Has anyone here eaten jellied eel? It was a street food from many decades ago in UK.
How does this taste like? Savory or sweet?
It is a bit yakky if you'd ask me.
Any ideas?
I just watched bbc HD.
I recall watching one of my East End/true Cockney colleagues eating it once when we were out on a team lunch (in a restaurant not on the street mind you ).
The look of it alone was enough to put me off the idea of ever venturing to taste it!
Jellied eels is an east end classic, not sold on the streets but in Pie and Mash shops.
Not for the faint hearted.
Well, Eels don't have much of a taste to them really, and the jelly, well, it just tastes like the aspic you buy in Migros - so as to what it tastes like, I'm going to say, cold.
Much better enjoyed warm, in Liquor.
Guess what's going to be mis-interpreted, by the uninitiated.
...... and on answer to the OP, they ain't sweet. The east end was traditionally made up of poorly paid dockers, who had to make do with cheap foods, that could only be 'enjoyed' creatively cooked and prepared.
Once I ate jellied eels in east London, I did not find a lot of flavour in them, but definitely savoury. There were lots of bones, so I never looked for them again. I like smoked eel, it's filleted and very tasty.
Fish and chips can be incredible, but it can also be spoilt by cooking it too long in cool fat.
The chips should be real potatoes, what today are known as thin wedges. These are cooked and cooled several times, ending with a soft potato and a crisp outside, served very hot with lots of malt vinegar and enough salt.
The fish filet weighing about 130 grammes, is dipped in a batter made from flour, beer and eggs. Then the coated fish is put into deep, very hot dripping (melted beef fat). Oil alone doesn't give enough flavour. The fish should be cooked very quickly, allowing the batter to fluff up and be crisp on the outside.
Today for hygiene reasons the meal is served on grease proofed paper, and maybe wrapped in newspaper to keep it warm while you wait for the bus.
Chips should never be cooked and cooled several times. They should be blanched at 140 and finished at 175. never re heated! And newspaper has been illegal for many years in the UK!
You get better chips if you cook, drain and cool them, several times. Try it!
you will not. you will get soggy chips!
Best place for eels is Holland & eaten with Dutch gin.
People do fish for eels here in the Rhine & smoke them; I find they have an earthy taste & are also bony.
This not a food combination for my tender palette. Can you still find these types of restaurants in England? I thought it was all curry houses!
If you want to cook chips (fries) the proper way, do it the Belgian way...where they originated. Deep fry them in 160° let them cool then deep fry again at 190°.
^^^ this. Twice fried is the way to go. Best chips ever cooked that way.
My mother in law was from the east end and she requested jellied eels at her 80 th birthday party.
They sat there on the buffet table looking pretty gross and I couldn't bring myself to even try them but MIL and all her cronies tucked into them with gusto
Where do the fish & chips come into it?
It was in the title, so I went with the flow... sorry!
Despite our fondness for a good ruby, fish and chips of course and yes, pie and mash with jellied eel offerings are still plentiful in and around the east end and even in the outer london circles.
I would not be surprised if they are scattered all over the UK too.
Not a fan of the jellied eels........but i do love cockles in malt vinegar!!
cheers
SC
Nope, you get crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside delicousness. If you follow the Heston way of doing it you cook them 3 times.
The chips will go a bit soggy anyway when you add the gravy .... and you must add the gravy
That was directed at HAT.