Sea eels: cooking recipes. Eel fish - what kind of product it is, how to cook it, dishes with eel, sauce for fish How to fry eel at home
Fish dishes are tasty and healthy, but they can also be unusual or even exotic if you use less popular ingredients. For example, something interesting and delicious can be prepared from eel.
Fish or snake?
Eel is a tropical fish belonging to the eel family. There are nineteen species in total, and all of them are eaten by people. The striking feature of the eel is that it closely resembles a snake, and this resemblance is achieved due to its elongated, wriggling body. It is flattened on the sides; there are fins on the back and on the other side near the tail. The head is small, the mouth is large and literally strewn with small teeth. Such aquatic creature It is considered a predator and feeds on crustaceans, snails, and as it grows it begins to eat small fish.
Eel is highly valued, considered a delicacy and is actively used in cooking. Firstly, it is incredibly healthy and nutritious, as it contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and other substances. The calorie content of one hundred grams of the product is about 330 calories, which is quite a lot when compared with other varieties or even meat. Secondly, eel has an unusual rich taste. The pulp is tender, fatty and slightly sweet.
How to prepare eel?
Before you start cooking, you need to get the eel in order. For this:
- First, wash the fish well. It will slip out of your hands, so carry out manipulations in the sink.
- Next, remove the mucus. It is very difficult and takes a long time to wash off, but you can speed up the process by rubbing the carcass with salt, leaving it for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then washing off the residue. If the mucus is not completely gone, then rub the eel with coarse salt or even sand.
- Now it's time to learn how to clean a blackhead. You need to remove the skin so that it does not interfere with enjoying the tender meat of the fish. For convenience, fix the carcass on a board (European chefs advise nailing it, but you can use a sharp knife), make an incision around the head and remove the skin, like a stocking.
- Gut the fish by making a cut along the belly with a sharp knife and removing all excess from there.
- Wash the fish again.
Eel dishes
How to properly cook eel? There are many different dishes based on such an ingredient, and we will consider some of them below.
Recipe one
Incredibly tasty eel can be cooked in the oven. The following ingredients will be required:
- eel carcass;
- half a glass of classic soy sauce;
- 50 ml water;
- a tablespoon of honey;
- a teaspoon of sesame seeds;
- pepper;
- salt.
Preparation:
- First, prepare the fish: wash, remove mucus, remove skin, gut. Now cut the carcass into medium-sized portions.
- Start preparing the marinade sauce. Mix soy sauce with water, add honey. Place the mixture on the fire and cook until thick. Add sesame seeds to the marinade, immerse the chopped eel in it and leave for half an hour to an hour.
- Prepare foil, place marinated pieces of eel on it and wrap them.
- Place the wrapped fish on a baking sheet or in a mold and place in an oven preheated to 190 degrees for half an hour.
- The remaining marinade can be brought to a boil again and simmer for a minute, and then served as a sauce for fish. It will turn out very tasty.
Recipe two
You can cook a delicate creamy soup from eel. Prepare the following ingredients:
- 500 g eel;
- 1.5 cups cream;
- liter of water;
- small onion;
- 80-90 grams of rice (any kind will do, but long grain is better);
- a teaspoon of salt (change the amount at your discretion);
- a little vegetable oil;
- pepper and other seasonings to your taste.
Instructions:
- Take care of the eel. After cleaning and gutting it, the pulp should be cut into medium-sized cubes. Peel the onion and either chop it or cut it into thin half rings. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and eel in it. When a golden brown crust begins to form and the onion becomes soft, turn off the heat.
- Bring water to a boil in a saucepan, add pre-washed rice and cook until tender.
- If the rice is ready, add fried eels and onions to the soup, and also add cream.
- Cook the soup covered for three minutes, then add seasonings and salt, after a minute remove the pan from the heat.
Recipe three
By stewing eel with tomatoes, you will get a complete and appetizing hot dish.
You will need the following ingredients:
- 1 kg eel;
- 400-500 g of ripe fleshy tomatoes;
- bulb;
- two or three cloves of garlic;
- 2/3 glass of wine (both red and white are suitable, but preferably semi-sweet);
- a pinch of aromatic seasoning, such as rosemary;
- 3-4 tbsp. l. olive oil;
- salt;
- pepper.
Process description:
- The eel needs to be cleaned and gutted, and then cut in any way (but the pieces should not be very small).
- Onions can be cut into half rings. Grind the tomatoes in any way, for example, in a blender or simply chop finely with a knife. Garlic can be passed through a press or grated.
- Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry the onion for a minute, then add the eel. After three minutes, add the tomatoes. Fry everything together for just a couple of minutes so that the fish acquires a pleasant color.
- Now pour in the wine, add salt, seasoning and pepper, cover the frying pan with a lid, and simmer the dish until cooked for about ten or fifteen minutes.
Tips to help you cook eel at home, if not perfectly, then definitely successfully:
- The mucus must be removed completely, as it can give the dish an unpleasant taste, as well as an unattractive gray tint.
- If you don’t like the smell of sea fish, then marinate the carcass first. To do this, just sprinkle it with fresh lemon juice and rub with salt. Aromatic seasonings such as rosemary, basil, and thyme will also help eliminate unpleasant odors. But their quantity should not be too large, otherwise they will simply drown out the natural taste of the fish.
- Since eel itself is fatty, it is best served with light side dishes, such as vegetables.
- Heat treatment should be moderate, but too long will worsen the taste and make the pulp not so tender and juicy.
If you have never tried eel dishes, be sure to cook one of them. You will definitely like it!
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 in a wide range of dishes. What can be prepared from smoked eel will be discussed in this article.
Variety of dishes
There are river and sea eels. This spicy fish, almost boneless, in cooking various peoples have been used for a long time. Appetizers, salads, soups, and main courses were and are being prepared from smoked eel. It has a very pleasant taste.
The simplest recipe
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 of 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.
Preparation
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Salad mix
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.
Preparation
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Rolls
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).
Preparation
- Place the nori on a special bamboo mat with the rough side up.
- We place it in a thin layer, retreating from the edge by about one and a half centimeters. This is most conveniently done with hands moistened with cold water.
- On top of the rice is wasabi, but very carefully! Out of habit, you can overdo it.
- Cut the eel and cucumbers into pieces in the form of small bars.
- Lay out the last 2 ingredients in a strip, sprinkle with sesame seeds and roll up the rolls.
- We moisten a strip of nori sheet without filling with water and stick it to the resulting roll. This way it will keep its shape.
- Serve with pickled ginger and soy sauce.
Eel with mushrooms
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.
Preparation
- We free the eel from seeds and skin. Cut into slices.
- Cut the mushrooms into slices and fry in oil.
- We tear the salad by hand.
- Cut the cucumbers and tomatoes into cubes. Cut the onion into pieces 1-1.5 cm in length.
- Mix everything in an appropriate bowl and season with olive oil and lemon juice. Salt and pepper, sprinkle with paprika. Ready!
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 the human body. In addition, Japanese centenarians from Okinawa traditionally eat some dishes from this phenomenal fish.
Smoked eel soup "Yanagawa nabe"
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.
Preparation
- Cut the peppers, onions and zucchini into strips and fry in vegetable oil. Pour a drop of Teriyaki sauce into the sauté pan.
- Dissolve the Hon-dashi broth in water and bring to a boil.
- Place the finely chopped eel in the broth, add the sauté mixture there, add the egg and cook over low heat until it sets.
- Before serving, first pour a pinch of sesame seeds into a plate, then pour in the soup and add chopped green onions.
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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 it in the waters of the 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 River Thames, there is a small island known almost throughout 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 shallots fried in butter, 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. This “trifle” is simply fried in 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 on a hard surface (or using a wooden hammer), then pierce the fish’s head 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:
- per 1 kg of fish
- 1 parsley and celery root, 1 onion, 1 bay leaf, 4 allspice peas
- marinade:
- 1 glass of water
- 1 cup vinegar, diluted to taste
- 3 onions
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cloves
- 3 allspice peas
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 by cutting the onion into thin rings, boiling water with vinegar, salt, sugar and spices, putting the onion in it, boiling again, and then cooling. 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
Appetizing conger eel... Traditionally it is consumed smoked, but sometimes it’s useful to break stereotypes? Try frying this unusual fish after soaking it in the marinade. It is known that conger eel is an incredibly fatty product. The marinade will rid the fish of excess fat and emphasize its amazingly delicate taste, spices will add piquancy, and golden frying will give the dish an elegant and attractive look. Fried eel will become real highlight of the program and anyone will do festive table outstanding.
How to fry eel recipe
You will need:
- conger eel – 0.5 kg
- vinegar 9% - 1 tbsp.
- onion – 1 pc.
- black pepper (peas) - 7 pcs.
- cloves – 4 pcs.
- garlic – 3 cloves
- flour - 3 tbsp.
- turmeric – 0.5 tsp.
- olive oil – 2 tbsp.
- anise, thyme, salt - to taste
Fried conger eel: Cooking technology
1. Cut open the belly of the conger eel and carefully remove the insides. Get rid of the head and tail. Rinse the fish thoroughly in a strong stream of cold water, trying to remove any remaining mucus on the skin. First, it is better to rub the skin of the eel with a large sea salt, which will play the role of a scrub. Dry the fish and cut it into pieces 7-9 cm long.
2. Marinade. Add spices to boiling water (0.7 l): cloves, anise, pepper, thyme and salt. Boil for 5-7 minutes and then cool. Add thinly sliced onion into rings, chopped garlic and vinegar to the cold marinade.
3. Immerse the fish pieces in the marinade and leave them alone for 6 hours.
4. After the specified period, remove the fish from the marinade and dry on a towel.
5.Mix flour and turmeric in a deep bowl and roll the conger eel pieces in this mixture. Quickly fry the fish in a frying pan until an appetizing golden crust appears.
6. It is better to serve conger eel on lettuce leaves, in the company of potatoes and fresh vegetables. Delicious croutons will be an excellent addition to fish. And fried eel makes a very good combination with beer.
Belonging to the eel family and living in the North Atlantic. They grow up to 3 meters in length, often reaching a weight of 110 kg.
In cooking, conger eels are often used to prepare various dishes. In this article we will present you with several recipes where these snake-like fish are the main ingredient.
Frying eels in a frying pan
Sea eel (recipes with this product will be presented below) is a very nutritious fish. It contains a lot of useful vitamins and minerals. This fish is especially popular in Asian countries. Sushi and other dishes are made from it. We decided to tell you about how to properly fry sea eels. For this we need:
- sea eel - 1 pc.;
- medium-sized lemon - 2 pcs.;
- light flour - about 100 g;
- vegetable oil - at least 1/3 cup;
- pitted olives - 10 pcs.
Fish processing
Before cooking conger eel, it must be deprived of all existing mucus. To do this, wash the fish thoroughly, and then rub cooking oil into it. After keeping the product in this form for about ¼ hour, it is rinsed again in cold water, but at the same time the belly is ripped open and all the entrails are removed. The head and tail are also cut off from the eel. Subsequently, it is chopped into medium pieces no more than 5 centimeters thick and dried with paper towels.
Frying process
Sea eels take longer to fry than regular fish. To do this, pour into a saucepan vegetable oil and heat it up very much. Meanwhile, pour flour into a not very deep plate, and then roll in the pieces of fish one by one.
After the oil begins to boil, place the eels in it and fry on both sides until a brownish crust appears.
Serve for family dinner
Now you know how conger eel is fried. Recipes for cooking dishes using this fish are very simple.
After the product is browned on both sides, place it on a plate. Then the eel pieces are sprinkled with lemon juice and served along with olives and a slice of bread.
on the stove
If you want to get a stewed dish rather than a fried one, we recommend using this recipe. Using it, you will make real fish goulash, which can be served along with any side dish.
So, for the stew we will need:
- eel - approximately 600 g;
- white onion - large head;
- bell pepper - 2 pcs.;
- garlic cloves - 2 pcs.;
- sunflower oil - 4 large spoons;
- tomato paste - large spoon;
- dry white wine - a full glass;
- sprigs of parsley and dill - 50 g each;
- ground and table salt - to taste.
We process products
Stewed conger eel, the photo of which is presented in this article, is a tasty and satisfying dish. Before preparing it, it is necessary to process all the products.
White and bell peppers are washed well, the peel and stalks are removed, and then cut into small cubes. As for garlic, it is grated or crushed. Also rinse the sprigs of dill and parsley separately, and then finely chop them with a knife.
Pre-frying vegetables
To obtain the most aromatic dish, vegetables are first fried in a frying pan. To do this, pour sunflower oil into a deep saucepan and heat it over high heat. Then add bell peppers and onions to it. Stirring regularly, fry the ingredients until completely transparent.
Extinguishing process
After the vegetables are thoroughly fried, pre-processed and chopped eels are placed on them (see above for how to process). Next, add dry white wine, a little water (about ½ cup), add tomato paste, pepper, salt and chopped herbs. All ingredients are covered with a lid and simmered under it for about half an hour.
After this time, the volume of water in the pan should decrease noticeably, and the eels should become as soft and aromatic as possible.
Serving for lunch
Having prepared a kind of fish goulash, it is immediately flavored with grated cloves of garlic and presented to the table. To do this, put your favorite side dish on a plate, then generously pour it with tomato broth and vegetables and place a few pieces of sea eels.
This hearty and nutritious dish is served for lunch along with a slice of bread and some salad.
How to cook conger eel in the oven?
There are many ways to prepare conger eel. We talked above about how to stew and fry it. However, some cooks prefer to bake this type of fish in the oven.
So, to prepare a delicious lunch we will need:
- sea eel - 3 pcs.;
- table rock salt - use to taste;
- ground pepper - to taste;
- breadcrumbs - about 250 g;
- butter - approximately 140 g.
Preparing the fish
To prepare baked eel, wash it well and then rub in rock salt. This is necessary in order to remove all existing mucus from the fish.
After keeping the salted product for ¼ hour, it is again immersed in cold water, but at the same time they rip open the belly and take out all the internal parts. The head and tail are also cut off from the eel.
Forming the dish
After processing the sea fish, it is generously greased with soft butter. Then mix breadcrumbs and ground pepper in a separate bowl. Roll the eels in the resulting mixture and place them on a dry baking sheet.
Heat treatment process
After all the fish, coated in breadcrumbs, is on the sheet, it is immediately sent to a preheated oven. Cook sea eels at a temperature of 190 degrees for 38 minutes. During this time, the product should become as soft and rosy as possible.
If you only have one eel, it is better to bake it in foil. Additionally, you can add any vegetables and herbs to it.
Presenting the dish to the dinner table
After cooking the sea eels in the oven, carefully remove them. Having beautifully arranged the fish on a plate, it is decorated with a mayonnaise mesh, as well as slices of fresh lemon and sprigs of herbs. In this form, a tasty and nutritious lunch is presented to the table. In addition to it, you can make a salad of fresh vegetables or prepare any side dish (optional).
Let's sum it up
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in preparing sea eels at home. It should be noted that, using this product, some cooks do not only but also the first.
The principle of making soup is very similar to the process of stewing eels. Only instead of a saucepan you should use a saucepan, and instead of wine - ordinary drinking water. Ukha from such fish turns out to be very rich and satisfying.