Foods Our Ancestors Ate: Eel Anyone?

Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to find eel recipes that our ancestors enjoyed. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

What types of seafood do you enjoy? What we eat and what we collectively find appealing changes over time. Although I do know a few people who’ve had eel, it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. And for the most part, it’s a food we find in the past and not a regular ingredient in the present. But that wasn’t always how it was in the United States.

Photo: an eel in the waters of Maui defending its territory. Credit: Daniel Ortega, a dive instructor and the author’s son.
Photo: an eel in the waters of Maui defending its territory. Credit: Daniel Ortega, a dive instructor and the author’s son.

Eel has been enjoyed for centuries. In some places outside of the United States it is more common today, such as in Spain where you might order a tapa of “angulas [baby eels] drenched in hot olive oil pungent with garlic” (1) or in England where you might have a side of jellied eels with a savory meat pie. There are popular eel dishes in many Asian countries. In the United States you might not find eel gracing family dinner tables, but it can be found in places like sushi restaurants.

Photo: plate of jellied eel from Reading, England. Credit: JanesDaddy; Wikimedia Commons.
Photo: plate of jellied eel from Reading, England. Credit: JanesDaddy; Wikimedia Commons.

But eel was enjoyed in the United States in centuries past – our ancestors ate a lot of eel. “Early Americans in the 17th and 18th centuries loved eel… so much that they harvested them everywhere from Cape Cod to local streams. Back then, eels were such a hot commodity, lobsters served as bait.” (2) Can you imagine a time when lobsters were used as bait to catch eels?

Photo: grilled eel (Kabayaki) served over rice, Japan. Credit: Naotake Murayama; Wikimedia Commons.
Photo: grilled eel (Kabayaki) served over rice, Japan. Credit: Naotake Murayama; Wikimedia Commons.

If eels were once such an important food in America, why don’t we eat eel today? Declining eel supply, and Americans’ disinterest in eating foods that look like their “natural form,” are two of the reasons. (3)

Like with any food, newspapers printed eel recipes for their readers – sometimes as a marketing ploy by an industry looking to sell Americans on a particular food, or by those genuinely interested in introducing readers to a food they love. Either way, historical newspapers provide a look at various recipes for eel.

Preparing the Eel

Although they look like underwater snakes, eels are actually elongated fish. Before you cook an eel, you must first prepare it. As you can probably imagine, getting the eel ready to cook is a lot like preparing snake.

This 1954 newspaper article explains some of the steps needed to prepare an eel for cooking once you purchase it from the local fish market. These steps include skinning the eel, cutting it into three-inch sections, and then soaking the meat in salted water.

An eel recipe, San Francisco Chronicle newspaper 18 February 1954
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 18 February 1954, page 31

Fried

In 1977, New York Times food writer and cookbook author Craig Claiborne described an eel cookbook in his article “Interesting Ideas About Eels,” and provided one recipe from it: Fried Eel with Tartar Sauce. He introduced the recipe by stating: “We happen to enjoy properly cooked eel in almost any of its versatile forms.” Frying the eel was probably one way to get even the most disinterested to at least try it.

An eel recipe, Boston Herald newspaper 6 January 1977
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 6 January 1977, page 28

Pie

One dish you may have heard of is Eel Pie, and there are numerous historical recipes for this dish including this one from a 1938 column that promises to provide “unusual recipes for four different kinds of fish.” The author describes eels as the “sweetest, finest of all fish meat and very excellent when made into [a] pie.”

An eel recipe, Schenectady Gazette newspaper 18 February 1938
Schenectady Gazette (Schenectady, New York), 18 February 1938, page 24

Chowder

This 1941 Eel Chowder recipe provided by Miss Florence Walkman of Long Island was used for “the annual dinner of the Long Island fishermen and boatmen.”

An eel recipe, San Antonio Light newspaper 23 February 1941
San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas), 23 February 1941, page 73

Miss Walkman isn’t the first to publish an Eel Chowder recipe. In a 1914 column titled “Recipes Worth Trying,” all kinds of recipes for ocean creatures are featured including shad and quahaug (a type of clam). The Eel Chowder recipe is simple and calls for potatoes, pork fat, and eel.

An eel recipe, Norwich Morning Bulletin newspaper 27 June 1914
Norwich Morning Bulletin (Norwich, Connecticut), 27 June 1914, page 16

Creative Interpretations

Some home cooks are pretty creative in their interpretations of how to serve eel – as is this contest winner, Mrs. George Degel. Found in an August 1937 recipe contest for chilled fish combinations, her winning recipe, Sliced Chilled Rolled Eel with Anchovy Caper Stuffing, is said to “tempt the home fisherman’s appetite.”

An eel recipe, Times-Picayune newspaper 28 August 1937
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 28 August 1937, page 18

Have You Eaten an Eel?

I’m pretty sure I have had a thin slice of eel in a sushi roll, but to be honest I don’t remember the taste. My sister-in-law, who enjoyed eel as a child but lost interest in the taste as an adult, described a family recipe for a fried eel which was first marinated in wine, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and paprika. She described it as tasting “fatty and slimy.” Probably not the best recommendation for the unusual meat.

Have you ever eaten eel? Do you have a family recipe for it? Let us know in the comments below.

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Note on the header image: the European conger, heaviest of all eels. Credit: “Les Poisson” by Gervais et Boulart, 1877; Wikimedia Commons.

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(1) O’Connell, Libby H. “The American Plate. A Culinary History in 100 Bites” (Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2015). pp. 46-47.
(2) “The Foods Americans Once Loved to Eat” Smithsonian (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/foods-americans-once-loved-eat-180955683/: accessed 21 December 2022).
(3) Ibid.

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