Smoked Eel

Of the many bush foods that the south west has to offer, one of our finest exports is our short finned eels. Eels have long provided an excellent food source for the local Aboriginal people and since colonial settlement, been very popular amongst the European settlers. Now our smoked eel is much prized in countries such as Denmark and Poland.

The Gundij Mara people built eel traps that forced the eels into smaller and smaller ponds where they can be simply picked up by hand have been used at Lake Condah for tens of thousands of years.

Smoking eels is the traditional way that eels have been prepared and is also the preferred method for the European market. The woody and eucalyptus flavours of smoke perfectly compliment the natural oiliness and earthy flavour of eel.

Eel can also be prepared fresh however should you catch a wild eel and want to eat it fresh, keep them alive in fresh water for a few days prior to cooking so as to remove any muddiness. When cooking fresh eel a BBQ is a fantastic way to cook them appropriately. Simply marinate with a little teriyaki sauce and grill for a couple of minutes on each side. Should you ever meet a traveler to Warrnambool asking for ‘another shrimp on the barbie’, tell them we do it with eels down this way.

One of the local eel fishermen who has been smoking eels is Rusty Taylor. Rusty and his son Zac from the Parratte Eel Company have been harvesting eels from The Gellibrand and The Curdies for three years now. Once the eels have been harvested they are taken back to his property and purged. This simply involves keeping the eels in filtered fresh water to allow all of the muddy water out of them. The eels are then hot smoked.

Hot smoking differs from cold smoking by not only imparting the smoke flavours the heat also gently cooks the eels in their own skin. Rusty says there was quite a bit of trial and error to begin with but “I think we have got it right now”.

Their eels are perfectly cooked with a terrestrial fresh water taste. They are of a good size with thick fillets. Rusty says he smokes them in three different types of wood. “Gum tree twigs, oak and the secret ingredient and there is no way I am telling you that”. The different woods impart a very distinct flavour into the eels.

Smoked eel is great to serve cold with salad, in a risotto with wild rice or just eaten as part of some antipasto with some black olives. As eel is quite rich and smoky you can serve a wide variety of wines with it. Try a nice oaked chardonnay or if your feeling a little extravagant, a French chenin blanc.