Pawaru-Grahmata

№ 3III. nodaļa

Zutis ar brūnu sulu

Eel in brown caper sauce

  • Serves 4
  • about 1¼ hours
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Suttis ar bruhnu sullu.

Modernizētslpp. 132–133 · PDF 146–147
4 porcijas

The book gives no quantities, only that a large eel needs more than half an hour; the amounts below are ours.

Method

7 soļi
  1. Cut the eel into pieces 5–6 cm long. Keep the liver and throw away the other innards and the gall bladder.
  2. Put the eel in a pan with the cold water and salt and bring slowly to the boil. Skim off the foam, then add the allspice, peppercorns and bay leaves.
  3. Simmer gently. After 15 minutes add the liver. Cook for 25–35 minutes in all, longer for a thick eel, until the flesh is soft and comes away from the bone (63 °C next to the bone).
  4. Lift out the eel and pull off the skin, which slips off easily once cooked. Strain the cooking liquid and keep 500 ml.
  5. Melt the butter in a wide pan, add the flour and shallots and cook over medium heat, stirring, for 6–8 minutes, until nut-brown. Gradually whisk in the cooking liquid.
  6. Add the capers, lemon slices, vinegar and sugar and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste; the capers and the eel liquid are already salty.
  7. Put the eel and the liver into the sauce and simmer gently for 5 minutes more.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the eel goes on in cold river water with salt, is skimmed, cooked with allspice, pepper and bay, with its liver added after a quarter of an hour, then skinned and finished in a brown sauce of flour fried in butter with shallots, capers, lemon slices, a little vinegar and sugar. The book doesn't say what liquid makes the sauce; we use the eel's own cooking liquid. The amounts and times are ours.

Doneness

the book's warning still holds: a firm, underdone eel is "unhealthy, nasty food". Check by pulling a piece off the bone.

Cleaning

the book takes the slime off by salting the eel in a bucket, which also killed it. Buy eel killed and gutted by the fishmonger instead; that method is now considered cruel. Raw eel blood contains a toxin that cooking destroys, so keep it away from cuts and eyes.

Eel

the European eel is critically endangered (IUCN Red List). Farmed eel is grown from wild-caught glass eels, so it is not a real alternative. Chunks of farmed catfish (wels or African catfish) are a good substitute: firm, rich and they hold together in the sauce. Simmer them for 10–12 minutes in step 3 and leave out the liver. Thick mackerel pieces also work (8–10 minutes).

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