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To Collar Eels

A method of preparing eels by seasoning, rolling, and cooking them in a seasoned broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

To Collar Eels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eels

  1. Remove the bones, heads, and tails from the eels and lay them flat.

  2. Season the eels with nutmeg, lemon peel, salt, pepper, parsley, marjoram, thyme, savory, and sage.

  3. Roll the eels tightly and bind them with kitchen twine.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. Boil the heads, tails, and bones in water and vinegar with onion, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.

  2. Add the collars to the boiling liquid.

  3. Cook the collars until tender.

  4. Remove the collars from the liquid.

  5. Boil the liquid a bit longer.

  6. Strain the liquid.

  7. Skim the liquid.

Set and store

  1. When the liquid is cold, add the fish to it.

  2. If storing the fish for a long time, reboil the liquid.

  3. Add fresh vinegar as needed.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Eels
Provide the main flesh, which is rolled and set in the seasoned liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the cooked fish.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle aromatic flavour to the simmering liquid.
Lemon peel
Adds aromatic citrus oils that brighten the seasoning.

The step that matters

Cooling the liquid before adding the fish. Adding the eels while the liquid is still hot would cook them further and make them soft and crumbly. Letting the liquid cool first keeps the flesh firm, and the acidic liquid then helps preserve it during storage.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Rosemaryfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, pepper, parsley, marjoram, thyme, sage, vinegar. 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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