Eel In Jelly

[jonp]

20 lb eel
7 qt water
1 qt white vinegar
20 peppercorns
10 cloves
7 bay leaves
3 sliced onions
Soup greens
2 lemons, sliced
7 hard boiled eggs and shells
3 egg whites
Salt

Skin eel, cut in pieces, take out intestines. Bring water to boil with the vinegar, peppercorns, salt, bay leaves, onions, lemon slices and soup greens. Add eel and simmer 15 minutes. Take out eel and set aside. Boil broth down to 10 qts. Add crushed eggshells, egg white mixed with a little broth and gelatin. Cook 1 min then set aside. When bullion is clear strain through cheesecloth to remove eggshells.
Slice hard boiled eggs and cover bottom of large serving dish with them then pour in some of the fish bouillon and let set until it jellies. Add eel pieces and the rest of the sliced egg, then pour on the rest of remaining stock and let cool. When stiff, turn out onto a plate and garnish with a head of lettuce.
Best to prepare a day ahead of time and serve cold

[beechbum444]

I've always been curious where the Eel comes from? Is it a locally caught food kinda like stone crab claws from south Florida ? I have heard there's an eel season up in Maine, but I think they are the small ones that get farmed to get bigger .........thank you

[Winger Ed.]

Certain times of the year, we caught them as a junk fish in the Potomac River.
More slime and foul odor than a carp, but they were fished commercially to be sold in Europe.
Out in the Chesapeake Bay, I've seen traps being hauled up by 'working boats' about the size of a small house.
If you caught one on a line, it'd tangle up about 10 feet of it from fighting. Its slime would be on the
line and no other fish would bite on it. You had to cut that part off, hook, line, and sinker.

My understanding was they lived most of their life out at sea, but came into fresh/brackish water to breed.

[MaryB]

Many eels swim into freshwater to spawn, and go very very far up from the ocean! I caught a 3' American eel in the Minnesota River, it flows into the Mississippi River at Minneapolis... game warden said I should have kept and eaten it, they are supposed to be really good. I told him next time I catch 3 feet of slime with teeth he can have it!

[Tripplebeards]

I just caught a 33 pound common snapper today! I’ll have to pressure cook it for a few days and can it like I did a few years back. It was about an 1/4” to 1/8” under the maximum slot size for length. Just squeaked by as a legal keeper! I’d hate to see how big one too big to keep weighs.

[K43]

Like Winger_Ed, I've caught many from the seawalls and beaches on NAS PAX where the Potomac and Patuxent rivers merge at the Chesapeake Bay. Actually the Potomac is farther South at Point Lookout. Never caught one when out in a boat, but I do know people who've caught them in the Potomac up North of DC. They sometimes spook people when they hook one because it's like you have a snake on your hook.
I eat them if smoked in Sushi or in soup made Korean style at someone else's house. I don't keep eels, spot, or herring. Even catfish caught in the Potomac taste like mud.

[jonp]

Grandfather told me they used to catch eels in Lake Memphremagog. The migrated up the St Lawrence River then the St Francis and Magog River into the lake to spawn. The damn at the outlet put a stop to it. He always said they were good eating

[Tripplebeards]

Every time I eat eel or eel sushi it tastes like what stinky river shad smell like.

[elmacgyver0]

Every time I eat eel or eel sushi it tastes like what stinky river shad smell like.

Eat a lot of eel, do you?

[Tripplebeards]

nope...lol. about a dozen times.

We’ll see how much of the dead shad “smell taste” I can get out of this dinosaur…

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[gwpercle]

All this Eel in Jelly and Pork Kidney recipes sounds like things they eat in Great Briton
My people was Good Cajuns who ate a lot of things ... but Eel in Jelly and Pork Kidney ... wasn't on the list ... I looked through Mom's recipes ... nothing in there from her or her Momma ... no eels no kidney recipes there ... whatsoever !
I gonna pass ... but Thanks for Posting the recipes !
Gary
Cajuns Don't Eat Everything

[Finster101]

Nope, aint' never gonna happen. I'm happy opening packages from the grocery store and my local butcher shop.

[Winger Ed.]

Reminds me of my Grandfather.

When he wanted out of the house to go hang out with his buddies, he'd tell my Grandmother,
"There's a big chit-lins supper down at the Elk's Lodge. Do you want to go"?

She'd say, "Nah,,, you go on ahead".