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To Collar Eels

A pickled eel prepared by cleaning, seasoning, boiling, and marinating in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,445 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Collar Eels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eel

  1. Prepare the eel by cutting off the head and opening the belly.

  2. Remove the guts and bones, then lay the eel flat on its back.

  3. Grate nutmeg over the eel.

  4. Sprinkle the eel with mace, pepper, and salt.

  5. Add a handful of finely shredded parsley and a few sage leaves.

  6. Roll the eel tightly in a cloth.

  7. Bind the cloth-wrapped eel well.

Boil and drain

  1. Boil the wrapped eel in salted water for 45 minutes.

  2. Hang the eel to drain overnight.

Make the pickle and serve

  1. Boil 1 pint of vinegar with peppercorns and a sprig of sweet marjoram for 10 minutes.

  2. Let the pickle cool.

  3. Remove the cloth from the eel.

  4. Place the eel in the pickle.

  5. Serve the eel whole on a plate or slice it.

  6. Garnish with green parsley.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Clove + sagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together731 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eels
The main ingredient, whose firm flesh holds its shape through boiling and pickling.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the eel and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Salt
Seasons the eel and salted water, drawing out moisture and firming the flesh.
Sage
Adds a savoury, aromatic herb note that complements the rich eel.

The step that matters

Boiling the wrapped eel. Boiling for the full 45 minutes ensures the fish is cooked through and the rolled cloth keeps it compact. Under-cooked eel is unsafe, and the cloth must be bound tightly so the roll holds its shape while cooking.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, vinegar, pepper, parsley, sage):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, vinegar, pepper, parsley, sage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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