Tuesday, March 23, 2010

#234 Smoked Eel

If you have a nice little independent butcher or fishmonger it’s always worth having a quick nosey to see if they have anything different in. I did this at Out of the Blue – probably the best fishmonger in the North-West, at least when it comes to getting hold of weird and wonderful ingredients like the freshwater eel from a few months ago. Well, this time there was freshwater eel on the shelves in abundance, at least in its smoked form.

There are a few smokehouses that smoke eels in Britain, though the eels themselves are usually brought over from Holland and the surrounding countries due to the fact that are fewer of the beasties to found in British rivers.


This is not a recipe, but really a suggestion by Griggers as to the best way to appreciate smoked eel. As a starter, give each person a three inch section of eel fillet along with some good brown or rye bread and butter, a lemon wedge and perhaps some horseradish sauce. That’s it. Enjoy.

#234 Smoked Eel. A true delicacy; and the best way to treat a delicacy is to eat it in the simplest way possible. The flesh was sweet, succulent and firm, not the soft and slightly gelatinous consistency of smoked salmon which I can find rather off-putting. Don’t be squeamish and get it down yer. Fab stuff 8/10.

2 comments:

Kitty said...

Out of curiosity, how much per pound or kilo did this cost you? You don't need much, even for a dinner party, I would think, and yes, it sounds delightful!

Kind regards, Kitty

Neil Buttery said...

I'm not too sure how much it was now. I bought enough for just three of us, but I rember not being very shocked att he price (I bought some other things att he same time too). However, the fish society sells theirs at around 9 quid for 100grams which would be 2 servings, I reckon

http://www.thefishsociety.co.uk/fish-detail_Smoked-eel-fillet_smoked-eel_138_0_4.html