Stewed Eels, Sauce Matelote

Ingredients

• as large eels as possible
• an onion
• a bouquet of two bay leaves
• a sprig of thyme
• a sprig of parsley
• six cloves
• a blade of mace
• a glass of sherry
• two of water

Method

1. 1

   Cut eels into three-inch pieces, place in a stewpan with onion, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, cloves, mace, sherry, and water.

2. 2

   Simmer for about twenty minutes.

3. 3

   Drain, dress on a dish, and serve with matelote sauce made from the cooking stock.

Nutrition per serving

Estimated from matched ingredients across 4 servings.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Soyer's standard cookery (1912) by Nicolas Soyer, page 51. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Stewed Eels, Sauce Matelote. Procure as large eels as possible, which cut into pieces three inches long, and put them into a stewpan, with an onion, a bouquet of two bay leaves, a sprig of thyme and parsley, six cloves, a blade of mace, a glass of sherry, and two of water; place the stewpan over a moderate fire, and let simmer about twenty minutes, or according to the size of the eels; when done, drain upon a cloth, dress them in pyramid upon a dish without a napkin, with a matelote sauce over, made as directed on page 99, but using the stock your eels have been cooked in to make the sauce, having previously well boiled it to extract all the fat. STANDARD COOKERY. 71 Eels a la Tartare. Fry as directed above, and serve on some tartare sauce; or partly stew first, and, when cold, egg, bread-crumb, and broil gently. Spitchcocked Eels in some parts of England, are cooked with the skins on. They should be properly cleaned, and split down the back, and bone taken out, and cut into pieces of about four inches long; egg the inside, and throw over some bread-crumbs, in which have been mixed some chopped parsley, a little dried thyme, and some cayenne; place them in the oven, and whilst cooking baste them with butter in which some essence of anchovies has been mixed. The time they take cooking depends on the size, but may be known by the skin turning up. Conger Eel is little appreciated in this country, although amongst the working-class of our neighbors, more particularly the French, it is an article of great consumption. If alive, its head should be cut off, and it should bleed as much as possible; but if dead, the pieces should be put into lukewarm water to disgorge previous to being cooked. The young fry are exceedingly good, and may be dressed like fresh-water eels. The large ones may be made into soup, and can also be cooked like sturgeon. Eels on the Spit. Take a very large eel, cut it into short pieces, and lard them on the back with thin strips of bacon. Place the pieces of eel for three hours in pickle made of oil, sliced onion, sprigs of parsley

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.