Comments on: Boiling Eels At Barney’s Seafood

By: Crispy

Crispy — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 12:10:18 +0000

Great well written article, made my mouth water just reading it .The mysterious eel so under estimated by the uninitated.Expensive nowadays, not like years ago when it was poor mans food.I like them jellied, and when Ive been lucky enough to catch some they would be in the jellied liquer in about an hour of being home .Smoked eel is a luxury now, buttery and smokey , a real treat with celeric remoulade.Hope “Barney’s” continue to produce this wonderful product.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 15:01:04 +0000

What great historic information this is. (Editor.. frel free to edit it… my spellings are very bad, plus I have sausage fingers!)
The spitalfields life website is so interesting.
My family moved into the Easy End in 1790.
I love jellied Eels and stewd Eels, well I should do… I was weened in Pie and mash shops.
I have always found Eels intetesting.
Over the years I have caught hundreds with just a rod and line. (have to release them now unless you have a commercial licence )
The best Eels that I caught were from big salt water lakes in Kent, fed by The Thames.
I am going back 30 years ago when you could catch them for the table.
Most of the Eels weighed between 1 3/4 and 3 lbs… big Eels, the real big ones we put back…
My mate Bill caught one of 5 1/2 lbs.
We used to catch around 20 and head home with them alive in a big wet sack that was placed in a big tub we made from cutting a blue plastic barrel in half.
Once we got home at night I would turn them slive in the bath half filled with salty water..(i used to tast it to make sure it was the same as the salty lake… did my best)
Next morning I would kill them, and jelly some and freeze some down for stewing.

I would just chopp them in chunks about 2 inches thick for jelling and cook them in salt water to tast and a big sprig of parsley. let them cool, put them in the fridge and let them set in thete own jelly. lovley, fit for a king my dad would say.

As a matter of interest.
My dad once caught a big Eel with his hands from a muddy whole ont The Thames at Greenwich…
He brought it home and put it in the bath… it was almost 5 foot long and weighed 8 lbs 2 oz.
The rod cought recourd at the time was 8lbs 8 oz.
He couldn’t bring himself round to kill it.
Dad put it back in the sack and drove down to The Theames and wached it swim strongley away.

Mark B

By: Celeste Grant

Celeste Grant — Sun, 23 Jul 2017 02:00:59 +0000

I Looking For Restaurants in New York
Queens or Manhattan that Have Boiled or
Baked EELS.

By: Charles Bazalgette

Charles Bazalgette — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:31:18 +0000

Wonderful – I so miss the possibility of tasting these ever again 🙁

By: Jon Ramsey

Jon Ramsey — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 12:27:39 +0000

That was really interesting. There’s a really fascinating book called Eel by Richard Schweid, in that great little Animal series published by Reaktion. It explains a great deal about the mysteries of eels.

By: Samantha Wilson

Samantha Wilson — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 10:35:07 +0000

The pictures are fascinating! Thanks, Gentle Author. However, I support Valerie’s point that it’s not for me, as I can never make myself eat something that died in front of my eyes. The process is indeed very interesting. Reading literature and searching the Internet on some writing tips and blog topics, I rarely come across such posts. Yours made me look at things differently. It has inspired me to thing about the next post on my blog that will be connected with sea theme.
Thanks,
Samantha

By: Rose Wild

Rose Wild — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 09:42:04 +0000

The European eel is a critically endangered species – https://www.zsl.org/conservation/regions/uk-europe/eel-conservation

By: Chrina Jarvis

Chrina Jarvis — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 07:36:28 +0000

Interesting about the eels but I prefer pie and mash – and I urge you to go to Tony’s Pie & Mash in the Market Square, Waltham Abbey, Essex and sample their wares. They regularly gain first prize for the best Pie & Mash shop in the area and my 24-yr old nephew, who’s eaten a few in his time, declares it spot on! He and I go there often!

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 07:01:28 +0000

Ah, the jellied eel! Food of Cockneys everywhere and a true delicacy that only those who know can cook properly…and eat properly, come to that.
My Dad was a fishmonger – Wet, Dried and Fried was his trade – and he sold jellied eels sometimes, but only if they were cooked by aunt Dolly, who knew the secret of the mysterious eel. She used to do them in big white enamel bowls – you can’t do them in plastic bowls. He only bought the best eels – which he said came from the Fens – or Irish eels. He’d never use Dutch eels: “too rubbery” he said. Occasionally someone would bring him a few eels they’d caught in Regents canal or the river Lea but these were kept for family consumption. He’d keep them in one of the big water butts until Sunday. A fresh eel is a delicious thing and cooked immediately has no peer. Aunt Dolly learnt the secrets from her mother, who learnt from her mother…and so on. The secret was passed down by experience, no-one had a written recipe. When there was a family wedding, funeral or Christening, Aunt Dolly usually got the enamels bowls out and delivered the delicacy for the gathered relatives – who were many in those days – and they queued up to get a small portion of the glistening ambrosia. It was often said – in jest of course – that it was a pity there weren’t more funerals!
But preparing the gelatinous fishy feast was only part of the secret, the other part is how you eat them, and that must remain a family secret. Those who know, know. Those who don’t just gulp them down with great show and gusto, spitting bones and bits of skin, washed down with a pint of beer. But this is to miss to piquant flavour of the well-cooked Ely eel and is not to be encouraged.
The jellied eel is the Cockney’s caviar, to be savoured and enjoyed in the same manner as the French enjoy Escargot or the Spanish wax lyrical about Paella.
And you should never, ever eat jellied eels with mash. Disgusting and just wrong in so many ways. Aunt Dolly would turn in her grave if she knew such behaviour went on.

By: LYNNE ELLIS

LYNNE ELLIS — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 06:22:08 +0000

Yet another article by the Gentle Author that’s made my day.
Barneys is the best seafood you can buy .
We don’t call Stuart ‘Stewpot!’ for nothing .
I feel a pilgrimage coming on. It’s been far too long.