Smoked eel is a wonderful gourmet delicacy. Any good restaurant will offer you this fish as an amazing main course or in tandem with other ingredients in a salad. In addition to its excellent taste, this product has excellent nutritional value. Smoked eel is also healthy, its meat contains iodine, potassium, iron and other minerals necessary for the body, vitamins E, A. How to prepare this miracle fish, where to buy it and what products are best combined with it? Let's look for answers to all questions.
Where in the capital is smoked eel sold?
Moscow is a huge metropolis. In this city you can find any product, even the most scarce one. Smoked eel is stored on shelves in grocery stores along with other types of fish. It is better to look for it in supermarkets, since small private stores are unlikely to find this outlandish product. If the price of smoked eel seems too high to you or you don’t want to waste time searching, you can try to make this culinary masterpiece yourself. It will turn out no worse than store-bought!
We cook ourselves
If you have a smokehouse at home, then it would be a sin not to use it to cook eel. Immediately before starting the process, the fish must be prepared. The eel should be thoroughly washed and cleaned, and absolutely all the insides should be gutted. After this, it is advisable to lower the fish into the water again, after treating it with salt. Before you start, you need to salt it for a short period of time. A special brine will help with this. To prepare it, you only need water (6-7 liters per 5 kg of fish) and salt (1 kg). The fish should be kept in this brine for no more than 10 minutes, and if the pieces are small and thin, then you need to spend half as much time. After this, the eel should be thoroughly washed and then dried. Now it’s just a matter of small things - we light a fire in the smokehouse, warm it up to a temperature of no more than 80 degrees. This is the thermometer reading that needs to be maintained throughout the entire process of cooking the eel, and this will take 1-1.5 hours depending on the size and thickness of the pieces. You can smoke this fish using also. When using this cooking method, the eel will turn out less fatty. It should be noted that wood from fruit trees or oak is more suitable for smoking. It is better not to use coniferous species - they will give the fish a bitter taste.
What goes with smoked eel?
Recipes include various variations of dishes with this delicious fish. For the inexperienced, the best dish will be smoked eel, served with black bread and onions. This product is often used as it is best to eat this fish with vegetables, fruits, salads, and flour products. Smoked eel is a high-calorie product and is completely independent; it should play the first violin in any dish. Therefore, you should not combine it with heavy foods that have an unusual taste. There should be one accent on the plate.
Salad with smoked eel
There are a lot of recipes, and the first one, which we will tell you about, is the simplest and most unpretentious. To prepare a dish such as a salad with smoked eel, you will need the smoked eel itself (300 g), 2 cucumbers, red bell pepper, lemon juice, any lettuce leaves, vegetable oil (preferably olive) and salt. Vegetables need to be cut into strips, like fish. Lettuce leaves should be torn into small, easy-to-eat pieces. Mix all ingredients, add dressing and spices, and add salt. You can decorate the dish with sesame seeds.
The second version of the salad has claims to the love of gourmets. The list of necessary products includes smoked eel (350 g), Chinese cabbage, some pine nuts, a little more than half a glass of prunes, olive oil, juice of one lemon, cognac (1 tablespoon), mustard (half a teaspoon) and apples ( 2 small). into strips, chop the vegetables, add dried fruits. Now let's start preparing the sauce. To do this, mix oil, lemon juice, mustard and cognac. Peeled and chopped apples should be added last to prevent them from turning black. Dress the salad and serve immediately. You can decorate the dish with pomegranate or herbs. Don't forget that the deli salad is served in small portions. Bon appetit!
Smoked eel is truly a royal dish and a unique delicacy.
Smoked eel on site
The fatty meat of this fish contains a whole range of vitamins and beneficial nutrients. Smoked eel is not only incredibly tasty, but also a healthy dish. After smoking, eel meat acquires an appetizing golden hue and a stunning aroma. This dish, like no other, is perfect for decorating the New Year's holiday table, especially on the eve of the Year of the Snake.
It is very expensive in the store, and you cannot always be sure of the quality of this delicacy. But if you have your own smokehouse, then preparing smoked eel is not difficult and will not take much time.
Before smoking, eels need to be prepared. To do this, you need to place live fish in oblong containers with water, adding salt at the rate of 500 g. by 5 kg. live eels. Within an hour the fish will die and gutting can begin. If you do not want to kill eels yourself, then buy dead fish.
After this, the fish must be washed and cleaned. To do this, you need to insert a knife into the area of the eel's anus and make a cut right up to the lower jaw of the fish, and then gut the insides, being sure to remove the eel's kidneys (they are located at a distance of 7 - 8 cm from the tail).
Prepare a special brine for pickling eels before smoking. To do this, pour 6 - 7 liters of water into the container and add 1 kg there. salt. Place the fish in this brine for 4 - 8 minutes (depending on the size of the pieces). Thin pieces can be kept in brine for no more than 4 minutes, and large pieces of eel can be kept in brine for up to 8 minutes. After removing the fish from the brine, wash it thoroughly in water and then dry it with a paper towel. Leave it to dry until the surface of the blackheads becomes shiny.
Oak or fruit tree firewood is better suited for smoking eel; beech can also be used. Do not use coniferous species so that the fish does not acquire a bitter taste and smell of resin. Light a fire in the smokehouse, remembering to add wood. When the temperature in the smokehouse reaches 80 degrees, there is no need to add more firewood; use only sawdust to maintain thick and even smoke.
Strengthen the eels in the smoker according to the size of the fish and the height of your smoker. If the smokehouse is high, then you can pierce the eels with skewers in the head area and hang them at full height. Then cover the eels with a damp cloth and leave to smoke for 1 - 1.5 hours depending on the thickness of the meat.
You can also smoke eels on a barbecue grill. To do this, cut off the heads of the carcasses and remove the skin from the eels, as if pulling off a stocking. Afterwards, you need to cut the fish into portions, place it on a grill and smoke it over smoking coals. With this method of smoking, eel meat turns out to be less fatty.
Smoked eel, so aromatic and appetizing, will certainly take its rightful place on your holiday table.
Smoked eel is a delicacy with high taste and nutritional qualities.
The tender, sweetish meat of this fish has many beneficial properties and is highly valued in world cuisine.
Smoked eel - general cooking principles
Eel can be either sea or river. Both types have a pleasant taste and are widely consumed. Salads, appetizers and other dishes are prepared from smoked fish. You can also find fresh, frozen and chilled eel in stores. For home smoking, it is better not to use a product that has been frozen.
Before smoking, it is important to remove all mucus from the surface of the eel. It spoils not only the taste, but also the appearance, and during the cooking process it can give the product a gray color and an unsightly appearance. Mucus can be removed with a knife, newspaper, coarse sand or salt.
Like any other product, eel needs to be marinated before cooking. Spices and salt are used for this. It is advisable to salt the fish well so that there is no ichor left inside.
Eel can be smoked either cold or hot. At home, you can use both conventional and electric units. The fish are hung on hooks or laid out on racks. Cooking time depends on the temperature and size of the fish. You can cook whole carcasses, but at home it is better to cook them in small pieces.
Recipe 1: Smoked eel at home
Eel has fairly soft meat, which allows smoke to pass through well and absorbs odors. The main difficulty you may encounter is the ichor along the ridge. Therefore, it is not recommended to smoke large fish whole.
Required Ingredients
Bay leaf;
Peppercorns.
You will also need a smokehouse, chips or sawdust from fruit wood, alder or oak.
Cooking method
1. Prepare a brine from water, salt, spices. For 1 liter of liquid there are 100 grams. salt. Bring to a boil, cool.
2. Prepare the eel. We clean the mucus from the surface with a knife, then sprinkle it thickly with salt. After a few minutes, we remove the remaining mucus together with it and thoroughly clean the gills. We rip open the belly and remove the entrails. If necessary, cut the carcass into several parts.
3. Soak the eel in brine and leave for at least 5 hours. It is better to leave the fish for two days so that it marinates well. In this case, even if it is not smoked, it will still be ready.
4. Rinse the fish with running water. We hang the whole carcass on a hook, and lay out the pieces on the wire rack. Let the eel dry thoroughly.
5. Fuel the smokehouse, lay out the wood chips. If they are too dry, they need to be slightly moistened to prevent fire.
6. Place the fish in the smokehouse and cook until done. It is determined by the appearance of the carcass. Transverse folds should appear on the skin. If the fish is whole, the belly will open.
Recipe 2: Smoked eel in a barrel
An option for preparing smoked eel for those who do not have a special smokehouse. You will need a large barrel, a small electric stove, and also a frying pan in which you will need to put sawdust.
Required Ingredients
Small acne;
Tarragon;
For smoking you will need sawdust, juniper berries, and a piece of sugar. For hanging eels, pieces of wire.
Cooking method
1. Clean the eel of mucus, sprinkle it thickly with salt mixed with pepper and tarragon. Place a bay leaf in the cleaned belly. Leave the fish to salt for at least 10 hours.
2. Place the stove in the barrel and turn it on to medium temperature. Place a frying pan on it with sawdust, hop cones, and put a piece of sugar on top.
3. Wash the eels with running water.
4. We make hooks from wire, put on the fish, hang it in the air and dry it.
5. We hang the eels in the barrel, closer to the walls. Cover with a lid. Let it cook for 4-5 hours, then open it, take out one eel and take a sample. If necessary, the process can be extended.
Recipe 3: Smoked eel with rice
One of the simplest smoked eel dishes that can be prepared at home. You can use regular white rice, but if you want to add something unusual and healthy to the dish, then the unrefined brown version is suitable.
Required Ingredients
0.4 kg eel;
0.3 kg rice;
3 tbsp. spoons of soy sauce;
Black pepper, spices, herbs.
Cooking method
1. Wash the rice in several waters, boil until tender in plenty of water. Then place the rice in a colander and let the water drain.
2. Mix soy sauce with any spices to taste, add black pepper. Mix well.
3. Add sauce to rice and stir. Place in a heap on a large, flat dish.
4. Cut the eel into thin slices and place on top of the rice. Sprinkle with fresh herbs.
Recipe 4: Smoked eel with egg and bell pepper
Appetizer salad with smoked eel, which has a divine aroma and taste. It doesn’t take much time and looks elegant. Perfect for the holiday table.
Required Ingredients
0.1 kg eel;
1 PC. bell pepper;
Lettuce leaves;
20 ml each of soy sauce and olive oil.
Cooking method
1. Boil the eggs hard, cool and cut into cubes.
2. Place the lettuce leaves on a plate, after washing and drying.
3. Place chopped eggs on top of the salad and top with peeled and finely chopped peppers.
4. Mix soy sauce with vegetable oil, pour eggs and pepper in a thin stream.
5. Cut the eel into strips and place on top of the pepper.
Recipe 5: Smoked eel with sauce
To prepare this smoked eel dish you will need demi-glace fish sauce. It is better to buy it in the store, as it is quite difficult to prepare it yourself.
Required Ingredients
0.4 kg eel;
Demi-glass 0.1 kg;
3 tbsp. spoons of cream;
0.5 tsp. turmeric;
Lemon and herbs for decoration.
Cooking method
1. Heat the demi-glace sauce in a small saucepan, add cream and turmeric to it. It is important not to bring the mixture to a boil.
2. Cut the smoked eel into beautiful, long strips, dip it into the hot sauce and keep until it cools completely.
3. Place the appetizer on a plate, decorate with sprigs of herbs and lemon slices.
Recipe 6: Smoked eel in tartlets
A spectacular appetizer that will replace the classic tartlets with red and black caviar, making them more impressive and tasty. It is not recommended to fill the containers in advance; it is better just before serving.
Required Ingredients
0.15 kg eel;
0.1 kg cream cheese;
Dill greens;
50 gr. any caviar;
1 spoon of mayonnaise.
Cooking method
1. Remove skin from smoked eel, then cut into small cubes.
2. Wash the dill, dry it, chop it finely and mix with the fish.
3. Add cream cheese and mayonnaise to the mixture. Mix everything well.
4. Fill the tartlets with smoked eel and cheese. We decorate the top with a small amount of red or black caviar, you can put a sprig of greenery.
Recipe 7: Smoked eel in rolls
Perhaps the most popular use of smoked eel is rolls. This dish has long ceased to be something unusual and many housewives enjoy preparing it at home. The recipe contains the amount of ingredients calculated for 1 sheet of nori.
Required Ingredients
Nori sheet 1 pc.;
Cooked rice 150 gr.;
Smoked eel 150 gr.;
Sesame seeds;
1 fresh cucumber.
If desired, you can replace the cucumber with avocado in these rolls.
Cooking method
1. Place a noria sheet on a bamboo mat. The rough side should be on top.
2. Spread a thin layer of boiled rice over the entire surface, stepping back 1.5 cm from the far edge. It is more convenient to do this with your hands dipped in cold water.
3. Spread a thin layer of wasabi on top of the rice. The amount depends on taste, if you don’t like it spicy, you can skip this step or apply a thin strip on one side.
4. Cut the eel and cucumber into cubes. Lay out in a strip, sprinkle with sesame seeds, roll up. A strip of noria left without filling must be greased with water so that it sticks to the roll and the roll holds its shape.
Recipe 8: Salad with smoked eel and sun-dried tomatoes
An interesting salad that can be prepared either in a large dish or in portions. Dressed with soy sauce with the addition of honey and aromatic spices.
Required Ingredients
0.2 kg eel;
0.2 kg sun-dried tomatoes;
0.1 kg bell pepper;
1 red onion;
0.1 kg canned green peas.
For the sauce:
1 tsp. honey;
4 tbsp. spoons of soy sauce;
0.5 tsp. ready mustard;
Juice of ½ lemon;
Spice mixture for fish.
Preparation
1. Cut the smoked eel and tomatoes into strips and place in a salad bowl.
2. Peel the onion and cut into thin, transparent half rings. Pour some water, add vinegar and marinate.
3. Peel the bell pepper, cut it into strips and send it to the tomatoes and fish. Squeeze the onion from the marinade and also put it in a salad bowl, add green peas.
4. Mix soy sauce with honey, lemon juice and mustard. Add fish spices and mix thoroughly.
5. Season the chopped salad products with sauce, mix gently, if desired, you can add a little more salt or lemon juice.
Recipe 9: Salad with smoked eel and avocado
Nutritious and satisfying smoked eel salad with avocado. It is important that the exotic fruit is ripe enough, in which case the dish will acquire an oily taste, without heavy and harmful dressings.
Required Ingredients
1 avocado;
2 chicken eggs or 5 quail eggs;
0.2 kg smoked eel;
Green lettuce leaves;
1 cucumber;
1 tomato;
Vegetable oil, salt.
Preparation
1. Boil the eggs, cool, and peel them. Cut in half, then each half into 4 neat slices, set aside.
2. Tear the lettuce leaves into pieces, put them in a salad bowl, add the eel cut into strips, slices of fresh cucumber and tomato.
3. Remove the pit from the avocado, cut into small pieces and add to the salad, add salt and a little vegetable oil, mix everything well for a minute.
4. Place the salad on a flat dish and place slices of boiled egg around it.
Recipe 10: Smoked eel in the ear
The first dish with smoked eel, according to experts, outshines all other recipes. The fish soup has an incredible aroma, but it cooks very quickly. In this recipe, all vegetables are placed raw, but if desired, you can fry onions and carrots.
Required Ingredients
0.3 kg eel;
2 potatoes;
1 carrot;
1 onion;
Greens, salt, bay leaf;
A handful of millet.
Cooking method
1. Place a saucepan with 1.5 liters of water on the stove and bring to a boil.
2. Peel the vegetables, cut the potatoes into strips, grate the carrots, and dice the onion.
3. Salt the water in the pan, add the onions and carrots, and bring to a boil.
4. Add washed millet.
5. Place the potatoes into the boiling fish soup. Bring to a boil again, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Cut the eel into pieces, add it to the soup, and cook over low heat. Bring until cooked, at the end add bay leaf and herbs, add more salt if necessary.
The skin of smoked eel contains the bulk of the fat, so people watching their weight should remove it when preparing dishes.
If you have difficulty cleaning the fish from mucus or simply don’t have time, then you need to cover it with salt and rub it after a while. It is better to do this with gloves. The mucus will come off the carcass well, all that remains is to rinse it with running water.
Useful substances are found in both sea and river fish. Small and large carcasses are rich in them. The taste qualities of adult and young eels are also not very different. Therefore, you should not fall for the tricks of sellers, buy the fish that you like.
Salads with smoked eel are not very fond of fatty and mayonnaise sauces; it is better to give preference to lighter dressings. But such dishes love spices, in any quantity, including spicy and Korean ones.
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Hot smoked eel
Hot smoked eel is an excellent fish preparation option. Not only is it delicious on its own, as a pleasant addition to beer, but it can also be used to prepare a variety of dishes from fish salads to exotic sushi and udon noodles with eel. At the same time, smoking of eel occurs much faster than the same carp, catfish or bream.
Preparing eel for smoking
It is believed that eels should be cooked immediately - their meat is much tastier fresh than when it has already been standing or, especially, when frozen. So the hot smoke option is a great way to keep your catch straight to the shore. Let's prepare a smokehouse for this - a metal box with a grate or stretched rods, which is tightly closed with a lid. It can be built from scrap materials or purchased ready-made. To smoke the eel, we will stock up on firewood: it should burn evenly, producing persistent high-temperature smoke. Firewood made from oak and beech copes best with this task.
But what about the fish itself? She needs to be prepared! We choose sufficiently well-fed fish - eels that are thicker than 4 centimeters in diameter are worth smoking! Fresh, still living eels can be thrown into water with added salt - they will quickly die, after which they need to be cleaned immediately.
Cleaning begins with removing mucus, which is quite abundant on the eel’s skin. It can be removed with a regular metal pan scraper or even a couple of handfuls of coarse salt: rub the fish with it and then rinse in water. Then we gut the fish, leaving the head intact. We make an incision from the anus to the jaw, and take out the insides. Don't forget to remove the buds - they can cause the finished eel to rot. After this, rinse the fish from the inside. Pour water into a cauldron or kettle and dissolve the salt: take 800 grams of salt per liter of water. Dip the eels in there for 20 minutes and rinse again in fresh water. Then we place them on a rod, piercing them in the throat area, and we can begin hot smoking the eel.
How to smoke eel correctly
First, let's make a fire and keep the fire low. While the first firewood is burning through, you will have time to cut a couple of thin sticks from brushwood and look at the website to read about methods of catching eels. Then we insert planed sticks into the bellies of the eels - they will prevent the edges from drying out and allow the smoke to get inside the carcasses. We place a layer of wood chips and sawdust at the bottom of the smokehouse - they will, through their smoldering, produce the smoke we need.
We place the rod with the strung eels inside the smokehouse and close the lid - now the fish will dry for an hour or two over low heat. Do not open the lid at this time, unless the smoke turns from light blue to a dark shade, and a distinct burning smell comes from inside - which means the temperature has risen too high. Then open the lid, sprinkle the firewood lightly with water and cover again.
After two hours, hot smoking of eel enters the active stage: now the temperature inside the smokehouse should reach 50 degrees - the fish is smoked in it for another half hour. Then we increase the temperature to 75 degrees and let the eels stand in this smoke for 1 hour. After this, turn off the fire and leave the smokehouse to cool. The fish cools down along with it. To understand that hot-smoked eel is ready, look at its color - properly smoked fish will have a golden-copper hue, and will be about 10-20% lighter in weight. And if you are hooked on other representatives of the fish kingdom, you can cook them using the hot smoking method according to our recipes.
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The eel is an unusual fish from the eel family. It has a long, cylindrical body compressed near the tail. In appearance, the fire is very similar to a snake. The fish has a small head with a small mouth containing sharp, small teeth.
The eel lives in both rivers and seas. This fish has unique vitality and can stay on land for quite a long time. The eel easily overcomes obstacles in its waterway, crawling along the shore like a snake.
The eel feeds only in the warm season on snails, crustaceans, fry, eggs, worms and small fish.
An interesting fact from the life of this amazing fish is that the eel is capable of spawning only once in its life, and after spawning the fish dies.
The eel grows up to 2 meters in length. Weight ranges from 2 to 5 kg.
Tasty, tender and healthy eel meat has earned worldwide fame. Dishes prepared from the meat of this fish will please any gourmet. But smoked eel is considered the most delicious delicacy.
Of the microelements, the content of potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, phosphorus, iron, selenium, copper, manganese, and zinc should be noted.
River eel meat is considered fattier, because it contains 12% fat. The amount of protein is 18.4%. Conger eel contains virtually no fat at all - only 1.9%. Protein content in sea eel is 19.1%.
Beneficial features
Eel meat contains large quantities of protein and fatty acids, so the use of this product is recommended for people with atherosclerosis, cardiovascular and nervous diseases.
Omega-3 rejuvenates the body's cells and improves metabolism. Important for all people, especially those with skin, nails and hair problems.
The vitamins and microelements of this fish improve vision, prevent premature aging of the skin, have a positive effect on diseases of the vascular system and heart, and strengthen bone tissue.
Fat, which is found in large quantities in river eel meat, is an excellent tool for preventing rickets and increasing immunity. And conger eel, which is low in fat and high in protein, is recommended for various diets.
Eel meat is rich in iodine and helps with the functioning of the thyroid gland.
Application
A large number of delicious dishes are made from eel meat. It can be boiled, fried and baked. But still, the most favorite dish is smoked eel, which, by the way, is considered a delicacy. This product is very popular in eastern countries, especially in Japan. There it is used in the preparation of rolls and sushi.
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