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Fried Eel

Fried eel pieces coated in breadcrumbs, served with tartar sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Eel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eel

  1. Skin and clean the eel.

  2. Cut it into 2-3 inch pieces.

  3. Soak the pieces in water with vinegar for a short time.

  4. Dry thoroughly.

Braise and thicken

  1. Braise the eel in Chablis and water with carrots, onions, bay leaf, fine herbs, and seasoning until tender.

  2. Remove the eel and let it drain.

  3. Strain the cooking sauce.

  4. Stir in flour and butter to thicken.

  5. Roll the eel pieces in the sauce mixture.

  6. Let them cool.

  7. If the mixture is too thin, add an egg before removing from heat.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the coated eel pieces in breadcrumbs until golden brown.

  2. Serve on a napkin with tartar sauce on the side.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Vinegar + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Eel
Main protein that becomes tender through braising, then is coated and fried.
Flour
Thickens the strained cooking sauce so it coats the eel pieces.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the thickened sauce coating.
Egg
Helps bind the coating mixture if it is too thin.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp outer layer that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Let them cool. Cooling the sauce-coated pieces lets the coating set and cling, so it does not slide off or soak into the hot oil when frying.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, white wine, onion, pepper, flour, butter, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, white wine, onion, pepper, flour, butter, egg. 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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