This ugly bastard and 2 of his friends came slithering up and I thought they were water moccasins but a look through the binoculars and the damn things are eels. They are about 3 feet long and 3-1/2-4” in diameter. Sheesh!
That's good eats right there.
Well I will gig him and drop him off on your front porch
I prefer if you could clean and filet him too. I don't know how to do that.
Steps for Cutting Eel:
1. Cutting:
The first job is to kill the live eel. The 1st way is place the live eel into the freezer for 2 hours before cutting it. Or, you can put the eel in the wine to paralyze it before cutting it.
2. Removal of the internal organs:
Use a knife to cut two openings, one at the pectoral fin and the other at the anal area, and insert a chopstick to pick out the internal organs.
3. Removal of the bones:
The bones have to be removed for some eels. Cut an opening in the dorsal area or in the back to remove the internal organs and the spinal column.
4. Cleaning:
Wash off the mucus and clean the eel before chopping it into chunks or slices for cooking. Or first blanch the eel in the boiling water and wash off the mucus on the skin with warm water.
A good news:
In order to help housewives with the cutting and bone-removing problems, eel processors have come up with the “frozen fresh eel filets”, which can be readily available in the large supermarkets. It’s easier to do an eel dish at your convenience.
There are several ways to cook eels:
steaming, boiling, stewing, stir-frying, baking, grilling and deep-frying. Following is the introduction:
1. Stewing: Stewing is the most common way of cooking eels, like stewed eel with medlar, tang-kuei, and jingsen, etc.
* Stewed eel with tang-kuei *
【Ingredients:】
An eel, 300 c.c. of water
【Seasonings:】
a Tang-kuei sachet, 2 tablespoons of rice wine
【Method:】
(1) Remove the internal organs, clean the body and cut it into 1-inch lengths. Blanch the eel in the boiling water for use.
(2) Put the tang-kuei sachet, water and rice wine into a bowl for stewing for 20 minutes in a rice cooker
(3) Remove the tang-kuei sachet and pour the stock into a casserole. Add in the eel for stewing in a rice cooker for another 10 minutes.
2. Deep-fry: Deep-fry the eel in hot oil to make it taste crispy and soften its bones to have a smooth taste. Stir-fried eel dishes include crispy eel with curry flavor and eel filets with pepper salt.
*Crispy eel with curry flavor *
【Ingredients:】
600g of eel, 10g of chopped spring onion, 5g of chopped garlic, 30g of all-purpose flour, 30g of cornstarch
【Seasonings:】
1 tablespoon of curry, 1/2 teaspoon of five-spice powder, 1 teaspoon of mirin, 1 teaspoon of fermented glutinous rice, 1 teaspoon of salt
【Method:】
(1) Clean the eel and cut it into 2 halves. Pattern it, cut it in 1-inch lengths, put them in a bowl with all the seasonings and marinate for 10 minutes.
(2) Put 600g of oil in the wok and heat the oil to the medium temperature. Then coat the eel with mixed powder and deep-fry it in the oil for 3 minutes. Wait for the oil to strain a bit and deep-fry for another minute. Then strain the oil before arranging the eel on the plate.
3. Steaming: Steamed eels not only have high calories but retain the freshness of the meat. A famous steamed eel dish is steamed eel with marinated seed.
* Steamed eel with marinated seed *
【Ingredients:】
An eel, 50g of marinated seeds, 20g of fried crispy shallot
【Seasonings:】
2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of mirin
【Method:】
(1) Cut the eel into round chunks, blanch them to wash the blood and take them out.
(2) Clean the eel skin with warm water.
(3) Arrange the eel on the plate and add in order the marinated seeds, fried crispy shallot, soy sauce and mirin, and mix them well.
(4) Put the seasoned eel in the steamer for steaming for 10 minutes.
4. Cooked eel with red chili and garlic: To flavor the eel with spicy seasonings is one of the methods of cooking eels. Such dishes include cooked eel with red fermented rice paste and with red chili and garlic.
*Cooked eel with red fermented rice paste *
【Ingredients:】
600g of eel, 20g of chopped ginger, 50g of shredded leek, 150c.c. of water
【Seasonings:】
4 tablespoons of red fermented rice paste, 2 tablespoons of Shao-shin wine, 3 tablespoons of mirin, 50g of oil
【Method:】
(1) Cut the eel with patterns on the top and cut it into 1-inch lengths. Marinate the eel with Shao-shin wine and mirin for 10 minutes.
(2) Heat oil and stir-fry with chopped ginger and red fermented rice paste over medium heat for 1 minute.
(3) Add in water and the eel and cook for 8 minutes till the sauce dries up. Arrange the eel on the plate and season it with shredded leek on the top.
5. Stir-fry: The method is best suited for family cooking. Stir-fry eel dishes include: stir-fried eel with sate and with yellow Chinese leek.
*Stir-fried eel with yellow Chinese leek *
【Ingredients:】
600g of eel, 200g of yellow Chinese leek, 10g of chopped garlic, 10g of shredded ginger
【Seasonings:】
2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1/4 teaspoon of rice wine, 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil, 10g of cornstarch, some pepper powder
【Method:】
(1) Clean eel with warm water. Shred and cut the yellow Chinese leek into 1-inch lengths.
(2) Heat oil and stir-fry chopped garlic, chopped spring onion, shredded ginger and eel. Add in rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and pepper powder over medium heat for 1 minute.
(3) Add in leek and stir-fry and thicken with cornstarch water. Pour a little sesame oil.
6.Boiling: Use live eel to be cooked in delicious soup like the Japanese style cooked eel and eel with shredded turnip soup.
*Eel with shredded turnip soup *
【Ingredients:】
Eel with shredded turnip soup
【Seasonings:】
1 teaspoon of rice wine, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of oil and some white pepper powder
【Method:】
(1) Clean the eel and cut it into 1-1/2-inch lengths. Peel the turnip and shred the turnip and leek.
(2) Heat oil and stir-fry the chopped garlic and shredded ginger and turnip.
(3) Add in the eel, water and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Then add in white pepper powder and shredded leek.
7. Grilling and Baking: which is the most common Japanese style of cooking eels. The prepared eel is cooked by grilling and baking. The eel is cut into the shape of filets and added with salt on the top. Bamboo sticks are used to grill the filets. Because the process involves cutting, steaming, baking and grilling with bamboo sticks, the style of cooking demands higher cooking skills.
*Kanto style prepared eel * (seasoned)
(1) Place the eel filets in the oven (190℃) and bake for 20 minute until the filet turns gold.
(2) Put the filets in the steamer over high heat for steaming for 5 minutes to drain the fat.
(3) Remove the filets from the steamer and spread them with the teriyaki sauce.
(4) Place the filets back into the oven (190℃) and bake for 20 minutes. During the baking process, remove the filets 2-3 times to spread the teriyaki sauce and allow the sauce to go deep until the filets turn golden brown.
Source of Data:
“Eel Story & Cooking” distributed by Gourmet World Magazine and published by Taiwan Food & Beverage Publishing Co.
