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Spitchcocked Eels

A dish of eels prepared by scouring, seasoning, coating with breadcrumbs, and broiling over a suet‑rubbed gridiron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Spitchcocked Eels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eels

  1. Scour the eels with coarse sea salt and wash them.

  2. Cut off the heads of the eels.

  3. Slit the eels open on the belly side, then remove the bone and guts.

  4. Cut the eels into pieces about 3 inches long and wipe the pieces dry.

Make the coating

  1. In a stew-pan, melt the butter with minced parsley, thyme, sage, pepper, and chopped shallot.

  2. Remove the pan from heat and mix in the egg yolks.

  3. Dip each piece of eel in the mixture, then roll each piece in bread crumbs.

Broil and serve

  1. Rub a gridiron with suet and set it over a clear fire.

  2. Broil the eels until they are crisp and brown.

  3. Serve with crispy parsley and plain butter or anchovy butter.

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. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  4. Thyme + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Silver eels
Provide the main flesh, which cooks firm and crisp on the grill.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the herbs, helping the coating brown evenly.
Egg yolks
Bind the herbs to the eel and help the bread crumbs stick.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer layer during broiling.
Shallot
Adds a mild savory sweetness and aroma to the coating.

The step that matters

Broil until crisp and brown. Eel fat drips and the coating can burn before the flesh is cooked through. Keep the fire clear and watch closely so the crumbs brown without scorching, and the flesh cooks through.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, thyme, sage, pepper, egg, bread):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Leekfits less well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, thyme, sage, pepper, egg, bread. 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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