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crispy fried eels

aznsailorboi
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aznsailorboi

aznsailorboi

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ok ...I had eel at chinatown a few weeks ago, it was delish, tender meat and no funny smells either. it was crispy fried with tons of garlic and chilies. so here i go last week at the asian market...lo and behold they got eels, so i got two small ones had the guy behind the ccounter errr slaughter them for me :unsure: i would've done it myself but it was almost 5pm, by the time i get home and "clean" the eels it would've been past dinner time...but anyways so i took em home, rinsed it a couple of times, rubbed salt on the skin to remove the slimy stuff, sliced it into segments, seasoned with salt, pepper, lots of garlic and rice wine and let it sat for about half an hour while i set up my wok with oil. I dredged the eel segments in cornstarch and dust off the excess then into the hot oil they go for about 8 to ten minutes till golden brown. they looked fantastic until i bit down on it, it was crunchy on the outside(good) but tough inside(bad) like overcooked octopus :blink: .....enough to put me off and toss dinner out. :sad: so is there a special way of tenderizing eel meat? or was the eel that i got bad(it cant be it was alive)?

...a little bit of this, and a little bit of that....*slurp......^_^.....ehh I think more fish sauce.

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hzrt8w

hzrt8w

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I never had "crispy" eel with garlic and chilis. The eels I had are mostly stir-fried with a dark soy sauce base and lots of oil. Are you sure that's eel you had with garlic and chilis (battered and deep-fried first to crispy)?

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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aznsailorboi

aznsailorboi

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I never had "crispy" eel with garlic and chilis.  The eels I had are mostly stir-fried with a dark soy sauce base and lots of oil.  Are you sure that's eel you had with garlic and chilis (battered and deep-fried first to crispy)?

yes, coz thats what the menu said, and its cylindrical..not too many fishes are cylindrical all throughout. so its affirmative that its eel. :rolleyes:

...a little bit of this, and a little bit of that....*slurp......^_^.....ehh I think more fish sauce.

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budrichard

budrichard

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Eel MUST be skinned! Your fish monger should bleed and eviserate your eels. Use a pliers to pull the skin off when you get home. If you can't nail them to a board, then get two people. One to hold and one to pull of the skin. Then blanch, cool and rub off the fatty layer under skin. The eel will then be palatable anyway you cook it. -Dick

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Ben Hong

Ben Hong

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Eel MUST be skinned!  -Dick

Nail the sucker through the head onto a sturdy plank, cut a circle around the neck only through the skin, separate a couple of inches of skin from the flesh, wrap this free end around the nose of a pair of long nosed pliers, and strip the skin off. Takes some strength. Either coat your hands with salt or wear cloth gloves to hold on to the slimey buggers. It is better to eviscerate the beast first. Eel is never tough, and the bones are soft enough to eat.

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Dejah

Dejah

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Eel MUST be skinned!  -Dick

Nail the sucker through the head onto a sturdy plank, cut a circle around the neck only through the skin, separate a couple of inches of skin from the flesh, wrap this free end around the nose of a pair of long nosed pliers, and strip the skin off. Takes some strength. Either coat your hands with salt or wear cloth gloves to hold on to the slimey buggers. It is better to eviscerate the beast first. Eel is never tough, and the bones are soft enough to eat.

That's quite graphic, Ben. :laugh::laugh: Is that how you skin your birds after a good hunt?

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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aznsailorboi

aznsailorboi

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Thanks budrichard and Ben Sook for the info. so its like how they would skin a snake for cooking, no?

ok, it probably was the skin thats making it tough. Thanks for that advice. I will try it again one of these days.....as soon as i move to my new house, i'd be living 10 minutes away from chicago chinatown in a matter of two weeks, a very dangerous place to live if you love to cook! it will suck the finances out of you buying all the best quality ingredients you can find. Well unfortunately I have to start budgeting since I now have mortgage to pay :sad:

Auntie Sue-On- skin the birds???? :shock: so no crispy skin on the chicken? the duck? the turkey? the pheasant? :sad:

...a little bit of this, and a little bit of that....*slurp......^_^.....ehh I think more fish sauce.

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Dejah

Dejah

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Auntie Sue-On- skin the birds???? :shock:  so no crispy skin on the chicken? the duck? the turkey? the pheasant? :sad:

I was just joking about Ben and his love for hunting upland birds. But yes, I suppose sometimes birds are cleaned of their feathers by skinning them. Is that correct, Ben? I know my brother uses that technique whenever we get wild ducks. This is used especially when we cook wild geese or ducks with herbs.

With chicken and BBQ duck, the skin and the bones are my favourite parts. FLAVOUR! :wub: Turkey skin I can leave because I ate so much of it when I first came to Canada.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Ben Hong

Ben Hong

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Ideally, I would like to pluck all birds that I cook. But the reality of hunting is that sometimes birds are too badly shot, so skin would be the procedure then. There is nothing like the taste of some wild gamebirds to sharpen your appreciation for the "natural" unadulterated taste that is still to be found by us lucky few.

"Sahn gai gook fan". :wub:

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