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Eel a LA Tartare

A dish of eel pieces simmered in broth, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried and served with tartare sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Eel a LA Tartare

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the eel

  1. Skin and clean the eel, then cut it into 3-inch pieces.

  2. Place the eel pieces in a saucepan and cover with fish broth.

  3. Simmer the eel for 20 minutes, then let it cool in the broth.

  4. Drain the eel pieces and wipe them dry.

Fry and serve

  1. Dip the eel in beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Fry the eel in very hot oil until golden brown.

  3. Drain the fried eel on paper towels, then serve on a napkin garnished with fried parsley, with tartare 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

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

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

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eel
Forms the main body of the dish, with its firm flesh holding shape through poaching and frying.
Egg
Binds the bread crumbs to the eel so the coating sticks during frying.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust that contrasts with the tender fish inside.
Oil
Conducts heat quickly to brown the coating and cook the fish through.

The step that matters

Fry in very hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before it browns, while the fish cooks unevenly. Very hot oil sets the crust quickly, keeping the coating crisp and the inside moist.

Swap the parsley

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

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

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

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