EELS EN MATELOTE.
256. INGREDIENTS.—5 or 6 young onions, a few mushrooms, when obtainable; salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste; 1 laurel-leaf, 1/2 pint of port wine, 1/2 pint of medium stock, No. 105; butter and flour to thicken; 2 lbs. of eels.
Mode.—Rub the stewpan with butter, dredge in a little flour, add the onions cut very small, slightly brown them, and put in all the other ingredients. Wash, and cut up the eels into pieces 3 inches long; put them in the stewpan, and simmer for 1/2 hour. Make round the dish, a border of croutons, or pieces of toasted bread; arrange the eels in a pyramid in the centre, and pour over the sauce. Serve very hot.
Time.—3/4 hour. Average cost, 1s. 9d. for this quantity.
Seasonable from August to March. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
TENACITY OF LIFE IN THE EEL.—There is no fish so tenacious of life as this. After it is skinned and cut in pieces, the parts will continue to move for a considerable time, and no fish will live so long out of water.
[Illustration: THE LAMPREY.]
THE LAMPREY.—With the Romans, this fish occupied a respectable rank among the piscine tribes, and in Britain it has at various periods stood high in public favour. It was the cause of the death of Henry I. of England, who ate so much of them, that it brought on an attack of indigestion, which carried him off. It is an inhabitant of the sea, ascending rivers, principally about the end of winter, and, after passing a few months in fresh water, returning again to its oceanic residence. It is most in season in March, April, and May, but is, by some, regarded as an unwholesome food, although looked on by others as a great delicacy. They are dressed as eels.