add five or six cloves, the same of peppercorns, two
or three blades of mace, and a good bouquet (parsley,
thyme, bayleaf, and lemon peel), with the head, tail,
and bones of the eel, and boil till it is nicely flavoured;
then lay in the eel, again let the liquor boil up,
draw it to the side, and allow it to simmer gently till
the fish is tender. Now take it out, boil up the liquor,
strain it, remove the fat, and pour it over the eel, and
let it all stand till cold, but do not take off the cloth
till you want to use it. When you take it out of its
cloth, wipe it well, and serve it whole or cut in slices,
as you please. The liquor in which it was cooked,
if clarified like any other stock and slightly acidulated
with either lemon juice or vinegar, will make an excel-
lent garnishing jelly. This liquor will also serve as
a pickle to keep it, if not wanted for immediate use.
It may be as well to observe here, that to kill the eel
at once, you should pierce the spinal marrow close to
the base of the skull with a sharp pointed skewer; if
done in the right place all motion ceases at once.
— Galantine.—After killing it, skin a large
eel very carefully, bone it, and lay it open flat, spread
over it, with a knife, a nice fish farce (for this some
people use pike meat), and cover this with truffles,
cooked tongue, and gherkin, sliced small but not too
thinly, lay a little more farce over this, then roll the
eel up neatly, and sew it into shape; wrap some slices
of bacon round it, lay it in a cloth, fastening the ends,
and sewing up the napkin that the fish may keep its
right shape; now put it into a fish kettle, with a cooked
marinade, bring this well to the boil, and when it has
simmered for thirty to forty minutes (i.e., till the eel
is cooked) lift the galantine into an earthenware basin,
pour the strained marinade over it, and allow it to