Hi everyone,
I bought a several foot long eel filet from my local fish monger. Looking for recipe advice along with a wine pairing suggestion. Not unagi please (I love it, but not for today).
Thanks!
Noah
I’ve gotta say, I’ve never had eel other than sushi, so I have no idea what other preparations there are and what those would taste like.
Depending on the preparation, probably wines that typically go with richer/fattier fish like swordfish? Probably whites from chardonnay to various Mediterranean white varieties. Probably lighter pinot, Sangiovese, gamay.
And of course, the de rigueure answer Champagne.
Eel soup is a specialty of Hamburg. If you google “Hamburg eel soup” or “German eel soup,” you’ll get lots of variations. I won’t recommend one in particular. Some will call for smoked eel, others just fillet. They all include ham and cooked fruit. Because of the sweet/sour nature, you can pair with Riesling.
Lamprey in the Bordelaise style, of course!
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I recently had a grilled eel that was absolutely delicious–it had been marinated with lemongrass, garlic, coriander (root + leaves), and a birds-eye-type chile. Possibly other ingredients but those are what I remember. Eel had been cut into 3" long pieces, marinated, and grilled. I believe it was freshwater eel (same type as unagi).
Blech! I tried my hand at an Italian grilled eel recipe and it was TERRIBLE! Fishy, chewy, barely edible. And I way over salted the vegetables. It was one of my biggest culinary fails in a long time. Only saving grace was we had a delicious Batard-Montrachet to accompany it (my first time trying one of the Montrachet GCs).
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Batard Montrachet is a great complement to failure. Take it from one who knows.
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When I was a kid, in Denmark, they were always sautéed in butter, probably with a light coating of flour mixed with pepper and salt. They were also alive until an hour before preparation. One of the most delicious things I remember eating.
A rich Chardonnay would be a great match.
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Soave?
Depends on preparation
I would look at the classic recipes eel matelote, stewed in red wine or persillade. In the nineties in the restaurants I worked in eel was considered alongside dover sole and turbot as an absolute delicacy.
You have two choice either to kill and skin and eat relatively quickly before rigorous mortis sets in, then better to hold on ice for two or three days.
Some one wrote above the eel was Fishy, chewy, barely edible. Two things.sometimes one has to put them in water to get rid of the mouldy smell which has more to do with the water they come from. And secondly the eel was not cooked long enough. Eel needs heat, it is not a like fish where you are looking for precise cooking times. Dishes like Hamburger eel soup ot matelote allows you to cook and sort of forget.
In Italy Anguille or Capitone is a traditional meal at Christmas and Hogmanay, Capitone al umido, cooked for about 40 to 45 minutes. Or just fried or fried and marinated in a vinegary marinade.
You need a wine that works with fatty food, if the preparation leans towards white wine I would go for Rully, Puligny, Meursault, richer chablis or Saint Aubin but also Sancerre. With the matelote, red wine preparation, I would go for the same grape sort in which the eel is cooked in. Matelote can be done with Bordeaux or Burgundy. In the restaurants we always leaned towards a lighter style of burgundy.
If prepared properly eel is fantastic.
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I’m guessing that refers to the German city and not the ground beef patty, but it still looks pretty hilarious in print.
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Just for your information, I was twenty five years in the
gastronomy and was too obsessive for my own health which forced me to give it up and move on to something more healthier, champagne,
I should have changed earlier. Of those 25 years roughly 15 were in the michelin sort of gastronomy. The highlight of my career was to work on-off for three years in traditional kitchens in the Piedmont before the region became really popular and the food went downhill. My greatest privilige was to work under one of the greatest chefs in the world, Cesare Giaccone, one of those moments when one realises, no matter how good one believes one is, working with such a genius just shows how far down the the pecking order one really is.
The absolute low point was a seminar with El Bulli/Ferran Adria, where I understood the way the gastronomy is going to go is not the way I wanted to go. I thought this was a guy badly in need of getting laid or a joint.
I am now considered a dinosaur in the gastronomy and basically unemployable as I love classical french haute cuisine and sort of despair at the superficiliality and pretentiousness of modern cuisine with its obsession with textures and foams and such nonsense.
Hamburg refers to the city
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This is great advice. Too bad I didn’t get it early…I already cooked the eel and made a mess of it! Next time I’ll try to post with more than a day’s notice!
Eel has gone out of fashion and for us difficult to get but I would definitely recommend you try again with a classic recipe,
No need to be rude about it. I only described a grilled preparation that WAS excellent. In fact I have had grilled eel numerous times, in various preparations, and have always enjoyed it cooked in that fashion because it is such a rich fish.
Matelote is also best with young eels. If they are older and fatter the results can be a bit muddy.
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My post wasn’t supposed to be a sleight at you. I didn’t mean to pass judgement on your suggestion at all. My “blech” was entirely a reaction to my own poorly executed version. I have no doubt grilled eel can be delicious- apologies for coming off rude towards you. Not my intention…
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We stopped by the “house” on the afternoon before our dinner. We were greeted by a dish of wild blueberry wrapped in anchovy, along with a giant hunk of parmesan and a magnum of Canonica sitting on the table. One of my greatest food memories to this day. If I think hard enough, I can remember taste the briny snap of the anchovy and the juicy electricity of the blueberry.
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Looks amazing! What’s that sauce?
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