Skip to main content
Main

Broiled Eels

Broiled eels are eel pieces coated in egg and breadcrumbs, grilled until crisp and served with tartar sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Broiled Eels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skin and clean the eel, then remove the backbone and cut it into 5 or 6 pieces.

  2. Dip each piece into the egg, then coat with salted and peppered bread crumbs.

Broil and serve

  1. Place the pieces skin-side down on a greased grill over a clear fire.

  2. Broil, turning over when one side is done.

  3. Transfer to a hot dish, garnish with parsley, and serve with tartar sauce.

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

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

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eel
The main protein, cooked through over direct heat while staying moist inside.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs adhere to the eel pieces.
Bread crumbs
Form a coating that browns on the grill and gives a crisp exterior.

The step that matters

Turning the pieces over. Turn them only once the first side is done, so the coating sets and holds together. Turning too early can tear the crumb coating and break the pieces apart on the grill.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, bread, pepper, sauce):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, bread, pepper, sauce. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipesOatmeal BreadOatmeal Bread51 recipes