NEW Wrinkles IN THE MATTER OF

Otago Witness, Issue 1861, 22 July 1887, Page 27

NEW Wrinkles IN THE MATTER OF

COOKING EELS,

When you catch your eels the point is how to cook them. Some folks cook them in their skins, alleging in their defence that if the skins are removed the juices escape. This is absurd, however, because an eel has two skins, and it is only the first that should be removed, because of its rank and oily character. Having skinned and cleaned your eel, the simplest thing to do is to fry ii in plenty of clear dripping. If done too much it will become tough and unpalatable. A better plan is to cut the pel in pieces and stew it. It may then be served up with parsley ' aauGe, and is very rich. Some folks, when the eel is stewed, nut it aside, covering it over with vinegar in which salt and bay leaves have been placed. This is a sort of German <* sour eel," ' and is much relished in warm weather. Grilled eel is another form of cookery very common in the bush and surveyor's camp; but the best plan I know of making a good?sized eel " go high "is t j to run a dead stiok down the fellow's throat and , out as near the end of his tail as possible. This stick you plant securely between the bricks, of a kitchen fireplace, and around it you place, shavings. When these shaviqgs produce a flame , the eel begins to drop his fat on them, thus] feeding the fire until the whole of the oil is ex-;! tracted from the flesh. ' Boasted in this way the [ eels come to table as white and tender as ajj chicken, but without any of the fat and oil 1 which come folks fancy mak«a them bilious. I ! believe that this plan of cooking eels originated , with the Maoris, from whom a friend of mine obtained the repipe. — band and Water. . j