi encyclopedia''. If true, it explains why my effort failed and, perhaps, why most people buy pre-roasted eels. But I want to learn to do it myself.

(That said, our Baja eel fillets were simply cooked in a pan with butter, and there was nothing rubbery or unpleasant about them - come to think of it, though, I think they were skinned. I have no recollection of how the dock guys did that.)

Eel is not part of the original Edo style sushi menu. The reason for this is that Edo (old name of Tokyo) was famous for its fast food industry specializing in Edo style sushi, tempura, soba, and unagi, or eel was no exception. During the Edo period, eel were abundant in the Tokyo area and had a cuisine called the Edomae Unagi. Many unagi chefs existed during the Edo period(a few of them still presently exist throughout Japan) and it was considered a separate profession since it required much skill. Sushi chefs wouldn�t dare to sell eel prepared by themselves because they knew they couldn't beat the taste and would make a fool out of themselves. Renowned sushi restaurants in would usually buy prepared eel from professional unagi chefs.

Eel is a difficult fish to prepare. It is cooked when used as sushi, and never eaten raw. It has a sweet, but earthy aroma, and if it is prepared improperly, the flesh can smell, and become very tough and rubbery. The eel is first filleted, and then grilled on open flame. This gets rid of excess fat under the skin, which is where the unpleasant scent mostly comes from. Then it is steamed to make the meat fluffy and to further drain out the oils. After this, it is once again grilled on open flame while basting it many times with eel sauce (unagi no tare) which is made from the eel trimmings, soy sauce, sugar, and sake (rice wine).

Eel should be soft, fluffy, and very flaky. It is mild in fat even after the grilling and steaming, and that is what a good eel should taste like. It is pleasant on the palate and should never have a fishy or earthy aftertaste. Crushed Japanese green pepper corn called sansho is often served with eel at eel restaurants. While this is not usually used in sushi restaurants, it stimulates the sweet taste of the eel.

Colleen, that's brilliant, funny.

John,
Yes there are many kinds of eels; fresh water, salt water, etc.

I forgot. I used either swai, or tilapia, or basa instead. Came out not bad. It's the sauce that gives it the flavor.

dcarch

I am now the proud possessor of a package of ''charcoal grilled seasoned eel" labeled "Unagi Kabayaki". And an 9 oz piece of sashimi-grade tuna. And a pair of mackerel fillets unearthed from the freezer. It's fish night! Will report back on the eel.

When I bought it, I didn't even warm it-- plopped it right in the sushi. And it came marinated in eel sauce. . . Here I thought I was being all impressive and homemade :-P

Okay, that was too easy. Mix up some unagi sauce, broil the roasted marinated eel, glazing with the sauce, and there it is. Plop on a bed of sushi rice.

I'm ashamed, but that's how I'm doing eel from now on.

Mackerel was simmered 3 min in dashi with some miso and tofu, served with a thickened teriyaki sauce. Some of it also became sashimi.

We have a French girl staying with us, doing a three week exchange. We've been feeding her all kinds of stuff. Don't want her to think all Americans eat are hamburgers! She liked the eel and the miso mackerel. Wasn't game for the raw fish.

She's going to make us ratatouille next week. She also likes rabbit, so I'm going to buy her a skinned bunny and let her have fun in the kitchen.

Colleen---brilliant!

John, I applaud your efforts. In a fish market in Tahiti years ago, I saw live "anguille" for sale. Alas, I never tried cooking them, sorry. But I do love unagi as well as anago... it's my dessert, but I'm quite content to have a treasured sushi chef prepare it for me.

I love eel. Love it both smoked and marinated. Very, very good. Have to investigate if there is any possibility of fresh eel here so that I can smoke it myself, now that my smoker works perfect :)

More slightly OT Ogden Nash:

The cruelest creature's the crab,
with pinchers that cut you and stab!
And then, when you dine
on crab and white wine,
it's murder when you pick up the tab!

Of all the creatures in the sea,
the funniest is the bass.
He climbs up on the seaweed trees,
and slides down on his hands and knees.

(Read that last one aloud)

Jim