Jellied Eels
Eel poached in a spiced stock that sets to a clear jelly as it cools. East London has eaten them from a bowl with vinegar since the eighteenth century.
Photograph credit: Jellied eels on Brighton beach by WordRidden · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Eel skin and bone carry so much collagen that the stock sets on its own — no gelatine, no setting agent, nothing but cooling. What breaks that is boiling: a hard boil emulsifies the fat into the liquid and you get a cloudy, greasy jelly instead of a clear one. Keep it at a bare tremble for twenty-five minutes and no more. Cool the pieces in their own liquid rather than lifting them out, or the jelly sets around empty space and the eel dries at the edges.
What People Ask
How long does Jellied Eels take to make?
25 minutes of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking, plus 7 hours of cooling in the stock and setting the jelly, so allow 8 hours 10 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Jellied Eels: Step by Step
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Rinse the eel pieces under cold running water until it runs clear.
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Put the water, vinegar, onion, bay, peppercorns, allspice, mace and salt in a wide pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes.
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Lower in the eel pieces in a single layer.
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Bring back to the barest tremble — never a boil — and poach 25 minutes, until the flesh comes away from the bone easily.
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Take the pan off the heat, add the lemon juice, and leave the eel to cool in its liquid 60 minutes.
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Lift the pieces into bowls or a shallow dish and strain the liquid over them through a fine sieve.
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Refrigerate 6 hours, until the stock has set to a firm clear jelly.
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Serve cold, straight from the dish, with vinegar and white pepper.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Tips That Matter
- A tremble, never a boil. Boiling gives a cloudy, greasy jelly.
- No gelatine. The eel sets its own stock.
- Cool them in the liquid, not on a plate.
Changing the Recipe
- Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the chilli. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
What to Serve With It
Malt vinegar · White pepper · Bread and butter
Keeping and Reheating
Refrigerated for 3 days in their jelly. Do not freeze.
Jellied Eels Nutrition Facts
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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