Eel with White Wine and Paprika

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) wide nonreactive sauté pan with lid
• •Parchment paper for a cartouche
• •Large bowl or roasting pan for an ice bath
• •3-quart (3 L) nonreactive saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve and cheesecloth
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Small sharp knife and fish-bone pliers
• •Shallow oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the eel

   Begin with eel that a fishmonger has gutted and skinned. Raw eel blood is unsafe to consume, so keep it away from cuts and other food, wipe the cavity clean with damp paper, and wash the board and knife promptly. Pat the eel dry and cut it crosswise into 3½-inch (9 cm) lengths, keeping the backbone in place for the poach.

   Smoked or precooked eel cannot replace fresh eel here. It won't absorb the matelote liquor, and it has already lost the collagen needed for the jelly.
2. 2

   Build the matelote liquor

   Combine the wine, water, onion, carrot, shallot, garlic, bouquet garni, paprika, salt, and peppercorns in a wide nonreactive sauté pan. Bring the liquor slowly to a bare simmer and let it cook uncovered for 12 minutes, just long enough for the aromatics and paprika to season the wine. It should taste a little stronger and saltier than a broth for drinking because chilling will soften both.

   Use sweet paprika, not smoked. Smoke would overwhelm the cold eel and pull the dish away from its classical white-wine character.
3. 3

   Poach at a tremble

   Lower the eel pieces into the liquor in one layer. The liquid should almost cover them; if it does not, use a narrower pan rather than diluting the wine with more water. Cover the surface with a cartouche, a round of parchment paper, and poach at the barest tremble for 15 to 18 minutes, turning the pieces once, until the flesh is opaque and reaches 145°F (63°C) near the backbone. Never let the pan boil. If it does, take it off the heat at once, skim away the risen foam, and resume gently. Ça se rattrape.

   A hard boil breaks the eel and beats its fat into the liquor. That gives you tough fish and a cloudy jelly, two troubles born from the same impatient flame.
4. 4

   Cool in the liquor

   Remove the pan from the heat and leave the eel submerged for 20 minutes. Set the pan into a larger bowl of ice water, keeping the ice outside the pan, and cool until the pan no longer feels warm. Cover and refrigerate the eel in its liquor for at least 3 hours, or overnight. This cooling is not idle time. It keeps the flesh succulent, firms it for clean filleting, and draws the flavor of the eel back into the jelly.

5. 5

   Fillet the cold eel

   Lift the cold eel pieces carefully from the liquor and keep the liquor. With a small sharp knife, open each piece lengthwise along the backbone, pull away the spine, and remove any remaining bones with fish-bone pliers. Preserve the two sides as broad fillets rather than breaking them into flakes. Arrange them close together on a chilled shallow platter, smooth sides upward, then cover and return them to the refrigerator. If one cracks, fit the pieces neatly together; the final mask will hold and conceal the join.

6. 6

   Degrease and clarify

   Spoon every patch of solidified fat from the cold cooking liquor, then strain it through a fine sieve without pressing the vegetables. Measure the liquor. If you have more than 3 cups (720 ml), simmer it gently until reduced to that amount, cool it completely, and skim once more. Whisk 2 egg whites until loose and frothy, stir them into the cold liquor, and heat slowly in a clean saucepan while scraping the bottom gently. When the cooked whites rise into a raft and the liquid begins to tremble, stop stirring, open a small hole in the raft, and hold the gentlest simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle the clear liquor through damp cheesecloth without crushing the raft. It should be transparent paprika-gold, not colorless.

   If the clarification boils and the raft breaks, remove the pan from the heat and let everything settle for 10 minutes before filtering. If the liquor remains hazy, cool it and repeat with the reserved egg white. Ça se rattrape.
7. 7

   Test the natural jelly

   Chill a spoonful of clarified liquor on a cold saucer for 10 minutes. It should set to a tender tremble, soft enough for a fork to pass through. If it does, the eel supplied all the gelatin you need. If it remains liquid, sprinkle the powdered gelatin over 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of cold clarified liquor and let it bloom for 5 minutes. Warm ½ cup (120 ml) of the remaining liquor until hot but not boiling, dissolve the bloomed gelatin in it, then stir this back into the rest. The gelatin is insurance for a small home batch, not a replacement for the eel's own liquor.

8. 8

   Mask the fillets

   Cool the clarified liquor over ice, stirring occasionally, until it becomes slightly syrupy but has not set. Spoon a thin coat over every eel fillet and refrigerate for 8 to 10 minutes, then repeat with two or three more thin coats until the fish wears an even, transparent veil. This is masking, and thin layers give a finer result than one deep pour. If the jelly runs off, it is too warm; chill it a little longer. If it sets in the saucepan, stand the pan briefly in warm water and stir until fluid again. Never pour it hot over cold eel.

   The brigade masked cold dishes over ice while a saucier kept the aspic at exactly the right texture. Your refrigerator performs both jobs, one thin coat at a time.
9. 9

   Serve very cold

   Cover the platter only after the final coat has set, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Bring it directly from the cold and portion the fillets with a chilled serving fork or narrow spatula. The jelly should tremble, the eel should remain moist beneath it, and no grease should cloud the palate. Cooking well is not cooking fancy. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger for eel that is already gutted and skinned. Raw eel needs deliberate handling, but once properly cleaned and cooked through it presents no mystery.
• •Choose a dry, clean white wine without oak or residual sweetness. The liquor is reduced and served cold, so every heavy or sugary note becomes more obvious.
• •Paprika loses fragrance while sitting in the cupboard. Use fresh sweet paprika with a warm pepper scent and clear red color; a dusty jar gives the jelly color but very little character.
• •Do not chase colorless aspic. Paprika should leave the clarified liquor transparent but warmly tinted. Clarity means you can see the eel through it, not that the seasoning has disappeared.
• •A small batch may set naturally or may not, depending on the eel and how closely the liquor was reduced. The cold-saucer test decides. Plain gelatin added only when needed preserves the intended tender veil.
• •Serve with a dry Loire white such as Muscadet. Keep the plate and wine properly cold, since warmth loosens the jelly and makes the eel's natural richness feel heavier.

Advance Preparation

• •Poach the eel and refrigerate it in its cooking liquor up to 24 hours before filleting. Cooling overnight improves the texture and makes the solidified fat much easier to remove completely.
• •The eel can be clarified, masked, and fully set one day before serving. Keep the platter covered and refrigerated at 40°F (4°C) or below.
• •Serve within 2 days of cooking. Do not freeze the finished dish, since thawing makes the jelly weep and damages the fillets' firm texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 205g)