Smoked eel is a fine gourmet delicacy. In any good restaurant you will be offered this fish as an amazing main course or in tandem with other ingredients in a salad. In addition to its excellent palatability, this product has excellent nutritional value. Smoked eel is also useful, its meat contains iodine, potassium, iron and other minerals, vitamins E, A, which are necessary for the body. How to cook this wonderful fish, where to buy and what products are best combined with? Let's look for answers to all questions.
Where is smoked eel sold in the capital?
Moscow is a huge metropolis. In this city you can find any product, even the most scarce. Smoked eel is stored on the shelves in grocery stores along with other types of fish. It’s better to look for it in supermarkets, since in small private stores this unusual product is unlikely to be found. If the price of smoked eel seems too high to you or you do not want to spend time searching, you can try to make this culinary masterpiece yourself. It will turn out no worse than a store!
Cooking yourself
If you have a smokehouse at home, then it’s a sin not to use it to make eel. Just before the start of the process, fish should be prepared. Eel should be thoroughly washed and cleaned, gutted absolutely all the insides. After this, it is advisable to lower the fish into the water once more, having previously treated it with salt. Before you start smoking eel, you need to salt it for a short period of time. This will help a special pickle. To prepare it, you will need only water (per 5 kg of fish - 6-7 l) and salt (1 kg). Fish in such a brine should be kept for no more than 10 minutes, and if the pieces are small and thin, then you need to spend half the time. After this, the eel should be thoroughly washed and then dried. Now it's up to the small thing - we plant fire in the smokehouse, warm it up to a temperature of no more than 80 degrees. It is this indicator of the thermometer that needs to be maintained throughout the entire process of eel preparation, and this will take 1-1.5 hours, depending on the size and thickness of the pieces. You can smoke this fish using the barbecue grill. When using this method of cooking, eel will turn out to be less greasy. It should be noted that firewood of fruit trees or oak is more suitable for smoking. It is better not to use conifers - they will give the fish a bitter taste.
What is smoked eel combined with?
Recipes include different variations of dishes with this delicious fish. For the inexperienced, smoked eel with brown bread and onions seems to be the best dish. Often use this product as a sushi filling. The tastiest thing to eat is this fish with vegetables, fruits, salads, and flour products. Smoked eel is a high-calorie and completely independent product, it must play the first violin in any dish. Therefore, it should not be combined with heavy products that have an unusual taste. The emphasis in the plate should be one.
Smoked Eel Salad
There are many recipes, and the first, which we will tell you about, is the simplest and easiest. To prepare a dish such as a salad with smoked eel, you will need smoked eel (300 g), 2 cucumbers, red bell pepper, lemon juice, leaves of any salad, vegetable oil (preferably olive) and salt. Vegetables need to be cut into strips, like fish. Lettuce should be torn into small, easy-to-eat pieces. All ingredients must be mixed, add dressing and spices, salt. You can decorate the dish with sesame seeds.
The second version of the salad has claims to gourmet love. The list of necessary products includes smoked eel (350 g), Peking cabbage, a little pine nuts, a little more than half a glass of prunes, olive oil, juice of one lemon, cognac (1 tbsp.), Mustard (half a teaspoon) and apples ( 2 small). Cut the fish into strips, grind the vegetables, add dried fruits. Now let's start making the sauce. To do this, mix the oil, lemon juice, mustard and cognac. Peeled and chopped apples should be added last, so that they do not turn black. We season the salad and immediately serve it. You can decorate the dish with pomegranate or herbs. Do not forget that the delicious salad is served in small portions. Enjoy your meal!