Читать книгу The Taste of Britain - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Страница 318

Eel is a fish once favoured by Cockneys. Thames eels are more silver in colour and sweeter of taste than those from the Continent (Simon, 1960). Among many early recipes, eel pies were celebrated—not least at Eel Pie Island, near Richmond-upon-Thames; Shakespeare describes a Cockney making a pie in King Lear, putting eels ‘in the paste alive’. Stews and galantines were also made with plenty of eels.

‘The appetite grows with eating.’

FRANçOIS RABELAIS

Today eel pie has all but vanished even if the shops seem to keep its name alive, but jellied and stewed eels are still made—sold from street stalls and cooked-food shops in London and seaside towns of Essex and Kent. These are the ‘Eel, Pie and Mash’ shops, which sell steak and kidney pies, mashed potatoes and cooked eels.

Brian Knights, who has made a study of the eel and its fishery in Britain, observes that eels are now caught in the Thames again. Some of them are used by the jelliers who supply the shops, but imported eels are also employed.