Eel is a fish whose calorie content is comparable to fatty pork. But unlike the latter, eel is rich in polyunsaturated fats, which do not cause any harm to our body. Eel meat is very soft, so this fish is highly valued in cooking and real delicacies are prepared from it. Its taste qualities are especially revealed in the preparation of first courses.
The eel is the most unusual inhabitant of the underwater world. Scientists are still trying to study its habits. Just two centuries ago, no one could understand whether an eel was a fish or a snake. But today we can say with confidence that the eel, although outwardly very similar to a reptile, has nothing to do with it.
Today there are about 700 species of eels, which differ little from each other. Their main difference is in their habitat. Some fish live in fresh water That's why they are called river eels. Others spend their lives in the ocean, and these are conger eels. European and American species are also distinguished.
In our country, such unusual fish can be found in the waters of the Baltic basin, and sometimes in the Volga and in rivers flowing into the Azov and Black Seas.
It is quite difficult to hold such a fish in your hands, since it is not only slippery, but also very strong, and also resourceful. If you lower it to the ground, it will quickly crawl away like a snake. By the way, at night an eel can crawl to the ground and if the grass is dewy, then it will live quietly without water until the morning.
Unlike the countries of Europe and Asia, where eel dishes are quite popular, it is very rare to find such fish on our shelves. But if you are lucky enough to see a fresh or frozen eel, then don’t pass it by. Despite its intimidating appearance, eel has very tasty meat, sweet and rich in nutrients.
If you don’t know how to cook eel fish, then don’t worry - everything is simple here. The only thing that can cause difficulties is cutting the carcass. If you bought a frozen product, then, as a rule, it is sold in this form already peeled, but with fresh you will have to tinker.
To prevent the fish from slipping out of your hands when cleaning, rub it with coarse salt.
IN Japanese cuisine Serpentine fish dishes are quite common. And if you are a fan of exotic dishes, we advise you to cook a delicate creamy soup with smoked eel.
Due to the fact that eel meat is quite soft, it absorbs the aromas and smell of smoke well. In many countries, smoked eel is used as an independent dish or for preparing other culinary masterpieces. We will tell you two ways to cook smoked eel: in a smokehouse and in a barrel. So, eel fish - recipes for a smoked delicacy.
You can determine whether an eel is smoked or not by appearance. The abdomen should open and folds will appear on the skin.
For those who do not have a special smokehouse in their home, an option using a barrel and a small electric stove is suitable.
The meat of such an unusual fish is not only tasty, but also very fatty, which is why eel is often baked in the oven or smoked. But it turns out no less tasty when stewed. Therefore, we offer a recipe for stewed fish with tomatoes.
Unagi sushi - that's what they call it National dish Japanese chefs. If you want to make sushi and rolls with eel, but are afraid to take fresh fish, then take already smoked fish.
To prepare eel sushi you will need: 120 g of smoked eel, 170 g of cooked rice, a couple of sheets of nori, sesame seeds and oyster sauce.
To prepare eel rolls you will need: cooked rice, smoked eel, nori sheets, flying fish roe (salmon, red) and avocado.
This fish is very fatty, and the marinade will remove excess fat and give the finished dish a delicate, unsurpassed taste.
An eel is a fish that looks very similar to a snake. Its meat is very tender with a high fat content - up to 25%. That is why dishes made from this fish are so popular, and there are so many recipes for its preparation. This fish can be smoked, fried, stewed, baked, boiled, its taste will always be great. However, most housewives do not know how to cook eel, but the recipes are not particularly difficult, and any housewife can master them.
One of the most popular eel recipes is Flemish eel. For this recipe you will need the following ingredients:
First, you need to clean the eel, remove the insides from it, rinse the carcass well and cut it into pieces of about 5 cm. Then you should dissolve the oil in a saucepan, add the onion cut into small cubes and fry it until golden brown. After this, you need to put pieces of eel on the onion coat, cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat and simmer the fish for 10 minutes. Then wash the spinach, sorrel and other herbs and dry them kitchen towel, finely chop and place them in a pan with fish.
Season the dish with salt and pepper, and add a little nutmeg, and if desired, you can add 2-3 tablespoons of dry table wine, cover the pan again and simmer the fish for 15 minutes. Now in a separate cup you need to mix the egg yolks with lemon juice, then pour the mixture into the pan and immediately turn off the heat under it. Eel prepared in this way should be served cold, and it is better to use thinly sliced lemon as a decoration.
To prepare eel with sauce, you will need the following ingredients:
Remove the skin from the eel, remove the entrails, wash the fish under water and cut into portioned pieces. Then we salt it and, sprinkled with vinegar, put it in a salted decoction of roots and spices, and cook over low heat. We cook potatoes as a side dish. Serve separately with hollandaise sauce or mayonnaise with gherkins. Now you know how to cook eel, and you can cook it often.
Many sea and river inhabitants were valued by chefs different countries for its qualities. This fish has a unique taste and is considered very healthy. The tender and slightly sweet meat is nutritious and is used as an ingredient for wide range dishes. What can be prepared from smoked eel will be discussed in this article.
There are river and sea eels. This spicy fish, practically without bones, has been used in the cooking of various nations for a long time. Appetizers, salads, soups, and main courses were and are being prepared from smoked eel. It has a very pleasant taste.
For several servings of a dish, simple and everyday, but with an original taste and therefore worthy of attention, you should take a glass of rice, three large spoons soy sauce, one medium eel (0.3-0.4 kg), hot smoked. You can also use pickled ginger and ground black pepper as spices and sprigs of herbs for decoration.
This dish with smoked eel looks appetizing due to the variety of its ingredients. We recommend you try it - you won’t regret it! Of course, such a dish is festive in its essence, and should look formal in terms of decoration (we use greens and lemon slices).
Ingredients: smoked eel (0.3-0.4 kg), a couple fresh cucumbers, a little olive oil, a couple of sweet peppers (bell peppers), a handful of sesame seeds, juice of half a lemon, Chinese cabbage - 100 grams, spices and salt.
What else can you cook with smoked eel? Rolls! They are one of the most popular dishes in the world using this ingredient.
We will need: 1 sheet of noria (if there are more sheets, then we automatically increase the quantity of each ingredient), smoked eel - 150 grams, rice for rolls - 150 grams, a little wasabi (caution: spicy!), a couple of fresh cucumbers (can be replaced with fruit avocado).
We will need: 300 grams of smoked eel, a bunch of lettuce, 300 grams of champignons, a little olive oil, three medium-sized pickles, a couple of tomatoes, a bunch of green onions, lemon juice, as a spice - paprika, sea salt and ground black pepper.
Note: smoked eel has a fairly high calorie content - 325 units. It depends on how it is processed. Therefore, many salads containing this fish should not be used as dietary nutrition. However, smoked eel meat is full of vitamins and microelements, Omega-3 acids, which are very beneficial for human body. In addition, Japanese centenarians from Okinawa traditionally eat some dishes from this phenomenal fish.
Smoked eel dishes are available not only in the form of rolls and salads. Some soup recipes include this ingredient.
We will need: one eel, one bell pepper, zucchini, onion, a little sesame oil, sauce called “Teriyaki”, green onions, sesame seeds.
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The eel is perhaps the most mysterious representative, similar to a snake, but part of the fish order. In Latin it sounds like Anguilla. This fish has been known since ancient times, more precisely for more than 2000 thousand years.
The eel is unpretentious and can live in various bodies of water. For example, you can meet him in the waters Mediterranean Sea, in countries such as England, France, Ireland and Iceland. A large, adult individual lives in these places.
In the rivers of the Atlantic coast of America from Guiana and Panama in the south to Greenland in the north, there lives a very close subspecies, distinguished by a smaller number of vertebrae.
There is another interesting subspecies - the Japanese eel, more multivertebral, with a dark border on the fins. It lives in the rivers of Japan and the Pacific coast of Asia from Liaohe to Canton. Tender and fatty eel meat is highly prized, especially when smoked. According to the Japanese, eel contains many vitamins and other useful substances, it is considered a medicinal and healthy dish in Japanese cooking. Smoked eel dishes are very useful for men, as the substances contained in eel have a beneficial effect on men's health. Smoked unagi eel is used to make sushi, rolls, and sashimi. In Japan, smoked eel dishes are considered expensive and are most often served to guests.
In Russia, the river eel is common in the rivers of the Baltic states and Belarus, and only there it serves as an object of fishing. The eel sometimes reaches 2 meters in length, weighing up to 6 kilograms. The scales of such a representative are small, inconspicuous, usually without a silvery sheen, the back is dark green or brown, the sides are yellow, the belly is yellowish or white. The color of the eel is variable and depends on the age of the fish and the nature of the reservoir. The skin is slimy and slippery, making a live eel very difficult to hold in your hands.
In nature, there are two forms of eels - sharp-headed and broad-headed. The sharp-headed eel is more valuable than the broad-headed one. The fat content of the sharphead reaches 27.5%, while that of the broadhead is only 12-19%.
Eel has gained considerable fame in cooking. Fish is fried, stewed, baked and smoked. Eel is sold at many fish markets in the city. You can buy eel either fresh or frozen, or already cooked, for example, hot smoked eel. You can also sometimes find canned eel sold in large supermarkets. Fresh eel is sold in many European countries.
Many countries have their own original recipes. For example, in Great Britain, on the Thames River, there is small island, famous almost all over the world for its eel pies. This dish is served both hot and cold. Many people come here specifically to try it. And so that no one takes the wrong path, the island is called Il-Pai, that is, “eel pie.”
French and Belgian gastronomes prepare matelote from eel. The fish is stewed in broth with the addition of fried butter shallots with flour, red wine and herbs. By the way, very often eel is stewed. For variety - with garlic, herbs, spinach, prunes. In Italy, filleted eel is also grilled and served with fresh lettuce. In Lithuania, they smoke it and offer it with beer. In addition to adult eels, young eels are also used in cooking - a small translucent fish. Such a “trifle” is simply fried in a hot olive oil, adding garlic, pepper and salt.
Cutting a live eel is a real art. Professionals advise holding the slippery carcass firmly with a paper or linen towel and hitting its head against hard surface(or use a wooden hammer), then pierce the head of the fish with a sharp knife and wash off the mucus. To prevent the fish from slipping out of your hands, there is another way - rub your hands and the carcass with salt and quickly treat it, then wash off the salt. The most important step in cutting is to pull off the skin with a stocking, then cut off the head, making a longitudinal cut, remove the entrails, and rinse again. Small eels are deep-fried (they are not cleaned at all), large ones are smoked, fried, grilled, and used as one of the ingredients for fish soup. Eel is also good in the form of Japanese yakitori kebabs, for which it is advisable to lightly marinate it in soy sauce infused with ginger and honey.
Fresh boiled eel in marinade
Ingredients:
Cooking method: Cut the prepared eel into pieces and boil in a hot, spicy broth. Remove the finished fish from the broth. Place in an enamel or ceramic bowl. Prepare the marinade, cut into thin rings onion, boil water with vinegar, salt, sugar and spices, put the onion in it, boil again, and then cool. Pour this marinade over the fish and refrigerate. Serve garnished with pickled vegetables and parsley sprigs. To ensure that the eel is well soaked in the marinade, it is better to cook it the day before. Can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Natalia Petrova, especially for the site
Photo: Depositphotos.com/@ Jim_Filim
The status and intriguing eel fish is considered one of the most expensive seafood in the world. Fat and dense, with light shade sweets, similar in taste for salmon and catfish, it is highly nutritious and has a thick, tough skin that protects the meat from drying out, making it easier to cook on the grill, in the pan, in the oven and in the pan.
With an elongated, wriggling, serpentine body, the eel fish is a fish without pelvic and pectoral fins, the weight of which can reach up to 25 kg and a length of up to 4 m. There are two types of eels: sea eel - “anago” and freshwater - “ unagi." They have a similar taste, but sea eels have thicker skin, so they are cheaper than their freshwater counterparts.
Unknown to many, eel, like any fish, tolerates any heat treatment very well. This explains that eel fish, the recipes for which are not technically complicated, include frying, stewing, smoking, and boiling. You can learn from the Japanese. For them, eel is not just food, but a panacea for everything.
Frying is one of the most popular methods, which is used by everyone who does not know how to cook eel fish other than in a frying pan. The washed fish is dried, cut into pieces with bones, breaded in flour and fried in oil for 10 minutes. Season after excess oil has been removed. Uneaten pieces are stored in wine vinegar in the refrigerator.
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Preparation
Using the kabayaki technique, oven-baked eel turns into a true Japanese favorite. Cooking takes place on high temperature. Rub the fillet with oil and bake for 7 minutes. at 290°C. Spread with sweet soy sauce and keep in the oven for another 1 minute. As the eel caramelizes, it acquires sweet flavors and aromas and a glossy surface.
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Preparation
A simple process for preparing eel fish is stewing. This is a fatty fish, which, like pork belly, best reveals its texture, taste, and melts in the mouth if quickly fried in hot oil at high temperature, and then simmered over low heat in a sweet and sour sauce for 10 minutes.
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As a rule, eel fish for sushi, declared smoked by restaurants, is fried eel using the kabayake technique. It is inferior in taste to home-smoked eel, which is hot-smoked. Before this, it is salted for 24 hours, washed and dried in the refrigerator to form a sticky film, which helps the smoke stick better.
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Preparation
There are two countries where the topic of how to grill eel has been perfected to the smallest detail. Japan with kabayaki and Italy with Anguilla allo spiedo. In Italian cuisine, to protect the meat from drying out, the eel is not skinned. The fish is cut into pieces, put on a skewer, alternating with laurel, sprinkled with lemon juice and fried on a grill over coals for 15 minutes.
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Possessing high nutritional properties and good compatibility, eel fish, the preparation of which includes all heat treatment methods, becomes interesting for various dishes. Fresh fish is used to make soups, stew or bake in green herbal or red sauces with tomatoes. Smoked is used in salads, sushi, pizzas and dough rolls.
One of the most challenging dishes to demonstrate how to cook eel fish to perfection is Vietnamese soup. Made from two types of broth: meat and fish, from eel bones, it has sweetness and richness. The soup is bursting with textures and flavors, with grilled and poached eel meat, crispy onions, hearty noodles and lots of greens.
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Preparation
Like many fatty fish, eel acquires rich flavors and aromas when smoked. They are skillfully used not only when preparing sushi, but also in such a spectacular dish as eel salad. In this version, the buttery, skinless fillet pairs beautifully with the freshness of the greens, the acidity of the dressing and the crunch of the fried bacon.
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Preparation
Many people know that eel is a fish for rolls, and this is the most popular use of the product. Often, eel is used in cooking uramaki - inside out rolls. Pieces of fried eel are placed on top of the rice and covered with sauce. The roll is filled with avocado and salmon. As a result, it develops creamy textures and sweet and salty flavors.
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The Japanese aren't the only ones who know how to cook fish in sauce. Eel has long been a staple food in Belgium. Braised eel in green sauce is still served in all fine Belgian restaurants. The eel is cut into pieces and stewed with mint, dill, spinach in white wine. Then the sauce is pureed, the fish is heated in it and served.
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The variations on the theme of how to bake fish are endless. Some of them are daring and unusual, but at the same time they show how wide the culinary world is. This is exactly what pizza is, combining tortilla, mozzarella, unagi sauce and fried eel. The experiment turned out to be successful: the pizza is tasty, aromatic, low in calories and quick to prepare.
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Preparation
The Japanese, who hundreds of years ago found the answer to the question of what sauce is suitable for eel, have long introduced the whole world to the sweet unagi sauce made from soy sauce, sugar, sake and mirin wine. However, there are other options that can add spicy, salty and sweet notes to eel: hoisin sauce and miso paste-based all-purpose sauce.