Jellied Eels – Conger Style

Total time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

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Celebrating Heritage British Food & Cooking

East End Eels

An East End of London dish traditionally served in Pie and Mash shops like Manzes near Tower Bridge. This recipe substitutes the normally used silver eels for conger eel.

Where Do We Get Eels?

Jellied eels production uses farmed silver eels mainly from Holland. Traps along the River Thames and its tributaries like the Fleet or the Lea would have been the source historically.

Silver eels have a long and fascinating life cycle involving a double migration from the Sargasso Sea across the Atlantic to Europe and back again. Silver eels caught in UK waters must be returned as they are critically endangered.

Conger Eels

Conger eels can grow up to 12 feet in length and weigh upwards of 300 pounds. Big eels like this, however, would not be suitable for eating as the flesh would be far too tough. If taking a conger eel for the pot when fishing, you would only want to consider a smaller eel (sometimes called strap conger eel), ensuring they are more than 36 inches (91cm) in length to comply with current minimum catch size regulations.

courtesy of Gordon Hamilton – delishably.com

Freshwater or silver eels when poached produce a liquor which when reduced sets to a jelly. Conger eels seem to produce less of the setting agent when cooked so this is supplemented in the recipe with gelatin.

Other Recipes You Maybe Interested in …..

• Pie Mash and Eels – A History
• Catch It and Cook It – Conger Eel
• Pie and Mash
• Conger Eel Steaks with Cider
• How to Fillet Conger Eel

Jellied Conger Eel

A traditional East End of London dish adapted for conger eel.

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Course: Snack, Starter

Cuisine: 🇬🇧 British

Keyword: conger eel, fish

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 23kcal

Author: Richard

Ingredients

• 4 Conger eel steaks

For blanching

• 1 tbsp Sea salt

For cooking

• 1 stick Celery chopped
• 1 Carrot chopped
• ½ onions chopped
• ½ Lime
• 4 tbsp Malt Vinegar
• ½ tsp Sea salt
• ½ tsp Freshly ground black pepper
• 750 ml Water

For the jelly

• 2 leaves Gelatine

Instructions

• Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, reduce to a simmer and very gently add the eel steaks and blanch for a couple of minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Discard the water.
• Add fresh salted water to the pan and add the eel steaks and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and gently simmer for 20 minutes.
• Remove the eel steaks with a slotted spoon, set aside and allow to cool. Strain the cooking licquor into a separate pan and also allow to cool.
• While the licquor is still warm prepare the gelatine leaves using the pack instructions and dissolve in the licquor, warming if necessary. Allow to cool but not to set.
• Place the eel steaks into a serving bowl and pour over the licquor. Place in the fridge to set.

Notes

To make individual portions remove the eel meat from the central bone and place the chunks in to a disposable cup before filling with the licquor and allowing to set.

Nutrition

Calories: 23kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g

You may also like one of my other recipes …

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Conger Eel with an Aromatic Crust

This wonderful recipe of conger with aromatic crust is ideal for a Winter dinner with friends or family.

Check out this recipe

Grandads Cookbook may reference or include sections of text and images reproduced courtesy of:

• delishably.com